The Analog Kid

Last updated
"The Analog Kid"
Promotional single by Rush
from the album Signals
ReleasedSeptember 9, 1982
Recorded1982
Genre Progressive rock
Length4:47
Label Anthem
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Rush, Terry Brown
Rush singles chronology
"Subdivisions"
(1982)		"The Analog Kid"
(1982)		"The Weapon"
(1982)

"The Analog Kid" is a song by the Canadian progressive rock band Rush. It was released as the second single from their 1982 album Signals and reached number 19 on the Mainstream Rock chart. [1]

Contents

"The Analog Kid" is a moderately fast song, and was originally written in the key of A major. [2] It is played in common time. [3]

Recording

The song originates from when the band stayed at Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands in January 1982, travelling on a yacht that was named Orianda. [4]

Drummer and lyricist Neil Peart wrote the lyrics for the song at first as a companion piece to "Digital Man", a song that Rush had started working on in late 1981, and presented it to bassist Geddy Lee. Peart and Lee talked about what could be done with the lyrics in a musical sense. They eventually decided on the opposite on what the words may suggest, with Peart describing the track as "a very up-tempo rocker, with some kind of a dynamic contrast for the choruses". [4]

Peart said the song was his first attempt at non-fiction: "For the longest time I stepped into characters until I had my own confidence and technique to be able to step outside them as a writer." [5]

"The Analog Kid", along with "Digital Man" (another song from the album) served as the inspiration for the writer Troy Hickman to create the comic book heroes of the same names in the 2004 comic Common Grounds . [6]

Reception

Greg Prato of AllMusic, in a review for the album, said that the song was an example that Rush did not forget to "rock out" after adding synthesizers to their sound. [7]

In 2016, Prog wrote that it was the 7th best Rush song from the 1980s. [8]

Classic Rock readers voted "The Analog Kid" the band's 24th best song. [9]

Odyssey rated the song 4.5/5, writing that its intro riff was extremely catchy. They also wrote that the solo in "The Analog Kid" was spectacular and that the song was upbeat and atmospheric. [10]

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References

  1. ↑ "Rush ANALOG KID Chart History". Billboard.
  2. ↑ Geddy, Lee; Alex, Lifeson; Rush; Neil, Peart (17 December 2007). "The Analog Kid". Musicnotes.com.
  3. ↑ "The Analog Kid by Rush – BPM – Key – Find Song Tempo". Findsongtempo.com. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  4. 1 2 ""Signals" linernotes and more from Power Windows: A Tribute To Rush". 2112.net. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  5. ↑ "The Analog Kid". Rushvault.com. 6 February 2011.
  6. ↑ "Troy Hickman — Holey Crullers! (vol VII/iss 4/April 2004)". Sequential Tart. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
  7. ↑ "Signals – Rush – Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic .
  8. ↑ Prog, Jerry Ewing 2016-10-28T18:00:00 301Z. "The Top 10 Best Rush Songs Of The 80s". Prog Magazine.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Rock, Classic Rock 2015-06-11T09:36:00 161Z Classic. "The 50 Greatest Rush Songs Ever". Classic Rock Magazine.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "Rush: 'Signals' Album Review". The Odyssey Online. 21 June 2017.
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