Essay on Rush's "New World Man"

(Originally written for the 2023 MarchXNess Tournament, “March Fadness: ‘80s One Hit Wonders”.)

It can be hard to work on projects where there is a looming deadline. The stress can sometimes be overwhelming. However, there are also cases where being on deadline leads to the best work you can possibly do.

The latter was the case for Rush, the prog rock power trio from Canada, as such a situation led to the creation of their only U.S. Billboard Top 40 hit. The song, “New World Man,” clocked in at number 21 on the main chart and at number 1 on the Top Tracks (now Mainstream Rock) chart.

In an excerpt from his diary published by Sounds UK Magazine in 1982, lyricist and drummer for Rush Neil Peart explains how “New World Man” wound up on Signals:

At this point the basic tracks for the other seven songs were finished, and we have enough for an album, but we have always wanted to write another song for this one. We want more! There are moral reasons why an album shouldn't be too short, but there are technological reasons why it shouldn't be too long. What shall we do?

We decided to write another song, and if it turns out to be too long, we won't put it on, but if we come up with something short enough, we will have an eighth song.

So, thus was born "Project 3:57"!

See? Working under the gun, or in this case, under literal time limitations, can produce something that winds up being recognized and appreciated on a high level. 

But there is also a lingering question that needs to be resolved. What, exactly, is a New World Man?

The overarching theme of Signals seems to be the changes that are happening in our world and how it impacts different people or groups. “New World Man” fits into this theme by looking at an individual, this New World Man, as he adapts to the progress taking place.

The New World Man desires to be an important member of society, helping to “run the big machine”. Even though he is restless and a rebel or an outsider, he seeks to do…something.

There is a touch of individualistic selfishness in the New World Man. A bit of strongman, even. He strives for purity and strength, but he is also sensitive enough to acknowledge his failings and the problems and demons he has. He is complex and contains multitudes, including an understanding of the fact that change in society is ever present and ever occurring, and that staying hidebound to tradition does not allow for the progress needed to improve the human condition. 

At the same time, he is not fully mature, and there is a chance that he might fail. After all, lots of new inventions, new creations, do not succeed. A new world man is no different. That failure may be driven, in part, by his own unwillingness to be on the side of right—even when the decision is clear.

It is quite a bit of philosophical consideration to pack into three minutes and forty-five seconds (clearly, they met the stated goal of sub-3:57), and is not the typical lyrical foundation for a song that winds up being your only United States number one hit. However, from the moment that Peart joined Rush in 1975 and became the primary lyricist, he brought different philosophical and literature-based considerations to rock music. 

While there were science fiction and fantasy lyrics in much of the band’s earlier work, by the time Signals came out, lyrically Peart had started to become a bit more direct and even a bit more humanistic when compared to the work in the 1970s. That evolution would continue through the rest of the band’s career save for their final album, the concept piece Clockwork Angels.

I discovered Rush when I was 13 years old. It was the summer between 8th and 9th grade, and I found myself enrolled in a summer program at a boarding school in western Massachusetts. My neighbor was a big, burly white guy from Texas whose name I cannot remember at this point. I do remember, though, that he was the one who introduced me to this band that I, a Black kid from New York City, had never heard of. (I was four when Signals came out.) He let me borrow two of their albums: Moving Pictures and Roll the Bones.

From the first few seconds of the song “Dreamline” from Roll the Bones, I was hooked. At the first chance I got, I bought my own copies of these albums and then went searching for more. And while the music was appealing, as a budding lyricist myself, it was Neil’s words that had me hooked. The ability to convey so much information in so few words spoke to my soul and allowed me to tighten up my own lyrics specifically, and my other writing generally. 

When I am struggling to find the words for a project, whether at work, in school, or for my own creative endeavors, I choose a Rush album to listen to as I try to gather and sort my thoughts. Neil Peart was, and is, a source of inspiration for me as a writer—even though I don’t write lyrics that much anymore.

To paraphrase one of his own lyrics to refer to him, from the song “Afterimage” from Grace Under Pressure:

Suddenly, [he] was gone/from all the lives [he] left his mark upon.

Cancer sucks. Rest in peace, Neil.