Automobiles and music, they go oddly hand-in-hand with each other. Pick a car, understand the feeling that it gives you when you drive it, and the music will eventually line up to what you listen to, regardless of what genres of noise you actually like. And that song selection can change at a moment’s whim…that same 1958 Plymouth that seems like the demon waiting to strike under the bridge at midnight as “Little Bitty Pretty One” plays becomes something different when rolling around on a Sunday afternoon with some mellow orchestral music wafting out of the speakers in hi-fi. A 1969 Super Bee playing Hendrix is a historical throwback, while the same car blasting Rob Zombie is a hell-raising good time.
Vice versa, music can take you to the proper car for the job. Few songs are better suited for that than Rush’s “Red Barchetta”. Not only was the song itself named for a type of car, but the whole storyline was inspired by a 1973 Road & Track article called, “A Nice Morning Drive”, a future-looking swipe at the inbound safety laws. It’s a killer read on it’s own (you can check out the story in it’s full wording on 2112.net) and oddly enough, it was a bit predictive, even if it was a fictional short story. Drummer Neil Peart loved the story and tried contacting Richard Foster, the author, while the Moving Pictures album was being put together. Peart and Foster didn’t actually link up until July, 2007 and when they did they took a motorcycle journey around West Virginia while Rush were on tour.
We lost Neil Pert this week, who passed on after dealing with over three years of brain cancer. Not only was he Rush’s drum extraordinaire, he was also the main lyricist for the band, and an author. He was also an enthusiastic motorcyclist who rode many miles, including Cameroon and a lengthy trip of North America after he lost his daughter in a car crash and his first wife to cancer in the late 1990s. His music will live on, as will his writings. We hope that wherever he is now, he’s walking up to a lone barn in the middle of a wheat field surrounded by nothing. As he opens the door, there before him sits the little red barchetta of his dreams, a 1948 Ferrari 166MM. The sky is expansive, the fields quiet. After he checks the fluids, the tire pressures and lets the car warm up properly, it’s time to hit the open roads.
Rest easy, Neil.
Had not heard of his passing. Sad. Saw them in concert about ’90, very good. Rest in peace.
RIP Neil.
Born and raised in Toronto, the birthplace of Rush. They always had a strong presence on the local heavy metal stations. R.I.P. Neil.
I saw an interview where Neil talked about the handful of cars he owned. I can’t recall what they were but I do remember that he talked of the different makes and models and how he chose them and why. He approached his enthusiasm for cars with the same careful thought and analysis that he approached everything in life such as his lyrics and mastery of percussion.
I grew up in Toronto’s east end beach area and remember Rush when they played our high schools, Rush was on heavy rotation in the dash of my ’75 Camaro’s Pioneer Super Tuner II tape deck .. . One of my heavy favs . saw them live many times ..Thanks for the memories Neil RIP and God Speed .
A sad story. Hopefully Neil and Gord Downie are up in heaven and writing amazing songs for God’s House Band.