"Force Ten" is a song written, produced and performed by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

rock band Rush, released as a

promotional single A promotional recording, promo, or plug copy is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as mu ...

from their album ''

Hold Your Fire ''Hold Your Fire'' is the twelfth studio album by Canadian progressive rock band Rush, released on September 8, 1987. It was recorded at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, AIR Studios in Montserrat and McClear Place ...

''.Rush - Force Ten (Vinyl)

Discogs.com Discogs ( ; short for "discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''The N ...

. Accessed from June 21, 2013. It was the last song written for the album. The song has been critically positively received, and peaked at number 3 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart.

Writing and composition

According to Peart, the song describes the "storms of life," using storm level in the

Beaufort wind scale The Beaufort scale ( ) is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. It was devised in 1805 by Francis Beaufort a Hydrography, hydrographer in the Roy ...

as an analogy. Peart, a self described "weather fanatic", makes references to "the eye of the storm" and circling hurricanes in the lyrics. He also "express sappreciation" for the disproportionally small number of female fans at Rush shows "singing along, or air-drumming, or even dancing" in the lyric "cool and remote like dancing girls". "Force Ten" was written in three hours on December 14, 1986, the last day of pre-production for ''

''. With nine songs already written, producer Peter Collins felt it was important to have one more song for the album.

Pye Dubois Pye Dubois is a Canadian lyricist and poet. He has worked mainly with Kim Mitchell and Max Webster (with whom he was considered an unofficial fifth non-performing member), and occasionally Rush. Career Dubois accompanied Max Webster in the st ...

, who previously worked with Rush on their song "

Tom Sawyer Thomas "Tom" Sawyer () is the title character of the Mark Twain novel '' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawy ...

", had sent

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart ( ; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian and American musician, known as the drummer, percussionist, and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush (band), Rush. He was known to fans by the nickname "the Profe ...

some lyrics for the song, and Peart would add more verses to it. Info from book adapted by th
Rush Vault
Accessed from June 24. 2013. Musically, "Force Ten" is composed in

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic ...

, with changes into A major scale occurring in the song. The song is set in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

at a fast rock tempo.Force Ten Sheet Music
onlinesheetmusic.com. Accessed from June 21, 2013. Peart has said that

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee Weinrib (; born Gary Lee Weinrib, July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Rock music, rock band Rush (band), Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968 at the request o ...

and

Alex Lifeson Aleksandar Živojinović (born 27 August 1953), known professionally as Alex Lifeson (), is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist for the rock band Rush. In 1968, he co-founded a band (which later became Rush) with drummer John Rut ...

were "trying to explore some musical areas that we hadn't covered yet," when writing the music for the song. Peart, Neil
Firework: The Making of "Hold Your Fire"
. 2112.net. Accessed from June 22, 2013. Lee performed bass chords in the song, inspired to do so by his friend

Jeff Berlin Jeffrey Arthur Berlin (born January 17, 1953) is an American jazz rock bassist and composer. He first came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the band Bruford, led by drummer Bill Bruford. Musical career Berlin was born on January 17, 195 ...

.Tolleson, Robin (November/December 1988)
Geddy Lee: Bass Is Still The Key
Bass Player. Accessed from June 24, 2013. The song was described by

The Cavalier Daily ''The Cavalier Daily'' is an independent, student-run daily news organization at the University of Virginia. Founded in 1890, under the name ''College Topics'', ''The Cavalier Daily'' is Virginia's oldest collegiate daily and the oldest daily n ...

as "intense".Arnold, Dave (October 8, 1987)
Lost urgency, strained vocals mark latest Rush LP

. Accessed from June 18, 2013.

Release and reception

"Force Ten" was released in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

as a 12"

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

one-track

in 1987. It is the opening track of Rush's

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'', and the song later appear on

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s such as ''

Chronicles Chronicles may refer to: * Books of Chronicles in the Bible * Chronicle, chronological histories * ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis * ''The Chronicles of Prydain'', a novel series by Lloyd Alexander. * ''Holinshed's Chro ...

'', '' Retrospective II'', '' The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987'', ''

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

'', ''Icon'', and ''Sector 3''.Force Ten - Rush

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. Accessed from June 24, 2013. The song received a favorable critical reception, with

calling it "the band's

ush USH may refer to: * Ush Island, a Russian island in the Sea of Okhotsk * Ush, king of Umma, King or ensi of Umma, a city-state in Sumer, circa 2450 BCE *Ugandan shilling (abbreviated USh), the currency of Uganda *Universal Studios Hollywood ...

most immediate number in years," rating the song an AMG pick track.Rivadavia, Eduardo
Hold Your Fire - Rush

. Accessed from June 21, 2013. The song would make it on the

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

, peaking #3.

Live Performance

Force Ten was a staple of Rush’s live performances, and was played from the Hold Your Fire Tour until the Couterparts Tour, as well as the R30 and

Clockwork Angels ''Clockwork Angels'' is the nineteenth and final studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on June 8, 2012, on Roadrunner Records. During the band's year-and-a-half break following its Snakes & Arrows Tour, the group decided to write ...

tours

Charts

References

{{authority control 1987 songs Rush (band) songs Songs written by Geddy Lee Songs written by Alex Lifeson Songs written by Neil Peart Songs with lyrics by Pye Dubois Song recordings produced by Peter Collins (record producer)