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{{Infobox song
{{Infobox song
| name = Red Sector A
| name = Red Sector A
| cover = Red_Sector_A.gif
| cover = Red Sector A.gif
| alt =
| alt =
| type = single
| type = single
Line 7: Line 7:
| album = [[Grace Under Pressure (Rush album)|Grace Under Pressure]]
| album = [[Grace Under Pressure (Rush album)|Grace Under Pressure]]
| B-side = Red Lenses
| B-side = Red Lenses
| released = May 1984<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/single-red-sector-a.php|title=Red Sector A}}</ref>
| released = 1984
| format =
| recorded =
| recorded =
| studio =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| genre =
| length = 5:09
| length = 5:09 (album version)<br>4:10 (single edit)
| label = [[Anthem Records|Anthem]]
| label = [[Anthem Records|Anthem]]
| writer = [[Neil Peart]], [[Geddy Lee]] and [[Alex Lifeson]]
| writer = [[Neil Peart]], [[Geddy Lee]] and [[Alex Lifeson]]
| producer = [[Rush (band)|Rush]], Peter Henderson
| producer =
* Rush
* Peter Henderson
| prev_title = The Body Electric
| prev_title = The Body Electric
| prev_year = 1984
| prev_year = 1984
| next_title = [[Afterimage (song)|Afterimage]]
| next_title = [[Afterimage (song)|Afterimage]]
| next_year = 1984
| next_year = 1984
| misc = {{External music video| {{YouTube|B3ytkyn3vUU|"Red Sector A"}}}}
}}
}}


'''"Red Sector A"''' is a song by [[Rush (band)|Rush]] that provides a first-person account of a nameless protagonist living in an unspecified [[internment|prison camp]] setting. "Red Sector A" first appeared on the band's 1984 album ''[[Grace Under Pressure (Rush album)|Grace Under Pressure]]''.
"'''Red Sector A'''" is a song written and performed by [[Rush (band)|Rush]], from their 1984 album ''[[Grace Under Pressure (Rush album)|Grace Under Pressure]]''. It provides a first-person account of a nameless protagonist living in an unspecified [[internment|prison camp]] setting.


Lyricist [[Neil Peart]] has stated that the detailed imagery in the song intentionally evokes [[concentration camp]]s of [[the Holocaust]], although he left the lyrics ambiguous enough that they could deal with any similar prison camp scenario.<ref name=jweeklysf>{{cite web|last=Benarde|first=Scott R.|title=How the Holocaust rocked Rush front man Geddy Lee|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/23003/how-the-holocaust-rocked-rush-front-man-geddy-lee/|publisher=jweekly.com|accessdate=1 May 2012}}</ref>
Lyricist [[Neil Peart]] has stated that the detailed imagery in the song intentionally evokes [[concentration camp]]s of [[the Holocaust]], although he left the lyrics ambiguous enough that they could deal with any similar prison camp scenario.<ref name=jweeklysf>{{cite news|last=Benarde|first=Scott R.|title=How the Holocaust rocked Rush front man Geddy Lee|newspaper=J |date=25 June 2004|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/23003/how-the-holocaust-rocked-rush-front-man-geddy-lee/|publisher=jweekly.com|access-date=1 May 2012}}</ref>
The song was inspired in part by [[Geddy Lee]]'s mother's accounts of the Holocaust.
The song was inspired in part by [[Geddy Lee]]'s mother's accounts of the Holocaust.

In a rare instance for Rush's music, the track features no bass guitar, with Lee instead completely focusing on synthesizers and vocals.


==Background==
==Background==
Line 32: Line 35:
Geddy Lee explained the genesis of the song in an interview:
Geddy Lee explained the genesis of the song in an interview:


{{quote|The seeds for the song were planted nearly 60 years ago in April 1945 when British and Canadian soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp|Bergen-Belsen]]. Lee's mother, Manya (now Mary) Rubenstein, was among the survivors. (His father, Morris Weinrib, was liberated from the [[Dachau concentration camp]] a few weeks later.) The whole album "Grace Under Pressure," says Lee, who was born Gary Lee Weinrib, "is about being on the brink and having the courage and strength to survive."}}
{{blockquote|The seeds for the song were planted nearly 60 years ago in April 1945 when British and Canadian soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp|Bergen-Belsen]]. Lee's mother, Manya (now Mary) Rubenstein, was among the survivors. (His father, Morris Weinrib, was liberated from the [[Dachau concentration camp]] a few weeks later.) The whole album "Grace Under Pressure," says Lee, who was born Gary Lee Weinrib, "is about being on the brink and having the courage and strength to survive."}}


{{quote|Though "Red Sector A," like much of the album from which it comes, is set in a bleak, apocalyptic future, what Lee calls "the psychology" of the song comes directly from a story his mother told him about the day she was liberated.}}
{{blockquote|Though "Red Sector A," like much of the album from which it comes, is set in a bleak, apocalyptic future, what Lee calls "the psychology" of the song comes directly from a story his mother told him about the day she was liberated.}}


{{quote|I once asked my mother her first thoughts upon being liberated," Lee says during a phone conversation. "She didn't believe [liberation] was possible. She didn't believe that if there was a society outside the camp how they could allow this to exist, so she believed society was done in."<ref name="jweeklysf"/>}}
{{blockquote|I once asked my mother her first thoughts upon being liberated," Lee says during a phone conversation. "She didn't believe [liberation] was possible. She didn't believe that if there was a society outside the camp how they could allow this to exist, so she believed society was done in."<ref name="jweeklysf"/>}}


In a 1984 interview Neil Peart describes writing ''Red Sector A'':
In a 1984 interview Neil Peart describes writing "Red Sector A":


{{quote|I read a first person account of someone who had survived the whole system of trains and work camps and Bergen-Belsen and all of that (...) through first person accounts from other people who came out at the end of it, always glad to be alive, which again was the essence of grace, grace under pressure is that through all of it, these people never gave up the strong will to survive, through the utmost horror, and total physical privations of all kinds.}}
{{blockquote|I read a first person account of someone who had survived the whole system of trains and work camps and Bergen-Belsen and all of that (...) through first person accounts from other people who came out at the end of it, always glad to be alive, which again was the essence of grace, grace under pressure is that through all of it, these people never gave up the strong will to survive, through the utmost horror, and total physical privations of all kinds.}}


{{quote|...I wanted to take a little bit out of being specific and, and just describe the circumstances and try to look at the way people responded to it, and another really important and to me really moving image that I got from a lot of these accounts was that at the end of it, these people of course had been totally isolated from the rest of the world, from their families, from any news at all, and they, in cases that I read, believed that they were the last people surviving.}}
{{blockquote|...I wanted to take a little bit out of being specific and, and just describe the circumstances and try to look at the way people responded to it, and another really important and to me really moving image that I got from a lot of these accounts was that at the end of it, these people of course had been totally isolated from the rest of the world, from their families, from any news at all, and they, in cases that I read, believed that they were the last people surviving.}}


==Song title==
==Song title==
The song's title 'Red Sector A' comes from the name of a [[NASA]] launch area at [[Kennedy Space Center]], where the band watched the [[STS-1|first launch]] of [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']] on April 12, 1981.<ref>{{cite book|last=Popoff|first=Martin|title=Contents under pressure 30 years of Rush at home & away|date=2004|publisher=[[ECW Press]] |location=Toronto |isbn=9781550226782|page=104}}</ref> This trip also inspired the song [[Countdown (Rush song)|Countdown]], from their previous album [[Signals (Rush album)|Signals]].
The song's title "Red Sector A" comes from the name of a [[NASA]] launch area at [[Kennedy Space Center]], where the band watched the [[STS-1|first launch]] of [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']] on April 12, 1981.<ref>{{cite book|last=Popoff|first=Martin|title=Contents under pressure 30 years of Rush at home & away|date=2004|publisher=[[ECW Press]]|location=Toronto|isbn=9781550226782|page=[https://archive.org/details/contentsunderpre0000popo/page/104 104]|url=https://archive.org/details/contentsunderpre0000popo/page/104}}</ref> This trip also inspired the song "[[Countdown (Rush song)|Countdown]]", from their previous album [[Signals (Rush album)|Signals]].


==Track listing==
==Track listing==
{{Track listing

{{tracklist
| title1 = Red Sector A
| title1 = Red Sector A
| note1 =
| lyrics1 = Neil Peart
| lyrics1 = Neil Peart
| music1 = Rush
| music1 = Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson
| length1 = 5:09
| length1 = 5:09
| music2 = Rush
| music2 = Lee, LIfeson
| length2 = 4:43
| length2 = 4:43
| title2 = Red Lenses
| title2 = Red Lenses
| note2 =
| lyrics2 = Neil Peart
| lyrics2 = Neil Peart
}}
}}


==See also==
==See also==
⚫
*[[List of songs recorded by Rush]]
*[[List of anti-war songs]]
*[[List of anti-war songs]]
⚫
*[[List of Rush songs]]


==References==
==References==
Line 75: Line 75:


{{Rush}}
{{Rush}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:1984 singles]]
[[Category:1984 singles]]
[[Category:Anthem Records singles]]
[[Category:Rush (band) songs]]
[[Category:Rush (band) songs]]
[[Category:Songs about the Holocaust]]
[[Category:Songs about the Holocaust]]
[[Category:1984 songs]]
[[Category:1984 songs]]
[[Category:Songs based on actual events]]
[[Category:Songs written by Geddy Lee]]
[[Category:Songs written by Geddy Lee]]
[[Category:Songs written by Alex Lifeson]]
[[Category:Songs written by Alex Lifeson]]

Latest revision as of 02:18, 2 November 2024

"Red Sector A"
Single by Rush
from the album Grace Under Pressure
B-side"Red Lenses"
ReleasedMay 1984[1]
Length5:09 (album version)
4:10 (single edit)
LabelAnthem
Songwriter(s)Neil Peart, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Producer(s)
  • Rush
  • Peter Henderson
Rush singles chronology
"The Body Electric"
(1984) 		"Red Sector A"
(1984) 		"Afterimage"
(1984)
Music video
"Red Sector A" on YouTube

"Red Sector A" is a song written and performed by Rush, from their 1984 album Grace Under Pressure. It provides a first-person account of a nameless protagonist living in an unspecified prison camp setting.

Lyricist Neil Peart has stated that the detailed imagery in the song intentionally evokes concentration camps of the Holocaust, although he left the lyrics ambiguous enough that they could deal with any similar prison camp scenario.[2] The song was inspired in part by Geddy Lee's mother's accounts of the Holocaust.

In a rare instance for Rush's music, the track features no bass guitar, with Lee instead completely focusing on synthesizers and vocals.

Background

[edit]

Geddy Lee explained the genesis of the song in an interview:

The seeds for the song were planted nearly 60 years ago in April 1945 when British and Canadian soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Lee's mother, Manya (now Mary) Rubenstein, was among the survivors. (His father, Morris Weinrib, was liberated from the Dachau concentration camp a few weeks later.) The whole album "Grace Under Pressure," says Lee, who was born Gary Lee Weinrib, "is about being on the brink and having the courage and strength to survive."

Though "Red Sector A," like much of the album from which it comes, is set in a bleak, apocalyptic future, what Lee calls "the psychology" of the song comes directly from a story his mother told him about the day she was liberated.

I once asked my mother her first thoughts upon being liberated," Lee says during a phone conversation. "She didn't believe [liberation] was possible. She didn't believe that if there was a society outside the camp how they could allow this to exist, so she believed society was done in."[2]

In a 1984 interview Neil Peart describes writing "Red Sector A":

I read a first person account of someone who had survived the whole system of trains and work camps and Bergen-Belsen and all of that (...) through first person accounts from other people who came out at the end of it, always glad to be alive, which again was the essence of grace, grace under pressure is that through all of it, these people never gave up the strong will to survive, through the utmost horror, and total physical privations of all kinds.

...I wanted to take a little bit out of being specific and, and just describe the circumstances and try to look at the way people responded to it, and another really important and to me really moving image that I got from a lot of these accounts was that at the end of it, these people of course had been totally isolated from the rest of the world, from their families, from any news at all, and they, in cases that I read, believed that they were the last people surviving.

Song title

[edit]

The song's title "Red Sector A" comes from the name of a NASA launch area at Kennedy Space Center, where the band watched the first launch of Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981.[3] This trip also inspired the song "Countdown", from their previous album Signals.

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Red Sector A"Neil PeartGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson5:09
2."Red Lenses"Neil PeartLee, LIfeson4:43

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Red Sector A".
  2. ^ a b Benarde, Scott R. (25 June 2004). "How the Holocaust rocked Rush front man Geddy Lee". J. jweekly.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  3. ^ Popoff, Martin (2004). Contents under pressure 30 years of Rush at home & away. Toronto: ECW Press. p. 104. ISBN 9781550226782.
  • Rock 'N' Roll Never Forgets Holocaust's Horror, Palm Beach Post, May 6, 2005
[edit]
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