An extended Reading the Bestsellers review of a 2023 book by Geddy Lee
Note: Our print issue contains a shorter version of this review. Faith Today welcomes your thoughts on any of our reviews. We also welcome suggestions of other Canadian Christian books to review: Contact us.
Book by Geddy Lee, with Daniel Richler. Harper, 2023. 512 pages. $35 (ebook $25, audio $30)
As its uncouth title suggests, this autobiography tells the story of a life lived in the world of rock music. But anyone expecting a lurid tale of sex and drug addiction will be disappointed.
Geddy Lee – born as Gershon Eliezer Weinrib to immigrant parents who survived Holocaust labour camps – is the intelligent and articulate lead singer and bassist of the iconic Canadian rock band Rush.
Lee and bandmates Alex Lifeson (guitarist) and the late Neil Peart (drummer and lyricist) are skilled musicians admired worldwide since their rise to fame in the 1970s. Rush released 19 studio albums, with 10 selling more than a million copies each in the USA.
This wryly humorous, unpretentious, well written book reveals the intelligence and insight that helped Lee dodge many of the excesses around him over an influential 50-year career.
The book takes readers back to the late 1960s before he adopted his stagename, when Lee was a longhaired Toronto highshooler parented by low-income immigrants.
One of the most moving parts of the book is Lee’s painstaking research on the experiences of his parents as teenage Polish Jews who met each other in a ghetto and met again in labour camps during the Second World War. The documentation he assembles shows how miraculous their survival was.
This book is more than a must-read for millions of fans looking for behind-the-scenes stories of recording sessions and tours and friendships. It’s also a thoughtful charting of several decades of experience in the rock music industry and the ideas of popular culture.
Lee presents himself as a “Jewish atheist” while sensitively reflecting on the multiple tragic deaths in the band’s inner circle – Peart’s daughter (car crash, 1997) and first wife (cancer, 1998) leading to a band hiatus (1997-2001), and then Peart’s own death from glioblastoma (2020). Lee also speaks frankly about the counselling that helped save his marriage.
Although the book title holds back from using f-bomb language – Lee is generally more polite and thoughtful than many of his peers – readers should beware that it uses offensive language freely, normalizes recreational use of marijuana and has segments featuring the abuse of alcohol and cocaine.
Why review such a book for evangelical audiences? It’s a good example of what Faith Today’s Reading the Bestsellers section is for – understanding the interests of our neighbours so as to better appreciate where they are coming from and what formative experiences we may and may not have in common.
And among the Canadians who have followed the band for decades are many Evangelicals. Ontario Christian musician Jacob Moon for example has covered many Rush songs and achieved some of his first musical successes doing so.
Peart’s philosophical/humanist/atheist song lyrics have been influential in many people’s thinking. Peart was a voracious reader, and his lyrics reinforced for many listeners the importance of J. R. R. Tolkien, Ayn Rand, science fiction and other challenging cultural influences of the era. The lyrics sung in Lee’s unique “air-raid siren” vocals (to quote a memorable early review) often resonate deeply with fans as much as the music. As with many progressive rock bands, Rush has published several song suites that explore nuanced interconnected ideas over 40-some minutes.
Rush as a cultural influence and some of Lee’s book sections of internal band history may be skimmable, but for the most part even non-fans will find much of value in the relatable human experiences throughout the book from the lives of the band members (Lifeson is the child of Serb immigrants, Peart grew up on a farm in Hagersville, Ont.). The accessible writing style and period photographs also help.
This is a memoir worth the 500-page time investment. It is insightful, offering more than the fluffy entertainment of many bestsellers.
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