Writers: Rush
Producers: Rush and Terry Brown
Recorded: Early 1982 in Toronto
Released: Fall 1982
| Players: | Geddy Lee — vocals, bass, synthesizers Alex Lifeson — guitar Neil Peart — drums |
| Album: | Signals (Mercury) |
The first single from Rush's 11th album, Signals, “New World Man” was the Canadian trio's only song to hit the Billboard top 40, reaching Number 21. It peaked at Number 42 on the U.K. pop chart.
One of the reasons for the song's success was the band's raised profile thanks to singer-bassist Geddy Lee's guest appearance earlier that year on “Take Off,” a comedy single released by the SCTV act Bob and Doug McKenzie (Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis).
“New World Man” was actually a last-minute addition to the album. Rush had recorded seven songs and felt that Signals needed another, but due to recording technology at the time, the additional song could not be more than four minutes in length. So the working title of “New World Man” was “Project 3:57.
“Drummer Neil Peart, who wrote the lyrics for “New World Man,” said the groupwas surprised that this afterthought of a song became its biggest hit. “We had no idea at all it would be the single. We don't want to be involved in that process. We make the album, and once it's finished, anything the record company wants to put out as a single is fine with me.”
The Signals album peaked at Number 10 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than a million copies. It was a Number Three album in the U.K.
