Background
The writing of the album began in July 1979, at a farmhouse at Lakewoods Farm in Ontario on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron while Peart started his lyrics in a cottage near there. They began with an instrumental jam, which they nicknamed "Uncle Tounouse". Parts of this were used in the songs on the album. While Peart worked on lyrics, Lifeson and Lee would work on musical ideas in the basement. Within a few days they had put together "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill", and "Jacob's Ladder", which came very naturally to them, and it was recorded on a Slider JVC mobile unit. "Entre Nous" was the only lyric completed ahead of time.
Neil was working on making a song out of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the medieval epic from King Arthur's time. Based on the story written in the 14th century, he was trying to keep its original style. It was deemed too out of place with the other material and was discarded. They moved into Sound Kitchen studio in Toronto to record demos, joined by producer Terry Brown. "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill", and "Jacob's Ladder" were further polished on the warm-up tour during soundchecks.
In 1982, Lee told Rolling Stone Magazine that the album's title referred to "a theory that was going about, like, culture waves; and there was a night when Neil said that a big album was like a permanent wave and I told him, 'that's our title.'"
Rush headed to Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec and began tweaking the settings of instruments and positioning of microphones. They recorded basic tracks with multiple takes until they captured the best performance. While Lee, Lifeson, and Terry Brown began overdubs, Peart began attempting to write another epic song to replace the discarded "Green Knight", and after enduring three days of writer's block, "Natural Science" was born. Fin Costello was then brought in to photograph the band in the studio. Cover art director Hugh Syme was also brought in and added a piano solo to "Different Strings". Music was composed for "Natural Science", with some leftover parts from "Green Knight". The tide pool effects for the song were created by splashing oars in the private lake, performed by producer Terry Brown and studio assistant Kim Bickerdike, and the natural echo outside was used to record various instruments. The rough mixes on the album were complete, and the final mix was completed in a week at Trident studios, London.
Read more about this topic: Permanent Waves
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