Working Man is a song by rock band Rush from its debut album, Rush.
The middle of the song features an extensive instrumental jam with two guitar solos by Alex Lifeson, and freestyle bass playing by Geddy Lee. It was voted 94th in Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar solos.
Donna Halper, then a disc jockey and music director at WMMS FM in Cleveland, Ohio is credited with getting Rush noticed in the United States by playing "Working Man" on the air. The song proved particularly popular in the working-class town. The response resulted in a record deal for the band, which gave her special thanks for her part in their early history and dedicated their first two albums to her.
The song features the band's original drummer and co-founder, John Rutsey, who was replaced by Neil Peart. On the 1976 live album All the World's a Stage, the song segues into "Finding My Way" and one of Neil Peart's drum solos.
Two versions of the song are available as downloadable tracks for the music video game series Rock Band. One is a cover based on the original recording, while the other is a never before released master track with an alternate guitar solo. The alternate version proved so popular that the band released it on the iTunes Store as the "vault edition."
"Working Man" was also featured in episodes of the television shows, My Name is Earl, That 70's Show and Supernatural. It was also featured in the 2011 film Goon (film).
Read more about Working Man: Notable Covers, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words working and/or man:
“... we, like so many others who think more of working than of dying, care only to push on steadily, wishing less for cessation of toil than for strength to keep at it; and for wisdom to make it worthy of the ideal of labor and of life which we believe to be the most precious gift of Heaven to any soul.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“[F]rom Saratoga [N.Y.] till we got back to Northampton [Mass.], was then mostly desert. Now it is what 34. years of free and good government have made it. It shews how soon the labor of man would make a paradise of the whole earth, were it not for misgovernment, and a diversion of all his energies from their proper object, the happiness of man, to the selfish interests of kings, nobles and priests.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)