The Spirit of Radio
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| “The Spirit of Radio” | ||||||||||||||
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| Single by Rush from the album Permanent Waves |
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| Released | January 1, 1980 | |||||||||||||
| Format | vinyl record (7" / 12") | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 1979, Le Studio, Quebec | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Progressive rock | |||||||||||||
| Length | 4:56 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Mercury Records | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Rush and Terry Brown | |||||||||||||
| Rush singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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| "Resist" (1997) |
"The Spirit of Radio" (Live) (1998) |
"Secret Touch" (2002) |
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| Permanent Waves track listing | ||||||||||||||
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"The Spirit of Radio" is a song first released in 1980 by popular Canadian rock band Rush on their album Permanent Waves. The song's name was inspired by Toronto radio station CFNY's catchphrase[citation needed]. The song was significant in the growing popularity of the band. The band had grazed the UK Top 40 two years earlier with "Closer to the Heart", but when issued as a single in March 1980, "The Spirit of Radio" became their breakthrough hit at the time, and soon raced to No.13 in the UK singles chart.
The final lines of the song (For the words of the profits/Were written on the studio walls./Concert Hall) are an allusion to the famous lines from the Simon and Garfunkel classic "The Sound of Silence": ...the words of the prophets/Are written on the subway walls./And tenement halls.
The lyric "a question of your honesty... yeah, your honesty", where the second part is sung in a slightly lower voice (with a New York accent), is a tongue-in-cheek jab at Billy Joel and his 1978 hit "Honesty".
"The Spirit of Radio" was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, Rush's only such entry.
The song was subsequently covered by the UK alternative rock band Catherine Wheel, as an exclusive track for CFNY's second Ongoing History of New Music compilation.
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