{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}} {{Infobox song | name = Animate | cover = | alt = | type = song | artist = [[Rush (band)|Rush]] | album = [[Counterparts (Rush album)|Counterparts]] | released = 1993 | format = | recorded = 1993 | studio = | venue = | genre = [[Progressive rock]] | length = 6:04 | label = [[Anthem Records|Anthem]] (Canada)<br/>[[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]] | writer = [[Neil Peart]] (lyrics), [[Geddy Lee]], [[Alex Lifeson]] (music) | producer = [[Peter Collins (record producer)|Peter Collins]], Rush | prev_title = [[Nobody's Hero (song)|Nobody's Hero]] | prev_year = 1994 | next_title = [[Double Agent (song)|Double Agent]] | next_year = 1994 }}
"'''Animate'''" is a song by Canadian [[progressive rock]] band [[Rush (band)|Rush]] from their 1993 album ''[[Counterparts (Rush album)|Counterparts]]''. The song reached number 35 on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock chart in 1994, staying on the charts for three weeks.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/rush/chart-history/rtt/ | title=Rush Animate Chart History|website=Billboard.com}}</ref>
The band's singer and bassist, [[Geddy Lee]], said "I love 'Animate'. I think it’s one of the great songs we've done. There's something about the bestiality of that song, the insistence of it."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://rushvault.com/2011/02/13/animate | title=Animate| website=Rushvault.com|date=2011-02-13}}</ref>
==Composition and recording== "Animate" features Lee playing his bass with an old amplifier that was in the studio garbage and repaired by one of the studio's technical assistants. Shirley wanted Lee to play his parts to "Animate" with it. "It sounded great, I had a tremendous amount of energy, and all the explosion sounds of it kind of disappeared in the track, so you're not really aware of the fact that it's an amplifier on the verge of death."<ref name=Q10793>{{cite interview|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19931014cppremiere.htm|title=The World Album Premier of 'Counterparts'|first=Steve|last=Warden|work=CILQ-FM|date=October 14, 1993|location=Toronto, Ontario|access-date=November 18, 2018|archive-date=November 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119011014/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19931014cppremiere.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Lee liked Peart's count in at the start of the track as it displays a "human touch".<ref name=TGM93>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19931100guitar.htm|title=Counter Attack|date=November 1993|volume=3|issue=9|first=Douglas J.|last=Noble|magazine=The Guitar Magazine|access-date=November 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819011115/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19931100guitar.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Lyrically, Peart wrote the words about one person yet structured them to make it as if it may concern a relationship, "almost a love song." He thought that such love lyrics had become a cliché throughout the 1980s, however, and turned to works by Jung and [[Camille Paglia]] to understand "what the modern man was supposed to be."<ref name=Q10793/> Peart said he plays a "basic R&B rhythm that I played back in my early days, coupled with that hypnotic effect" that bands like [[Curve (band)|Curve]] and [[Lush (band)|Lush]] used.<ref name=MD94>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19940200moderndrummer.htm|title=Neil Peart: In Search of the Right Feel|first=William F.|last=Miller|magazine=Modern Drummer|date=February 1994|access-date=November 20, 2018|archive-date=January 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126202144/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19940200moderndrummer.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
The song is in the key of [[D minor]]. The lead vocal ranges in [[Pitch (music)|pitch]] from B3 to A5.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0063270 | title=Animate|website=Musicnotes.com| date=2008-12-29}}</ref>
==Reception== [[AllMusic]] described the song as being "straightforward".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/counterparts-mw0000100427 | title=Counterparts - Rush | Songs, Reviews, Credits|publisher=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref> ''Classic Rock Review'' thought that the song had a "decent overall sound" and a "very entertaining middle part".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classicrockreview.com/2013/03/1993-rush-counterparts/|title=Counterparts by Rush - Classic Rock Review|website=Classicrockreview.com|accessdate=23 September 2018}}</ref>
In a 1994 interview with ''Modern Drummer Magazine'', the band's drummer, [[Neil Peart]], said about the song: "I used a basic [[R&B]] rhythm that I played back in my early days, coupled with that hypnotic effect that a lot of the British bands of the turn of the '90s had – bands like [[Curve (band)|Curve]] and [[Lush (band)|Lush]]. The middle section of the tune is the result of the impact African music has had on me, although it wasn't a specific African rhythm."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3455 | title=Animate by Rush |website=Songfacts.com}}</ref>
==Covers== The [[melodic death metal]] band [[Allegaeon]] released a cover of the song as a single on 5 January 2018. Mitchel Winney of [[MetalSucks]] said that the cover is a fine performance of the song, but that it was too close to the original.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.metalsucks.net/2018/01/05/allegaeon-covers-rushs-animate | title=Allegaeon Cover Rush's "Animate"|website=Metalsucks.net| date=2018-01-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.metalblade.com/europe/news/allegaeon-launches-cover-of-rushs-animate | title=ALLEGAEON launches cover of Rush's 'Animate' on all digital music services! |publisher=Metal Blade Records}}</ref> ''[[Loudwire]]'' thought that the cover was "solid [[filler (media)|filler]]" for fans that were waiting on [[Apoptosis (album)|Allegaeon's next album]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://loudwire.com/allegaeon-rush-cover-animate/ | title=Allegaeon Revisit Rush Love with Cover of 'Animate'|website=Loudwire.com}}</ref> Greg Kennelty of ''Metal Injection'' praised their cover, saying it was fantastic.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.metalinjection.net/av/new-music/allegaeon-releases-cover-of-rushs-animate-will-hit-the-studio-in-march | title=ALLEGAEON Releases Cover of RUSH's "Animate," Will Hit the Studio in March|website=Metalinjection.net| date=2018-01-06}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Rush}}
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[[Category:1993 songs]] [[Category:1994 singles]] [[Category:Rush (band) songs]] [[Category:Songs written by Neil Peart]] [[Category:Songs written by Geddy Lee]] [[Category:Songs written by Alex Lifeson]]