# Animate (song)

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1993 song by Rush

"Animate" Song by Rush from the album Counterparts Released 1993 Recorded 1993 Genre Progressive rock Length 6:04 Label Anthem (Canada) Atlantic Songwriters Neil Peart (lyrics), Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson (music) Producers Peter Collins, Rush Rush singles chronology "Nobody's Hero" (1994) "Animate" (1993) "Double Agent" (1994)

"**Animate**" is a song by Canadian [progressive rock](/source/Progressive_rock) band [Rush](/source/Rush_(band)) from their 1993 album *[Counterparts](/source/Counterparts_(Rush_album))*. The song reached number 35 on the *Billboard* Mainstream Rock chart in 1994, staying on the charts for three weeks.[1]

The band's singer and bassist, [Geddy Lee](/source/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."[2]

## 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."[3] Lee liked Peart's count in at the start of the track as it displays a "human touch".[4] 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](/source/Camille_Paglia) to understand "what the modern man was supposed to be."[3] 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](/source/Curve_(band)) and [Lush](/source/Lush_(band)) used.[5]

The song is in the key of [D minor](/source/D_minor). The lead vocal ranges in [pitch](/source/Pitch_(music)) from B3 to A5.[6]

## Reception

[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic) described the song as being "straightforward".[7] *Classic Rock Review* thought that the song had a "decent overall sound" and a "very entertaining middle part".[8]

In a 1994 interview with *Modern Drummer Magazine*, the band's drummer, [Neil Peart](/source/Neil_Peart), said about the song: "I used a basic [R&B](/source/R%26B) 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](/source/Curve_(band)) and [Lush](/source/Lush_(band)). 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."[9]

## Covers

The [melodic death metal](/source/Melodic_death_metal) band [Allegaeon](/source/Allegaeon) released a cover of the song as a single on 5 January 2018. Mitchel Winney of [MetalSucks](/source/MetalSucks) said that the cover is a fine performance of the song, but that it was too close to the original.[10][11] *[Loudwire](/source/Loudwire)* thought that the cover was "solid [filler](/source/Filler_(media))" for fans that were waiting on [Allegaeon's next album](/source/Apoptosis_(album)).[12] Greg Kennelty of *Metal Injection* praised their cover, saying it was fantastic.[13]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Rush Animate Chart History"](https://www.billboard.com/artist/rush/chart-history/rtt/). *Billboard.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Animate"](https://rushvault.com/2011/02/13/animate). *Rushvault.com*. 13 February 2011.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Q10793_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Q10793_3-1) Warden, Steve (14 October 1993). ["The World Album Premier of 'Counterparts'"](http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19931014cppremiere.htm). *CILQ-FM* (Interview). Toronto, Ontario. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20181119011014/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19931014cppremiere.htm) from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-TGM93_4-0)** Noble, Douglas J. (November 1993). ["Counter Attack"](http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19931100guitar.htm). *The Guitar Magazine*. Vol. 3, no. 9. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180819011115/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19931100guitar.htm) from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-MD94_5-0)** Miller, William F. (February 1994). ["Neil Peart: In Search of the Right Feel"](http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19940200moderndrummer.htm). *Modern Drummer*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180126202144/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19940200moderndrummer.htm) from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Animate"](https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0063270). *Musicnotes.com*. 29 December 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Counterparts - Rush | Songs, Reviews, Credits"](https://www.allmusic.com/album/counterparts-mw0000100427). [AllMusic](/source/AllMusic).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Counterparts by Rush - Classic Rock Review"](http://www.classicrockreview.com/2013/03/1993-rush-counterparts/). *Classicrockreview.com*. Retrieved 23 September 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Animate by Rush"](http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3455). *Songfacts.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Allegaeon Cover Rush's "Animate""](http://www.metalsucks.net/2018/01/05/allegaeon-covers-rushs-animate). *Metalsucks.net*. 5 January 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["ALLEGAEON launches cover of Rush's 'Animate' on all digital music services!"](https://www.metalblade.com/europe/news/allegaeon-launches-cover-of-rushs-animate). Metal Blade Records.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Allegaeon Revisit Rush Love with Cover of 'Animate'"](http://loudwire.com/allegaeon-rush-cover-animate/). *Loudwire.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["ALLEGAEON Releases Cover of RUSH's "Animate," Will Hit the Studio in March"](http://www.metalinjection.net/av/new-music/allegaeon-releases-cover-of-rushs-animate-will-hit-the-studio-in-march). *Metalinjection.net*. 6 January 2018.

v t e Rush Alex Lifeson Geddy Lee Jeff Jones John Rutsey Neil Peart Studio albums Rush (1974) Fly by Night (1975) Caress of Steel (1975) 2112 (1976) A Farewell to Kings (1977) Hemispheres (1978) Permanent Waves (1980) Moving Pictures (1981) Signals (1982) Grace Under Pressure (1984) Power Windows (1985) Hold Your Fire (1987) Presto (1989) Roll the Bones (1991) Counterparts (1993) Test for Echo (1996) Vapor Trails (2002) Snakes & Arrows (2007) Clockwork Angels (2012) Live albums All the World's a Stage (1976) Exit... Stage Left (1981) A Show of Hands (1989) Different Stages (1998) Rush in Rio (2003) R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour (2005) Snakes & Arrows Live (2008) Grace Under Pressure Tour (2009) Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland (2011) Clockwork Angels Tour (2013) R40 Live (2015) Live videos Exit... Stage Left (1982) Grace Under Pressure Tour (1986) A Show of Hands (1989) Rush in Rio (2003) R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour (2005) Rush Replay X 3 (2006) Snakes & Arrows Live (2008) Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland (2011) Clockwork Angels Tour (2013) R40 Live (2015) Compilations Rush Through Time (1979) Chronicles (1990) Retrospective I (1997) Retrospective II (1997) The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974–1987 (2003) Gold (2006) Retrospective III: 1989–2008 (2009) Working Men (2009) Video compilations Through the Camera Eye (1985) Chronicles (1990) Box sets The Studio Albums 1989–2007 (2013) Extended plays Feedback (2004) Cygnus X-1 (2017) Singles "In the Mood" "Fly by Night" "Lakeside Park" "The Twilight Zone" "Making Memories" "Closer to the Heart" "Circumstances" "The Trees" "The Spirit of Radio" "Entre Nous" "Limelight" "Tom Sawyer" "Vital Signs" "New World Man" "Subdivisions" "Countdown" "Red Sector A" "Afterimage" "The Big Money" "Mystic Rhythms" "Time Stand Still" "Show Don't Tell" "The Pass" "Dreamline" "Roll the Bones" "Ghost of a Chance" "Stick It Out" "Nobody's Hero" "Test for Echo" "Half the World" "Driven" "One Little Victory" "Secret Touch" "Summertime Blues" "Far Cry" "Caravan" "Headlong Flight" Other songs "Working Man" "Before" and "After" I. "Into the Darkness" "Didacts and Narpets" "2112" "A Passage to Bangkok" "Tears" "Xanadu" "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres" (II. "Apollo Bringer of Wisdom" and III. "Dionysus Bringer of Love" IV. "Armageddon The Battle of Heart and Mind" VI. "The Sphere A Kind of Dream") "Freewill" "Red Barchetta" "YYZ" "Witch Hunt" "The Analog Kid" "Between the Wheels" "Marathon" "Manhattan Project" "Force Ten" "Mission" "Lock and Key" "Second Nature" "Heresy" "Animate" "Cold Fire" "The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)" Tours Hemispheres Tour (1978–1979) Moving Pictures Tour (1980–1981) Exit... Stage Left Tour (1981) Power Windows Tour (1985–1986) Hold Your Fire Tour (1987–1988) Presto Tour (1990) Roll the Bones Tour (1991–1992) Counterparts Tour (1994) Test for Echo Tour (1996–1997) Snakes & Arrows Tour (2007–2008) Time Machine Tour (2010–2011) Clockwork Angels Tour (2012–2013) R40 Live Tour (2015) Fifty Something Tour (2026–2027) Related articles Discography Songs Awards Instrumentals Victor My Favourite Headache A Work in Progress Anatomy of a Drum Solo Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road Hugh Syme Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage Working Man – A Tribute to Rush Category

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