The Trees (Vault Edition) by Rush

Fans who love to ponder deep meanings in Rush songs had a field day with this one: Was the drummer/lyricist invoking the philosopher Ayn Rand again? Was he siding with the mighty oaks or the oppressed maples?

Peart isn’t saying; his only explanation was that the song was inspired by a cartoon where trees acted like people.

In any case, this was a key track on one of Rush’s most complex albums, Hemispheres—an album that had only three other songs, one of which covering a full side. And “The Trees” has turned up regularly in Rush’s setlists, most recently during the Snakes & Arrows tour in summer 2008.

The quiet midsection of “The Trees” features Peart playing a tuned wooden percussion device known as temple blocks.

You can better cope with the technical demands of this song if you get a handle on the time signature changes: It begins in 6/8, then turns into 4/4 when the band comes in, then the midsection is in five.

The guitar solo isn’t as demanding as the chordal parts in the rest of the song, but both guitar and bass require a lot of running up and down the neck.

On drums, the brief temple-block section will give you a few moments to catch your breath. But understanding the meter is the key to this one.

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