Geddy Lee Releases Demo Song About Neil Peart Family Tragedy

Geddy Lee has released two demos from his 2000 solo album My Favorite Headache, including one written about late Rush bandmate Neil Peart’s family tragedy.

“Gone” was a response to the car accident that took the life of Selena Taylor, Peart’s daughter, in 1997. She was 19 years old. Her mother died less than a year later – a second tragedy that Peart said was a result of the first.

“Gone” and partner track “I Am… You Are” can both be heard below.

In a recent interview with Q104.3, Lee explained: “When you lose somebody, you relive a lot of your other losses. And I was thinking about, ‘How does one deal with a sudden disappearance of someone from your life, especially a daughter?’ So I wrote this song with Ben [Mink].

“It was the first song we wrote for My Favourite Headache, and we demoed it, but it just felt… it was beautiful, but I felt it was too raw. It was too close to the bone. I didn’t think it was appropriate to release it, out of respect for Neil and the way he was. I didn’t feel it was right. So we shelved it.”

He added that “I Am… You Are” was “about relationships,” explaining: “It’s about me in the midst of a difficult conversation with my wife, which happened more than once in my life. I think the personal nature of that made it also maybe something I wasn’t prepared to follow through with.”

Geddy Lee ‘Lifted Up’ By Discovery of Lost Demos

Lee said he’d rediscovered both tracks last year and he felt “amazed how they stood up,” leading to a discussion with Rush collaborator. “And he came over and sat down and, well, he loved them and he loved how raw they were and he loved how honest he thought the vocals were… he just said, ‘Leave it with me. Let me play with them and see if I can clean them up without changing too much.’”

The tracks feature the original guitars and vocals, with new drums added. Co-writer Mink recorded a violin solo, which Lee described as “a corker.” He continued: “And it really lifted me up and made me remember how much fun it is to make records. … [T]hey will be released to radio, and I hope people get a kick out of them. I call them the lost demos, ‘cause that’s what they were, really. I’d forgotten completely about them.”

Geddy Lee, “Gone”

Geddy Lee, “I Am… You Are”