Music: Tom Sawyer

I'm in a celebratory mood, despite all the bad stuff that's happened over the past few weeks. I'd even venture to say that I have a cautious optimism - I'm not Pangloss-like or anything, but believing the doom and gloom being tossed around the Web (especially in an election year) is a recipe for becoming out of touch with reality.

Which brings us to today's song selection, "Tom Sawyer," a popular song by Rush. It's long been a favorite of mine (libertarian-influenced prog rock featuring one of the world's greatest rock drummers? Bring it on!), but I never actually owned a copy until I saw "Moving Pictures" on sale for $7 in the UF law school bookstore, of all places (they also had other classic albums, like "2112" and Nirvana's "In Utero").

Here's a live performance from the old days. Even back then, you can see how dedicated Rush was to reproducing the studio sound of the album (Alex Lifeson, for instance, is using floor pedals to trigger effects in addition to playing guitar):



No, his mind is not for rent
To any God or government
Always hopeful yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent
But change is.