Rush is considered a gifted musician and performer whose shows offer a musical celebration. His distinctive guitar style, wry humor and warm, expressive voice have made him both a legend and a lure to audiences around the world. His shows are filled with the rib-aching laughter of terrific story-telling, the sweet melancholy of ballads and the passion of gritty blues.
Rush's impact on the American music scene has been profound. He helped shape the folk revival in the '60s and the renaissance of the '80s and '90s, his music having left its stamp on generations of artists. James Taylor told Rolling Stone, "Tom was not only one of my early heroes, but also one of my main influences." Country music star Garth Brooks has credited Rush with being one of his top five musical influences. Rush has long championed emerging artists. His early recordings introduced the world to the work of Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and James Taylor, and in more recent years his Club 47 concerts have brought artists such as Nanci Griffith and Shawn Colvin to wider audiences when they were just beginning to build their own reputations.
Rush began his musical career in the early '60s playing the Boston-area clubs while a Harvard student. The Club 47 was the flagship of the coffee house fleet, and he was soon holding down a weekly spot there, learning from the legendary artists who came to play, honing his skills and growing into his talent. He had released two albums by the time he graduated.
Rush displayed then, as he does today, an uncanny knack for finding wonderful songs, and writing his own - many of which have become classics re-interpreted by new generations. (It is testimony to the universality of his appeal that his songs have been folk hits, country hits, heavy metal and rap hits.) Signed by Elektra in 1965, Rush made three albums for them, culminating in The Circle Game, which, according to Rolling Stone, ushered in the singer/songwriter era.
In the early '70s, folk turned to folk-rock, and Rush, ever adaptable, saw more room to stretch out. Recording now for Columbia, he toured tirelessly with a five man band, playing concerts across the country. Endless promotional tours, interviews, television appearances, and recording sessions added up to five very successful but exhausting years, after which Tom decided to take a break and "recharge" his creative side at his New Hampshire farm.
Rush returned with a splash in 1981, selling out Boston's prestigious Symphony Hall in advance. Time off had not only rekindled Rush's love of music, it had re-ignited music audiences' love of Rush's music.
He instinctively knew that his listeners were interested in both the old and the new, and set out to create a musical forum - like the Club 47 of the early '60s - to allow established artists and newcomers to share the same stage. In 1982, he tried it out at Symphony Hall. The show was such a hit it became an annual event, growing to fill two, then three nights, and the Club 47 series was born. Crafting concerts that combined well known artists such as Bonnie Raitt or Emmylou Harris with (then) unknowns like Alison Krauss or Mark O' Connor, Rush took the show on the road. From the '80s to the present day, Club 47 events have filled the nation's finest halls to rave reviews, and have been broadcast as national specials on PBS and NPR.
In 1999, Columbia/Legacy released a Tom Rush retrospective album that covered his recorded musical history from 1962 to the present, including tracks recorded for Columbia, Elektra, Prestige and his independent years. Entitled "The Very Best of Tom Rush: No Regrets", the 17-track compilation includes as a bonus a brand new Tom Rush composition, "River Song," which features vocal contributions from Grammy winners Shawn Colvin and Marc Cohn.
A live CD, "Trolling for Owls" released in 2003 and published by Tom's NIGHTLIGHT RECORDINGS, captures a complete performance and includes, for the first time, some of the spoken stories that have endeared him to audiences.
In 2018, at age 79, he released the album "Voices".
These Days
Tom Rush Lyrics
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Well I've been out walking
I don't do that much talking these days
These days
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to
And I had a lover
I don't think I'll risk another these days
These days
Now if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
Well it's just cause I've been losing so long
I quit my scheming
I don't do all that dreaming these days
These days
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten
Don't confront me with my failures
I have not forgotten them
Tom Rush's song "These Days" is a deeply reflective piece, which encapsulates the idea of a person who has come to terms with his failures in life. The opening line "Well, I've been out walking, I don't do that much talking these days" suggests that the singer has become very introspective and less talkative of late. He is in a time of reflection, looking back on his life, conjuring up memories of things he never did and missed opportunities. This idea is expressed in the lines "These days I seem to think a lot about the things that I forgot to do and all the times I had the chance to".
The second verse speaks of a lover that the singer has lost, and he is scared to take a risk of loving another person since he does not want to feel the same pain again. He admits that he has been losing for a long time and has stopped scheming about how he could have done things differently. The line "These days I sit on cornerstones and count the time in quarter tones to ten", speaks to the singer's obsession with the past and reliving the same memories over and over again. The chorus is haunting, with the singer asking not to confront him with his failures since he has not forgotten them.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I've been out walking
I have been spending my time strolling around
I don't do that much talking these days
I have reduced my communication with others lately
These days
Currently
These days I seem to think a lot
Recently I am pondering more
About the things that I forgot to do
Regretting the tasks that have slipped my mind
And all the times I had the chance to
Remembering the occasions that I missed out on
And I had a lover
I had a romantic partner
I don't think I'll risk another these days
I am hesitant to pursue another love interest currently
Now if I seem to be afraid
If I appear to be scared
To live the life that I have made in song
To truly follow through with the life I depicted in my music
Well it's just cause I've been losing so long
I have suffered from a prolonged losing streak
I quit my scheming
I gave up my plotting
I don't do all that dreaming these days
I have lowered my rate of fantasizing
These days I sit on corner stones
Recently I spend time perched on street corners
And count the time in quarter tones to ten
I calculate time incrementally and precisely up to ten
Don't confront me with my failures
Please do not bring up my past missteps
I have not forgotten them
However, I still remember them
Contributed by Brayden Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.