Distant Early Warning (song)

Distant Early Warning is a song by the Canadian rock band Rush. It was released as the first single from their 1984 album Grace Under Pressure.

The song became a hit, as it reached number 3 on the Mainstream Rock charts.

Background
News stories from the Toronto-based newspaper The Globe and Mail inspired the lyrics for "Distant Early Warning".

A music video for the song was made. The video became a hit on MTV.

"Distant Early Warning" is in the key of A minor.

Neil Peart, the band's drummer, said that the song's main theme are several things, "but that's certainly one of the idea[s] (our very tense world situation), and living in the modern world basically in all of its manifestations in terms of the distance from us of the threat of superpowers and the nuclear annihilation and all of that stuff, and these giant missiles pointed at each other across the ocean."

The original title for "Distant Early Warning" was "Red Alert".

Reception
Greg Prato (from AllMusic) praised the song, writing that the songwriting was still strong, despite the song being more accessible than the band's previous records. Prato picked the song as one of the album's highlights.

Odyssey rated the song 5/5, and wrote that the song's chorus is possibly one of Rush's catchiest. Of Geddy Lee's playing on the song, they wrote that his bass playing is at it's best, and that the synths were amazing. They also considered it to be the fourth best Rush song, and the best from Grace Under Pressure.

Classic Rock readers voted "Distant Early Warning" the band's 48th best song.

Ultimate Classic Rock ranked the song number 51 on their list of "All 167 Rush Songs Ranked Worst to Best". They wrote that it sounded "eerily like the Police".

Covers
Swedish rock band Ghost recorded a cover of "Distant Early Warning" during the recording of their covers EP Phantomine, but it remains unreleased.