Force Ten (song)

"Force Ten" is a song written, produced and performed by Canadian rock band Rush, released as a promotional single from their album Hold Your Fire. It was the last song written for the album. The song has been critically positively received, and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Writing and composition
According to Peart, the song describes the "storms of life," using storm level in the Beaufort wind scale as an analogy. Peart, a self described "weather fanatic", makes references to "the eye of the storm" and circling hurricanes in the lyrics. He also "express[es] appreciation" for the disproportionally small number of female fans at Rush shows "singing along, or air-drumming, or even dancing" in the lyric "cool and remote like dancing girls".

"Force Ten" was written in three hours on December 14, 1986, the last day of pre-production for Hold Your Fire. With nine songs already written, producer Peter Collins felt it was important to have one more song for the album. Pye Dubois, who previously worked with Rush on their song "Tom Sawyer", had sent Neil Peart some lyrics for the song, and Peart would add more verses to it.

Musically, "Force Ten" is composed in A minor, with changes into A major scale occurring in the song. The song is set in common time at a fast rock tempo. Peart has said that Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were "trying to explore some musical areas that we hadn't covered yet," when writing the music for the song. Lee performed bass chords in the song, inspired to do so by his friend Jeff Berlin. The song was described by The Cavalier Daily as "intense".

Release and reception
"Force Ten" was released in the United States by Mercury Records as a 12" vinyl one-track promotional single in 1987. It is the opening track of Rush's studio album Hold Your Fire, and the song later appear on compilation albums such as Chronicles, Retrospective II, The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987, Gold, Icon, and Sector 3. The song received a favorable critical reception, with Allmusic calling it "the band's [Rush] most immediate number in years," rating the song an AMG pick track. The song would make it on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, peaking #3.

Live Performance
Force Ten has been a staple of Rush’s live performances, as it has been played on every tour since its release up until the Vapor Trails Tour, when it was dropped. It was then put back in the setlist for their R30 Tour, and then dropped again for the next two tours, the Snakes and Arrows Tour and Time Machine Tour. It was then put back in the setlist for the Clockwork Angels Tour and removed for the R40 Live Tour.