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Here is what the song is about according to Carol Selby Price and Robert Price, co-authors of the book Mystic Rhythms. “The title character in ‘Digital Man’ is he who left behind his identity as the analog kid. The digital man is the creature of a world of high-speed technology, of the breakneck pace, of a rat race in which human beings sooner or later wear down or burn out because they are forced to try to match the pace of tireless, instant-replay machine. He is pretty much the same image as the humanoid, only here the focus is less on his denatured degradation as it is on his function as a cog in a wheel.  In some ways, the perfect example of the digital man is Winston Smith, the hapless anti-hero, the card-carrying member of the party, of George Orwell’s nightmare masterpiece, 1984. Digital man as a species may be ascendant, but his fate is sealed. The mechanical world of which he is a part must eventually collapse under its own weight. The human spirit will burst forth like the Phoenix from its own pyre, and on that day we’ll see the emergence of the New World Man.” According to Neil Peart, “The digital man character was running in the fast lane, faster than life.  It was our first attempt at juggling disparate stylistic influences—ska, synth-pop, and hard rock—and at the time we ended up with three pieces of one song held together by Crazy Glue.” At this point-in-time, everyone was wanting a new direction.  This song was divisive.  Rush liked it while Terry Brown (long-time producer) didn’t. They had one of the very arguments with Brown about it.  They would usually come around to Brown’s point of view.  This time they didn’t.  In fact, Brown said it sucked.  This is in reference to the ska oriented bridges. Here is what Neil Peart had to say in “Dummer’s Diary.” “’Digital Man’ had actually been started last fall at Le Studio, when we had put together the lyrics and the music for the verses and the "ska" style bridges, but we had been unable to come up with the right combination for the choruses. After much head scratching, we finally came up with the sequencer pattern, and the guitar and drum patterns to go with it. We were all very pleased wit the dynamic and unusual nature of the part, it was so different for us; but our ‘objective-ear’, co-producer Terry Brown was not so enthused.” Divisive song indeed.

Digital Man (Phillip J. Roth, 1995)

Polaroid from Susan’s personal collection.

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