RUSH Alex lifeson first video "Run Willie Run"

Alex lifeson first video children sor
Filmed in 1970 or '71, this movie contains the oldest known recorded performance of Alex Lifeson

[@STRATCAT101]

Alex lifeson is one of the most amazing guitarists ever. My friends and i first seen the original rush with John Rutsey by city hall,we thought they were great even back then.We stayed till they were all packed up.I said to them that they were f***ing great.alex looked at us and said thanks.thats it,but i will never forget it,i love rush.

[@bensherstinsky]

Dude that's INSANE, really epic that you got to see Rush in such early stages like that

[@stevejohnson5477]

I'm glad i'm not the only one that can appreciate that​@@bensherstinsky

[@MrRanawari]

Wow....that's a great story you'll always remember. Thanks for sharing. Lucky guy..😎👌

[@rsd338]

alex a great guitarist and RUSH the tightest band in Rock LIVE....memories

[@davidce3rash]

Love this song, old footage Jam session and dancing. Alex is such a goofball.

[@mda037]

Alex acknowledged in an interview that he took part in this documentary. So yes...that's him.

[@bsn66golf]

Geddys voice was cool in the old days, but I've listened to him the last 2 albums closely, and i think his voice sounds as good as ever. Not as high pitched as as 30 years ago, but I like how he sounds today on the Snakes and Arrows album. He obviously has made an adjustment as he's gotten older, but his voice has seasoned quite nicely.

[@74jailbreaker]

It was the early 70's man, I wouldn't be surprised.

[@SnowDogRedSectorEh]

We do get to see an argument between him and his parents near the end of the film, over his decision not to go to college! "I was involved with that. It was ten kids living on a farm together for ten weeks and the interaction between them, and the cameras were always on, like reality TV before reality TV. Allan King was the filmmaker and he had made a few films like that...I auditioned for it and there were about three hundred kids who went up for it.

[@mikebell2112]

It sounded to me like he was dropping out of grade 12.

[@SnowDogRedSectorEh]

(excuse the 500 character limit) oh it's him. Alex Lifeson made his film debut as himself under his birth name (Alex Zivojinovich) in the Canadian movie Come on Children Filmed in 1970 or '71, this movie contains the oldest known recorded performance of Alex Lifeson. In the film, Alex performs "Run Willie Run" a Rush original written in 1969, on acoustic guitar with an unknown co-actor providing the vocals.

[@user-hf9vf9kf8t]

I love the introduction song in the movie.

[@Sid-gu5qk]

John Hamilton singing.

[@bsn66golf]

i clicked this last night, it works fine!

[@bsn66golf]

This was recorded between January 7 and March 7 of 1971 at New Castle, Ontario. Canada

[@GEDDY37]

Seems there was many camera, angles, kind of odd

[@Sid-gu5qk]

​@@GEDDY37it's from a documentary, there was a crew.

[@siitrom]

I was 2yrs old..... peace

[@2kosher]

Great job on the recreation!

[@666slink]

Yeeeesh! Thank god he joined Rush!

[@atatterson6992]

He MADE rush

[@littlecave]

i love this with the fiery passion of a thousand and one suns

[@19nervousbreak]

As someone who has followed Rush plenty from their early days from small halls and even schools to stadiums it is always a laugh to read all the stuff people post who consider themselves experts on the history of this band. Despite most of the nonesence posted I expect they will keep performing anyway. Cool band!

[@TonyCota]

We all start somewhere!

[@WRITERCAB]

That's so cool.......

[@jumbleothia]

It's funny jams like these that escalate into more serious playing. Alex (in his younger days) probably had lots of fun doing this sort of thing, and probably realized the importance of free style jamming without all the rules! Good for him!

[@bsn66golf]

This was actually produced and directed by Alan King in 1972..a well known producer of Canadian documentaries and films.

[@Jmier75]

i think its really cool at the start of the song his voice is really low and serous then he brings it up a notch it gos really will with the beat of the song. good video

[@mortr8007]

He might have a lil rock n roll career someday?

[@curtisgtrdaddy]

alex still parties... you dont get arrested on new years eve straight!!! and he parties hard...

[@areolaman]

If Alex's parents moved to Tenesee he might have ended up in a hillbilly band.

[@bsn66golf]

I went to IMDB website and punched in the Alex's name. Yes, this apparently was released on Mar 21, 1973, no doubt done way earlier as noted here by the poster. It is Alex Lifeson. Saw the names of the other people who were in this video, yet IMDB gives no other info on these guys with Alex. Apparently one shot, one kill with these teens. Alex was the only one out of this group that made the big time. I doubted this at first, but now I realize this is him..Good find from the guy who posted this.

[@auggielau]

@Gbeagle Yep...watch the "Beyond The Lighted Stage". Geddy and Alex both mention they were really high when they recorded "Caress Of Steel" ;-)

[@thedancemusickidvinniemichael]

Jon Lauman Hahaha no way thats crazy ya i remember seeing it in the movie

[@SnowDogRedSectorEh]

also, if you don't think it's Alex, search for "Rush - A Farewell to Kings" Even though that's about 5 or 6 years later than this video you'll see the "Hippie" Alex.

[@SnowDogRedSectorEh]

Although the only full song performed by Alex is "Run Willie Run", in another scene he is shown playing something like a Hendrix Tribute ("Star Spangled Banner") for a group of the kids, but no other complete songs are in the film. All in all it is a fairly boring film (see Alex's comments below), where Alex comes off as the most stable of the kids mainly because he doesn't talk very much.

[@jgweems]

I think I got a contact high watching this video. :)

[@choosky]

This is Lifeson's most brilliant guitar playing ever!! lol

[@bsn66golf]

yes it is John Hamilton. Noreen McCallum has responded to this video if you look back at the past responses to this video. Not sure which woman she is in the video, but she did email me and another poster many months back.

[@petervandebor1828]

I BELIEVE THERE IS A FUTURE FOR THAT ALEX LIFESON ,WAITIN FOR A GEDDY UP AND GO GIGGITY

[@LiveOnQueen]

hahahah u bet they were prob all baked. im surprised ged's not there....hmm i wonder why. epic rare video. thanks for posting! it just made my day. :D

[@bestsongevah5543]

remember walls were so small that we could possibly bruise apples while juggling

[@ronbryan969]

Rember watching this as a youngster loved when theyre spliiting up the hash

[@Kiekhaefer6]

At one point in this film they drop acid and Lifeson does an electric guitar freak out 😂

[@JoeEmptySea]

alex admitted to doing hashish back in the day in one one of the tourbooks

[@SnowDogRedSectorEh]

It didn't turn out the way Allan invisioned it would. We weren't very interesting so nothing really happened with it. It kind of flopped as an idea. It shows up on TV occasionally; I've seen it, it was on a few months ago. I was going through the channels, and there I was and it was really shocking. It was nineteen-seventy. I was seventeen at the time." - Alex Lifeson, "Closer To The Art", Classic Rock, Oct. 2004

[@amore101]

Damn ePhilosopher, you have the most creative insults, putdowns, and hilarious comments on youtube. Keep it up lol. I love your comment on a fan video of From the Begining. " Burp What did I say..." AHAHAHHAHA LOLMFAO!!!!

[@xyz321123]

The chick holding the cat looks really high. LOL

[@jcfbell3001]

interesting how precise his hand motions are

[@bsn66golf]

ahhh..I see. Just got my tickets for Mohegan Sun...I'm so happy I could scream Run Willy Run...

[@donottawaguitar]

cool history

[@Shortpride78]

agree

[@jarg2112]

You might want to check out the lyrics to A Passage To Bangkok

[@cristobaldominguez]

from my old long vault

[@Tralman1965]

If I was Alex Lifeson I would give up my fortune to make sure nobody ever sees this clip.

[@MargDBX]

You dumb

[@bsn66golf]

Alan Dunikowsky, Ken Gibbs, John Hamilton, Jane Harrison, Lesley Henry, Noreen McCallum, Alex Lifeson,Joanne Lye.

[@stuka52]

Those chicks are now grandmothers!

[@Vaughnrush]

They are so high right now

[@bsn66golf]

Noreen you tubed a message to me this morning. I swear, I never expected that in a million years. I just want to know which one she is in the video. I assured her in my email back to her that we we're just Rush/Lifeson fans who saw this video and whether anyone had some insight in it. I was flattered with her response, but I feel I pissed her off or something. It's cool she responded, but I gather she wants nothing to do with talking to us.

[@dalegribble60]

Ah pot is so much fun!

[@cscdfalls]

the guy sitting back kind of strung out is my uncle pete, he used to hang out with alex and them. this video apparently they had taken LSD. kind of apparent lol... but he doesn't remember being in this exact video however

[@rockston11]

@Gbeagle Terry Brown himself even illustrates that they break before the guitar solo was the sound of one of them puffing a joint.

[@simplegrl]

holy shit that is awesome

[@bsn66golf]

Movie from 1971 called Come on Children. Go to Alankingfilms.come and click this name and it'll explain about the movie. There's a nice picture of Alex at the sight.

[@CSXer]

The thing that made me wonder is if this was pre-Rush, it would have to be in the mid to late 60's. Movie cameras WITH sound were quite expensive back then. Not something you'd expect to see kids playing around with. This film looks more like it's from the mid-late 70's.

[@bsn66golf]

were you one of the kids portrayed in this video? I posted some names I saw on IMDB, but not sure which name goes to which person in the video. They seem like good kids who were just having a great time. Has this ever been talked about with them as they became older and lived there seperate lives? It would be kind of neat to get a follow up on these kids who were with Alex. I wonder if they alll became RUSH fans or keep in touch to some extent with Alex. When i first saw this it gave me chills.

[@Driven2Beers]

Imagine how much money I coulda made marketing the bong water as a souvenir! 🤑🤑🤑

[@n2112bytor2112p]

@bmandyd1102 where did u here that

[@n2112bytor2112p]

what movie is this?

[@AlexConley]

They never met Neil until he joined them in 74/75 I'm pretty sure.

[@spaden2112]

it's him

[@cciemail]

but when you click on that link, the video is missing there. it has a blank box.

[@Juckpulver]

Was this shot at the Spawn Movie Ranch before, or after the Tate/Bianca killings?

[@d0gg0ds]

@xyz321123 I cracked up when you wrote this, because that was exactly what I was thinking!

[@sciencebase]

Is that Peart in the background with the 'tache twiddling with a piece of string or something? Surely not, this looks like late 60s...

[@bsn66golf]

I asked Noreen in an email which person she was in the video, but sadly she wouldn't tell me. I sensed she was freaked we we're talking about a video she was involved with long time ago before most of us were around.heck, I was aroun 5 or so when this was just being recorded or created. Last I heard she was in the health care industry in British Columbia.

[@paltieri11]

would be so nice to know Alex thoughts on this video...:)

[@MichaelHansenFUN]

on netflix in the saved section

[@bsn66golf]

People in the movie/video..Alan Dunikowsky, Ken Gibbs, Lesey Henry,Alex Lifeson,Joanne Lye,Noreen McCallum, Sharon Wall, and Richard McMullen.

[@user-rh1ci8hi4x]

I knew Joanne Lye - she went to Leaside High School, same as me. Same as Jeff Jones, who was the original bass player for Rush. Lye went on to become brainwashed by Scientologists and, well, you know the rest of the story. She was weird in the first place....

[@bsn66golf]

Go to the beginning of these posts and look for the website "muttville" mentioned. Do that and you get this same video with sound.

[@bsn66golf]

The girl Noreen in this video just sent me a you tube message, so I'm guessing she just watched this video. I asked her which one she was, but I haven't heard from her yet. Maybe she can shed some light on this video. I'd love to here back from her. I'm Vic, come on here Noreen and talk with us if you want.

[@sickb2200]

I'll bet that flute smelled...peculiar. "meow. meow. meow-meow."

[@user-wm1js2no9x]

You gotta start some where! RUSH WORLDS GREATEST 3 PIECE ORCHESTRA🥁🎸🎙🎼🎷

[@herostatus]

This is from the 1973 documentary "Come On Children"

[@MargDBX]

Filmed in 71

[@siitrom]

fucked up thing..... this is one catchy tune.....best sounding flute I ever heard peace

[@bsn66golf]

that's intertesting. Ask your uncle or if you know which woman in the video is Noreen McCallum. She responded to this video long ago via an email to me. Tried to get so insight from her on this video she participated in, but didn't want to talk. I have heard the sound to this long ago and it's rather jovial.

[@bsn66golf]

according to muttville, she's in the health/care field or something. She has a you tube account, and has told me she was one of the girls in the video. Basically asked me who I was or who I knew. I was shocked to even get a response. Both muttville and I we're shocked she responded..wouldn't you be?

[@theshortbusbully]

Its from a pseudo documentry filmed in 1971 called "Come on Children"

[@bsn66golf]

is that kid playing the flute or smoking out of it? I've heard the audio of this and he's blowing into it, but I sware I hear nothing coming out. Most likely they're all high in this video, I wonder if Alex is. Wouldn't hold it against him if he was being he's always been a straight up guy and overall good person.

[@beefheart67]

hey wheres the sound

[@bsn66golf]

@OHanswerME4Hamlet20 this is a documentary from aa movie called Come on Children. Yes it is Alex and he's playing in the video. Go on Amazon or the website of the producer of this who sells these documenteries. I believe it costs around 3o dollars..to own. It was prodeuced in Canada..to my knowledge it hasn't been shown in the US. One of the girls on this video has posted on this, but has no interest in elaborating more about the video.

[@MsBenlane]

was shown on the criterion channel, they show everything from arthouse stuff, goddard and such to grindhouse meister hershell gordon lewis.

[@littlecave]

hahah this kid is aweome

[@bluesman71]

Clap on Clap off. Everybody now.

[@lifeson241]

With Alex Lifeson?

[@Catnip11147]

Too bad there's no audio for this vid. I would love to hear the song!

[@bansheebot2]

That was from the song "Huck Finn" later changed a bit and made into "Tom Sawyer" lol

[@areolaman]

@MisterHuskey lol... you might have been in the band with him.

[@Hanysegh]

I think, that it is Alex. Because in 0:50, it looks like John Rutsey, the first drummer of Rush

[@journeyquest1]

I think this is before Lifeson moved from the Ozarks.

[@Raakiszh]

@skorziks I know your comment is nine months old, but I just have to correct you here. Psychedelics like shrooms and LSD are in no way hard drugs, they are in fact lighter drugs than weed. I know for a fact that Neil has done acid, it's in one of his books.

[@cciemail]

I tried that. the video is missing there.

[@SnowDogRedSectorEh]

not likely - this is at least 12 years b4 power windows! the clip with audio can be seen/heard by pasting this addy after a triple w dot and replacing the 3 spaces with dots film queensu ca/King/Movies/childrenSor html

[@weykooey]

No lie my friend. We went to Georges Vanier Collegiate on Don Mills Rd. north of Finch Ave. in North Willowdale, the outskirts of Toronto. We liked a girl named Janice B---well .... He will remember her, and my bet friend Cliff if you know him.

[@littlecave]

why would you think so? have you seen the documentary?

[@ValentineGermaine]

i'm kinda thinkin' this is not a vintage clip... looks modern to me!

[@xyz321123]

Seriously guys, these guys smoked pot in the 70's and early 80's period! Watch the the permanent waves studio interview on youtube, they are way high and that is 1980 i think.

[@paultown6572]

Should have been used on Caress of Steel

[@SnowDogRedSectorEh]

I see ........

[@Roger8176]

Uh guys...I was kidding...Jeeze. I'm not that dumb. These are clearly outtakes from Fly By Night sessions. If I was to guess what you are seeing here is probably the birth of By-Tor and The Snowdog.

[@user-rh1ci8hi4x]

wtf drugs are you taking? Totally out to lunch...