Template:Did you know nominations/Freewill (song)

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:24, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

Freewill (song)[edit]

  • ... that the Rush song "Freewill" was the last studio recording to use the "shrieking high range" of Geddy Lee's vocals? Source: "First, it marked the last time Lee sang like this on Rush's studio albums. ... Because Lee's shrieking high range had been a trademark of the band's style in the 1970s...this was a significant change in Rush's sound...in some sense the piercing last verse of "Freewill" could be heard as a farewell to Rush's early style" (McDonald, Chris (2009). Gass, Glenn; Magee, Jeffrey, eds. Rush, rock music and the middle class: dreaming in middletown. Profiles in Popular Music. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253221490. Pages 134-135)

5x expanded by Mindmatrix (talk). Self-nominated at 13:47, 21 October 2017 (UTC).

  • Expanded 5x according to User:Shubinator/DYKcheck, and article is plenty long enough. Meets policy. I've made a few copyedits to the text. There is a glitch with a note, and I understand that notes normally come before the full references, so this could be tidied, but those are minor points (but it would be good if you could fix these). I've managed to access the ref text through Google Books, and can verify it as a result. However, it sounds like there is more of a story behind this that it might be good to include in the hook, particularly that this is (only?) in the last verse; that the vocal technique was an "acquired taste"; and that the change to more moderate tones increased Rush's sales. @Mindmatrix: do you think it would be worth expanding the hook here to cover these points? Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 23:10, 24 October 2017 (UTC)
  • {{note}} and {{ref}} don't play nice with {{reflist}} I've converted these to {{efn}} and {{notelist}}, which appear to use the same layout as the other ref/citation templates already in use. I didn't include "acquired taste" because I felt it was a generic, subjective comment that can be made about anything (all music styles are acquired tastes). Regarding the change to moderate tones - that occurs in other songs in the album, and in their subsequent albums, but doesn't really apply to this song (I understand what you're going for, but in my opinion creating a clause to attach to the hook would make the hook unwieldly). I should probably add that tidbit to the article though, or perhaps the article Permanent Waves. I'm OK with adding "last verse" in the hook (and yes, the "shrieking" only occurs in the last verse) somehow, though my attempts to come up with one throughout the day only generated an awkward result: ...that the last verse of the Rush song "Freewill" was the last studio recording to use the "shrieking high range" of Geddy Lee's vocals? (Awkward because "last studio recording" refers to the song, not the verse, so this sentence is semantically incorrect.) I'm certainly open to suggestions for this (or a different hook, if you'd like). I've added a few ALTs for consideration, just in case, though I still prefer the original. Mindmatrix 22:20, 25 October 2017 (UTC)
  • ALT1: ... that guitarist Alex Lifeson of Rush described the band's song "Freewill" as "frenetic and exciting"?
  • ALT2: ... that guitarist Alex Lifeson said "Freewill" is "one of the most ambitious pieces of music Rush has ever done"?
OK, let's stick with the original hook then. I'm marking this as good to go now. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 23:41, 25 October 2017 (UTC)