Rush | Limelight (1981)
"Limelight" is a song by the Canadian progressive rock band Rush. It first appeared on the 1981 album Moving Pictures.
1981-02-28 19:00:00 - Music Video
The song's lyrics were written by Neil Peart with music written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. "Limelight" expresses Peart's discomfort with Rush's success and the resulting attention from the public.
The song paraphrases the opening lines of the "All the world's a stage" speech from William Shakespeare's play As You Like It; the band had previously used the phrase for its 1976 live album. The lyrics also refer to "the camera eye", the title of the song that follows on the Moving Pictures album.
Released as a single, it charted at No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Top Tracks chart and No. 55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and remains one of Rush's most popular songs commercially.
"Limelight" was one of five Rush songs inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28, 2010.
It was listed at No. 435 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2021.