The lyrics are loosely based on a character Mark Twain created in his first novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The book was published 1876.
In Twain's book, Tom finds his way into different sorts of adventurous mishaps. Throughout the novel, Tom matures and experiences many rites of passage. Due to cultural and social changes, some public school copies have been edited, removing certain parts that were deemed offensive.
Pye Dubois, who is the lyricist for the band Max Webster, collaborated on this song as well as "Force Ten" and "Between Sun And Moon." This song began life as a Max Webster song titled "Louis The Warrior."
In the December 1985 Rush Backstage Club newsletter, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart said: "Tom Sawyer was a collaboration between myself and Pye Dubois, an excellent lyricist who wrote the lyrics for Max Webster. His original lyrics were kind of a portrait of a modern day rebel, a free-spirited individualist striding through the world wide-eyed and purposeful. I added the themes of reconciling the boy and man in myself, and the difference between what people are and what others perceive them to be - namely me I guess."
In Twain's book, Tom finds his way into different sorts of adventurous mishaps. Throughout the novel, Tom matures and experiences many rites of passage. Due to cultural and social changes, some public school copies have been edited, removing certain parts that were deemed offensive.
Pye Dubois, who is the lyricist for the band Max Webster, collaborated on this song as well as "Force Ten" and "Between Sun And Moon." This song began life as a Max Webster song titled "Louis The Warrior."
In the December 1985 Rush Backstage Club newsletter, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart said: "Tom Sawyer was a collaboration between myself and Pye Dubois, an excellent lyricist who wrote the lyrics for Max Webster. His original lyrics were kind of a portrait of a modern day rebel, a free-spirited individualist striding through the world wide-eyed and purposeful. I added the themes of reconciling the boy and man in myself, and the difference between what people are and what others perceive them to be - namely me I guess."