An example of how to tap into Rake and run a log line prior to every Rake Task run.

rake_logger_example.rb

# lib/rake/logging.rb

require 'rake'

module Rake
  module Logging
    def invoke_task *args
      puts "Running: #{parse_task_string args.first}" # ...or do whatever
      super
    end
  end
end

Rake::Application.class_eval do
  prepend Rake::Logging
end

FYI: parse_task_string is part of Rake::Application