"YYZ" is an instrumental rock piece by Rush, from the 1981 album Moving Pictures. This article is about the musical composition. ... Rush is a Canadian rock band originally formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario; presently comprised of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. ... An album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. ... Moving Pictures is the eighth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1981 (see 1981 in music). ... is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ... Hard Rock redirects here. ... In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... Mercury Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... Geddy Lee OC is a Canadian musician best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. ... Neil Ellwood Peart (pronounced ) OC, (born September 12, 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian musician and author. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Rush is a Canadian rock band originally formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario; presently comprised of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. ... Terry Brown is a record producer involved in a variety of work, but most noted for his involvement with the Canadian rock band Rush. ... Moving Pictures is the eighth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1981 (see 1981 in music). ... Red Barchetta is a song by the progressive rock band Rush from their album Moving Pictures. ... Moving Pictures track listing YYZ (Track 3) Limelight (Track 4) The Camera Eye (Track 5) Audio sample Limelight is a song by the Canadian progressive rock band Rush. ... Exit. ... Red Barchetta is a song by the progressive rock band Rush from their album Moving Pictures. ... 2112 track listing 2112 (Track 1) A Passage to Bangkok (Track 2) The Twilight Zone (Track 3) A Passage to Bangkok is the second song on Rushs album, 2112. ... Instrumental rock and roll is a type of rock and roll music which emphasises musical instruments, and which features no or very little singing. ... Rush is a Canadian rock band originally formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario; presently comprised of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. ... Moving Pictures is the eighth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1981 (see 1981 in music). ...

Following its initial release, it became one of the band's most popular pieces and has been a staple of the band's live performances. It appears on all live concert video recordings following its release (except R30; it was performed during that show but omitted from the DVD.) On both the live album Exit...Stage Left (1981), and the concert video recording A Show of Hands (1989), a version of the track is played with drummer Neil Peart integrating his full-length drum solo. (On all later live Rush recordings featuring a drum solo, the solo is its own separate track.) Exit. ... A Show of Hands is a videocassette/laserdisc released by the Canadian band Rush. ... Neil Ellwood Peart (pronounced ) OC, (born September 12, 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian musician and author. ...

Title and composition

YYZ is the IATA airport identification code for Toronto Pearson International Airport, of Rush's native area of Toronto. It is common practice for air navigation aids to broadcast their identifier code in Morse Code using VHF omnidirectional range (VOR). A plane using VOR equipment would then always know its tracking the right station. The song's introduction, played in a time signature of 10/8, repeatedly renders the letters "Y-Y-Z" in Morse Code using various musical arrangements. An IATA airport code, also known an IATA location identifier, IATA station code or simply a location identifier [1], is a three-letter code designating many airports around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). ... Toronto Airport redirects here. ... 1922 Chart of the Morse Code Letters and Numerals Morse code is a method for transmitting telegraphic information, using standardized sequences of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a message. ... D-VOR (Doppler VOR) ground station, co-located with DME. VOR, short for VHF Omni-directional Radio Range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. ... The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat. ...

"YYZ" is structured in the following arrangement: A-B-C-B-A. The song starts with the YYZ Morse Code played by Peart on the crotales (A). The guitar and bass join this pattern, using the dissonant interval of the tritone to distinguish Morse Code dots and dashes. The guitar and bass render the code by playing the root note of C for the "dashes" and the tritone F# for the "dots". The synthesizer melody played over this arrangement is an example of the Locrian mode. In live performances, the synthesizer part is played by bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee -- using a foot-pedal MIDI controller (Korg MPK-130 & Roland PK-5)^[1] -- while he plays the bass part. After two cycles of the melody, the synth ceases, and the bass drops one octave, the introduction ending on the guitar, bass, and drummer making hits on only the "dashes". A brief rest follows, before the next section. 1922 Chart of the Morse Code Letters and Numerals Morse code is a method for transmitting telegraphic information, using standardized sequences of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a message. ... In music, an arrangement loosely describes rewriting a piece of pre-existing music for a specific set of instruments or voices, often in harmony or with additional original material. ... Crotales (upper right) are often used with other mallet percussion Crotales, sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. ... For other uses, see Tritone (disambiguation). ... The Locrian mode is a musical mode or diatonic scale. ... A device, real or virtual, which generates and transmits MIDI data for operating musical devices or other devices which are electronically enabled for MIDI operation. ...

The next section features the guitarist, bassist, and drummer playing complex up- and down-scale runs for several measures, in unison. (This is done similarly in technique to a sequence of runs-in-unison from Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" (1980), also in which the section of runs separates the opening riff from a second major riff in the song.) The next pattern follows a verse structure, going from an F#m9 chord to a Am9 chord, then back to an F#m9, then to a Am9 again. Then, the guitarist plays another riff along with a F#m9 chord, where the bassist plays supporting bass notes. The chord structure goes from a F#m9, to a C Altered Dominant chord. This cycle of riffs repeats twice. Resist (1997) The Spirit of Radio (Live) (1998) Secret Touch (2002) Permanent Waves track listing Beginning of Album The Spirit of Radio (Track 1) Freewill (Track 2) The Spirit of Radio is a song first released in 1980 by popular Canadian rock band Rush on their album Permanent Waves. ...

In the next section (C), the guitar provides structure with rhythmic F#m9 and C chords, with the bass and drum trading fills at the end of each cycle. After the final, extended drum fill, the guitar plays an oriental scale oriented solo in Phrygian Dominant with the bass and drums playing complex patterns underneath. The solo climaxes with a guitar run, followed by a synthesizer break. Following this climactic section, the song returns to the arrangement established earlier in the song, after which it ends it a musical run combining bass and drums (with the guitar sustaining its last note from the previous section), a short reprise of the tritone section from the beginning held at the end according to a fermata, and finally, a short run in unison by bass, guitar, and drums to close the song. In popular music, a fill is a sound (or combination of sounds) which fills the brief time between lyrical phrases and lines of melody. ... A fermata (or hold or pause) is an element of musical notation indicating that the note should be sustained for longer than its note value would indicate. ...

Quotes

Drummer and lyricist Neil Peart has said, in reference to the airport code, "It's always a happy day when YYZ appears on our luggage tags."[1].

Awards and nominations

"YYZ" was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rock Instrumental category in 1982. YYZ lost to "Behind My Camel", by The Police, from their album Zenyatta Mondatta. Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music... The Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance has been awarded since 1980. ... The 24th Grammy Awards were held in 1982, and were broadcast live on American television. ... This article is about the rock band. ... Zenyatta Mondatta is the third album by The Police, released in 1980 (see 1980 in music). ...

Performances by other artists

The song has been covered in whole or in part by Tuesday's Coming, Godsmack, Primus (in the performance of "John the Fisherman" released on their 1989 live album Suck on This and in full during other concerts), Umphrey's McGee, and Dream Theater (as Majesty); and has been featured as a playable encore song in the video game Guitar Hero II. A clip of the YYZ intro cover from the earlier mentioned Suck on This is played at the beginning of their song To Defy the Laws of Tradition on the Frizzle Fry album. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson performed the song with Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, during a concert at Toronto's Air Canada Center in March 2008. For the Alice in Chains song, see God Smack (song). ... Primus is an American rock band currently composed of singer and bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry Ler LaLonde, and drummer Tim Herb Alexander. ... John the Fisherman is the first single by the alternative rock band Primus, released first live in 1989 on Suck on This, then re-released a year later, this time studio recorded, on Frizzle Fry. ... Suck on This is a live album by the band Primus, released in 1989 (see 1989 in music) and re-issued on April 23, 2002 (see 2002 in music) along with Frizzle Fry. ... Umphreys McGee is a progressive rock / jam band from Chicago, Illinois whose music is often referred to as progressive improvisation. ... Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Myung, John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, before they dropped out to support the band. ... The Majesty Demos were the first recorded attempts of the now famous progressive metal band Dream Theater, under their original name Majesty. The original 1986 tape contained six tracks which were recorded on Mike Portnoys analog 4-track recorder and another 4-track recorder obtained from friends at Berklee. ... GH2 redirects here. ... Suck on This is a live album by the band Primus, released in 1989 (see 1989 in music) and re-issued on April 23, 2002 (see 2002 in music) along with Frizzle Fry. ... Frizzle Fry is the first studio album recorded by the band Primus as Suck on This was a live album. ... Geddy Lee OC is a Canadian musician best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. ... Alex Lifeson, OC (born August 27, 1953), is a Canadian musician, known as the guitarist for the rock group Rush. ... This article is about the band. ... Oliver Taylor Hawkins (born on February 17, 1972 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters. ... The Air Canada Centre is an arena at 40 Bay Street, in downtown Toronto, Ontario. ...

External links

• Animated video for "YYZ," at Neil Peart's website

Neil Ellwood Peart (pronounced ) OC, (born September 12, 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian musician and author. ...

References

1. ^ Rush Rolls Again