YYZ (4:26)

“YYZ” (pronounced “Y-Y-Zed” Anglican, “Y-Y-Zee” American) is an instrumental rock piece by Canadian rock band Rush, from the 1981 album Moving Pictures. 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 where it was performed during that show, but omitted from the DVD, and “Exit…Stage Left” concert DVD, where the song is not performed live, but rather used as a backdrop during a brief talk set by the band). It is also not on “All the World’s a Stage” due to it not having been released yet. 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.) This song also appeared as the 2nd last encore in the game Guitar Hero II and appears as a downloadable song for Rock Band, along with the rest of the Moving Pictures album.

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 it’s tracking the right station. The song’s introduction, played in a time signature of 5/4, repeatedly renders the letters “Y-Y-Z” in Morse Code using various musical arrangements.