YYZ (song)
Encyclopedia
For the airport YYZ, see Toronto Pearson International Airport
.
"YYZ" 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. Following its release, the song has been featured on all live concert video recordings in some form. 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.
, located in Mississauga near Rush's hometown 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.
"YYZ" is structured in the following arrangement: A-B-C-B-A (with each of these sections containing smaller subsections). 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 pedal MIDI controller
(Korg MPK-130 & Roland PK-5) while he simultaneously 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 (one measure of two-four time; i.e., a half-note rest) pause follows, before the next section.
The next section features the guitarist, bassist, and drummer playing up- and down-scale runs for three measures (the first and third in common time and the second in two-four time), in unison. The first two measures of this section demonstrate the use of a C# natural minor scale juxtaposed against a C tonic so as to create a hybrid octatonic scale effect (i.e., the first, second and (flat) third degrees of C# natural minor—C#, D# and E -- functioning as the b2 (Db), #2 (D#) and 3 (E) of the C half-whole diminished scale; the fifth, (flat) sixth and (flat) seventh degrees of C# natural minor—G#, A and B -- functioning as the #5 (G#), 6 (A) and 7 (B) of the C whole-half diminished scale; the 4 (F#) of C# natural minor functions as the tri-tone (#4/b5) of both octatonic—i.e., half-whole diminished and whole-half diminished—scales. Notably, this two-bar phrase begins with, and resolves to, C. The third and final bar of this section constitutes a brief modulation to F# Lydian. 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. Alex Lifeson
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.
In the next section (C), the guitar provides structure with rhythmic B major and C7 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 B Phrygian dominant
. The solo climaxes with a guitar run, followed by a synthesizer break. Following this section, the song returns to the arrangement established earlier in the song, after which it ends in 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.
category in 1982
. YYZ lost to "Behind My Camel
", by The Police
, from their album Zenyatta Mondatta
.
YYZ has also been featured as a playable encore song in the video game Guitar Hero II
, as a downloadable song in the Rock Band
game series, and is featured in the recent Guitar Hero: Smash Hits game as the only instrumental on the game. Geddy Lee
and Alex Lifeson
performed the song with Foo Fighters
drummer Taylor Hawkins
during a concert at Toronto's Air Canada Centre
in March 2008.
Toronto Pearson International Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada; its metropolitan area; and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population...
.
"YYZ" is an instrumental rock
Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...
piece by Canadian rock band Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
, from the 1981 album Moving Pictures
Moving Pictures (album)
- Personnel :* Geddy Lee - Bass guitar; Minimoog; Oberheim 8-voice synthesizer; OB-X, Moog Taurus bass pedals, vocals* Alex Lifeson - Electric and acoustic guitars, Moog Taurus...
.
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. Following its release, the song has been featured on all live concert video recordings in some form. On both the live album Exit...Stage Left
Exit...Stage Left
Exit...Stage Left is a live album by Canadian band Rush, released in 1981. A video release with the same name, with slightly different content, was released in 1982 on VHS and later on Laserdisc, and in 2007 on DVD....
(1981), and the concert video recording A Show of Hands
A Show of Hands (video)
A Show of Hands is a concert film released on videocassette, laserdisc, and DVD by the Canadian hard rock band Rush. It documents a live concert performance by the band on their 1988 Hold Your Fire Tour. In 1989, the band released an audio album of the same name on vinyl LP, audiocassette, and...
(1989), a version of the track is played with drummer Neil Peart
Neil Peart
Neil Ellwood Peart , OC, is a Canadian musician and author. He is the drummer for the rock band Rush.Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario . During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer...
integrating his full-length drum solo.
Title and composition
YYZ is the IATA airport identification code for Toronto Pearson International AirportToronto Pearson International Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada; its metropolitan area; and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population...
, located in Mississauga near Rush's hometown Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. It is common practice for air navigation aids to broadcast their identifier code in Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
using VHF omnidirectional range
VHF omnidirectional range
VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...
(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
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
of 5/4
Quintuple meter
Quintuple meter or quintuple time is a musical meter characterized by 5 beats in a measure. Like the more common duple, triple, and quadruple meters, it may be simple, with each beat divided in half, or compound, with each beat divided into thirds...
, repeatedly renders the letters "Y-Y-Z" in Morse Code using various musical arrangements.
| "YYZ" rendered in Morse code Morse code Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment... |
||
|---|---|---|
| Y | Y | Z |
| - . - - | - . - - | - - . . |
"YYZ" is structured in the following arrangement: A-B-C-B-A (with each of these sections containing smaller subsections). The song starts with the YYZ Morse Code played by Peart on the crotales
Crotales
thumb|right|Crotales are often used with other mallet percussionCrotales , sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. Each is about 4 inches in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base. They are commonly...
(A). The guitar and bass join this pattern, using the dissonant interval of the tritone
Tritone
In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...
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
Locrian mode
The Locrian mode is either a musical mode or simply a diatonic scale. Although the term occurs in several classical authors on music theory, including Cleonides and Athenaeus , there is no warrant for the modern usage of Locrian as equivalent to Glarean's Hyperaeolian mode, in either classical,...
. In live performances, the synthesizer part is played by bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee
Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...
using a pedal MIDI controller
MIDI controller
MIDI controller is used in two senses.*In one sense, a controller is hardware or software which generates and transmits MIDI data to MIDI-enabled devices....
(Korg MPK-130 & Roland PK-5) while he simultaneously 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 (one measure of two-four time; i.e., a half-note rest) pause follows, before the next section.
The next section features the guitarist, bassist, and drummer playing up- and down-scale runs for three measures (the first and third in common time and the second in two-four time), in unison. The first two measures of this section demonstrate the use of a C# natural minor scale juxtaposed against a C tonic so as to create a hybrid octatonic scale effect (i.e., the first, second and (flat) third degrees of C# natural minor—C#, D# and E -- functioning as the b2 (Db), #2 (D#) and 3 (E) of the C half-whole diminished scale; the fifth, (flat) sixth and (flat) seventh degrees of C# natural minor—G#, A and B -- functioning as the #5 (G#), 6 (A) and 7 (B) of the C whole-half diminished scale; the 4 (F#) of C# natural minor functions as the tri-tone (#4/b5) of both octatonic—i.e., half-whole diminished and whole-half diminished—scales. Notably, this two-bar phrase begins with, and resolves to, C. The third and final bar of this section constitutes a brief modulation to F# Lydian. 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. Alex Lifeson
Alex Lifeson
Aleksandar Živojinović, OC, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a second generation Serbian-Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson founded the band that would become Rush with friend, drummer John Rutsey...
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.
In the next section (C), the guitar provides structure with rhythmic B major and C7 chords, with the bass and drum trading fills
Fill (music)
In popular music, a fill is a short musical passage, riff, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody....
at the end of each cycle. After the final, extended drum fill, the guitar plays an oriental scale oriented solo in B Phrygian dominant
Phrygian dominant scale
In music, the altered Phrygian scale or Freygish scale , featuring an unusual key signature and a distinctive augmented second interval, is the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale, the fifth being the dominant...
. The solo climaxes with a guitar run, followed by a synthesizer break. Following this section, the song returns to the arrangement established earlier in the song, after which it ends in 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
Fermata
A fermata is an element of musical notation indicating that the note should be sustained for longer than its note value would indicate...
, and finally, a short run in unison by bass, guitar, and drums to close the song.
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."Awards and nominations
"YYZ" was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rock InstrumentalGrammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance was an honor presented to recording artists for quality instrumental rock performances at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
category in 1982
Grammy Awards of 1982
The 24th Grammy Awards were held February 24, 1982, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1981...
. YYZ lost to "Behind My Camel
Behind My Camel
"Behind My Camel" is the eighth track from the 1980 album, Zenyattà Mondatta, by the British rock band, The Police. The song was composed by guitarist Andy Summers and was the first one to be composed solely by him during his career in The Police...
", by The Police
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
, from their album Zenyatta Mondatta
Zenyatta Mondatta
Zenyattà Mondatta went to #5 in the U.S. and #1 in the UK and Australia, spurred by the success of the Sting-penned singles "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"...
.
Performances by other artists
The song has been covered in whole or in part by:- GodsmackGodsmackGodsmack is an American heavy metal band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin...
(in "Batalla De Los Tambores" on the ChangesChanges (DVD)Changes is a documentary and live DVD released in September 2004 by the heavy metal band Godsmack. The DVD was recorded in early 2004. That same month, the group also released "Batalla de los Tambores" a drum dual between Shannon and Sully, available only via online services such as Apple's iTunes...
live DVD), - PrimusPrimus (band)Primus is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde and drummer Jay Lane. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by Lane, though the latter two departed...
(beginning the performance of "John the FishermanJohn the Fisherman"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....
" as released on their 1989 live album Suck on ThisSuck on This-Personnel:Primus*Les Claypool – bass guitar, vocals*Larry "Ler" LaLonde – guitars*Tim "Herb" Alexander – drumsProduction*Bob Cock – producer*Howard Johnston – editing*Tim "Soya" Leroy – stage*Lauren Miller – sound...
and in full during other concerts). The cymbal-bell introduction also begins "To Defy The Laws Of Tradition." - Umphrey's McGeeUmphrey's McGeeUmphrey's McGee is an American progressive rock jam band based in Chicago whose music is often referred to as "progressive improvisation", or "improg" ....
, - Dream TheaterDream TheaterDream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
(as MajestyMajesty Demos- Ytsejam Records re-release track listing :- Personnel :* Chris Collins – vocals on tracks 18-23* Kevin Moore – keyboards on tracks 18-23* John Myung – bass* John Petrucci – guitars* Mike Portnoy – drums; keyboards on track 6...
), - ArmiaArmiaArmia is Polish punk rock and hardcore punk music band founded in 1985 by Tomasz Budzyński, Sławomir Gołaszewski and Robert Brylewski. Armia is famous for its use of horn, which was unusual of punk rock bands in late 1980s and 1990s...
(on Soul Side Story live album, titled Yyzz). - MuseMuse (band)Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
(during live performances in Canadian cities)
YYZ has also been featured as a playable encore song in the video game Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero II is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane. It is the second installment in the Guitar Hero series and is the sequel to Guitar Hero...
, as a downloadable song in the Rock Band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
game series, and is featured in the recent Guitar Hero: Smash Hits game as the only instrumental on the game. Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee
Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...
and Alex Lifeson
Alex Lifeson
Aleksandar Živojinović, OC, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a second generation Serbian-Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson founded the band that would become Rush with friend, drummer John Rutsey...
performed the song with Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
drummer Taylor Hawkins
Taylor Hawkins
Oliver Taylor Hawkins is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters....
during a concert at Toronto's Air Canada Centre
Air Canada Centre
The Air Canada Centre is a multi-purpose indoor sporting arena located on Bay Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.The arena is popularly known as the ACC or the Hangar ....
in March 2008.
External links
- Animated video for "YYZ," at Neil PeartNeil PeartNeil Ellwood Peart , OC, is a Canadian musician and author. He is the drummer for the rock band Rush.Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario . During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer...
's website