Jim Hanas

I understand that it is hack to talk about Rush when talking about Canada — sort of like saying “eh” or invoking our neighbor’s crypto-Communist social agenda — but I must talk about Rush. Why? Well, the main reason is that I managed to go 25 years without realizing that the math rock cream puff known as “YYZ” borrows its title from the call sign for the Toronto airport. I just found this out a few months ago, like I’m an idiot or something.

But I guess it’s not all that surprising. I was never a big Rush fan. Rather, Rush was just part of the flora in the Midwest of my middle youth. I think they played Cincinnati twice a year. I would find this out (always after the fact) when my home room suddenly filled up with guys wearing 3/4-length-sleeve Moving Pictures baseball tees, panting about how Neil Peart had conducted a five-hour-long drum solo while submerged in a transparent above-ground pool full of electric eels and narwhals.

Some commenter on YouTube explains “YYZ” — the song, not the airport — like so:

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 3-letter identifier code in Morse Code using VHF omnidirectional range (VOR). The song’s introduction, played in a time signature of 10/8 (with some argument of 5/4), repeatedly renders the letters “Y-Y-Z” in Morse Code using various musical arrangements.

I could go on and on about this. The band’s “native area?” Like they’re sprites or gnomes or something. But I’ll just note that this is some serious hardcore nerd shit — and I’m into that.

Gotta go. They’re checking passports. Next stop: YYZ — the airport, not the song.