10 Legendary Songs That Were Completely Improvised

There aren't too many songs in Rush's catalog that you can call improvised by any stretch. These are the kind of songs that have long drawn out sections, so there's no way that these Canadian icons are just making them up off the top of their head or anything. Around the time that they were flirting with poppier sounds though, they got one of their greatest instrumental breaks on their trip back home.

While Moving Pictures definitely has a constant theme of travel on songs like The Camera Eye and Red Barchetta, YYZ was meant to be a cheeky title referencing the area code for the Toronto airport. On the flight back home from one of their tours, Neil Peart got hooked on the rhythm of the Morse Code and ended up bringing it to the table during one of the sessions in between recording the album. Even though this was just meant to be a throwaway track, the Morse Code had a consistent groove to it, morphing into a fleshed out song once Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee came into the mix.

As much fun as it might have been just jamming, what you're hearing on the record is a controlled kind of jam session, with every band member understanding their lane while painting the picture of the hustle and bustle of an airport in your mind. Rush may have been getting into a more mainstream sound around this time, but for the prog snobs in the audience, this is about as pure a Rush song as you can get.