Rush released its self-titled debut 40 years ago this March, but the band's kicking off the anniversary celebration early with R40, a live DVD box set covering performances from every one of its four decades. As such, CBC Music has compiled what we think are the prog-rock trio's 10 greatest songs. To add to that, we also sat down with drummer/lyricist Neil Peart and asked him to provide some context for the songs we picked, including one that is still challenging for him to play today.

10: "Xanadu"

Album: A Farewell to Kings (1977)

Peart: "Let's call that our experimental phase. After 2112, we were guitar, bass and drums and ambitious, so we thought maybe we should add another musician. But then it was, no, let's expand our own arsenal, so the guys started getting into acoustic guitar, bass pedals were just coming out, and I started expanding my drums, which would give us a great orchestration ability. Those subsequent albums are us learning to use all that, having fun, experimenting, as genuine as can be. When I look back on that it's an indulgent smile. We would later do better but there was nothing wrong with it. I described it once as young, foolish and brave."

9: "Time Stands Still"

Album: Hold Your Fire (1987)

Peart: "A song I still really like. Autobiographical in a sense. The whole thing of wanting to slow things down and absorb the moment. Feel this moment a little bit stronger, since we can't adjust the time to have more. I get frustrated when people say where did the time go. You just weren't paying attention. A day is a day, a month is a month, a year is a year. For me, it started in 1986, I remember sitting down and writing why 1986 was the greatest year ever. So if I was able to think that way in '86, now I know even better to value the passing of time and the richness of experience."

8: "YYZ"

Album: Moving Pictures (1981)

Peart: "We were flying into Toronto on a private plane and heard the morse code beep, and that became the founding rhythm of the song. It was a soundtrack about airports, the bustling part, the very emotional part of it, you know, re-greeting each other, and all the laments. That was a conscious thing, to try to weave in some of the moods of airports into the song 'YYZ.'"

7: "Red Barchetta"

Album: Moving Pictures (1981)

Peart: "My friend [Richard Foster] had published this story in Road and Track magazine, and it was set in a dystopian future where certain cars are outlawed. He used an MGB in the story, but I used my dream car, this red Ferrari…. It was so cinematic for us, and we were learning to be concise, but also making soundtracks. It's probably one of our best in that sense being a short movie, and every section is a cinematic accompaniment to the lyrics. It's still one I really like and it's great to play live."

6: "Limelight"

Album: Moving Pictures (1981)

Peart: "An attempt to clarify for myself and hopefully others a thing that I learned: never complain, never explain. I try not to complain, but I can't help but to explain. That was an attempt on my part to explain myself as an introvert, feeling totally alienated by the 'guilded cage' of it all, and it's been remarkable over time how many young musicians have come up to me and told me what that song means to them when they faced the same transition in their life. It's supply and demand: as a young musician, you're all about supply and there is no demand, and then as soon as you get a little popularity there is demand, but the supply is the same, there is still just you, and it's a very difficult transition to weather…. You can't complain, but other musicians will say to me, that song 'Limelight,' I get it.'"

5: "Subdivisions"

Album: Signals (1982)

Peart: "Hugely autobiographical of course. It was an important step for us, the first song written that was keyboard-based. The upside of that: people don't realize is that it made Alex [Lifeson] and I the rhythm section. So the first time he and I tuned in to each other's parts was when Geddy [Lee] was playing keyboards. It was a great new way for us to relate. It's also a good example of us learning to go into time signature changes more fluid