Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage

The album closer is a dramatic, intense piece inspired by the real Cygnus X-1 — one of the most likely black hole candidates in the universe, discovered in the early 1970s by Canadian scientist Tom Bolton at the University of Toronto. Peart wove the scientific discovery into a narrative about a lone astronaut piloting a ship called the "Rocinante" (a nod to Don Quixote) into the heart of the black hole.

The song is musically ferocious, with some of Lee's most extreme vocal performances — one reviewer noted he goes "a little overboard on the wailing" during the climactic sections. Lifeson's guitar work shifts from atmospheric to savage, while Peart's drumming drives the sense of inexorable cosmic forces pulling the listener toward the void.

Crucially, the story ends on a cliffhanger — the astronaut disappears into the black hole, and the listener is left wondering what happened. This deliberate setup was resolved on the next album, Hemispheres, with "Cygnus X-1 Book II" — making it one of the few genuine two-album narrative arcs in rock history.