Malignant Narcissism (instrumental) - Composition and Production

Composition and Production

Bassist/vocallist Geddy Lee describes the development of the song in an interview with Toronto rock station Q107 (CILQ-FM). "Malignant Narcissism" was the last song recorded during the production of Snakes & Arrows, and was completed in a few days. While guitarist Alex Lifeson was away from the studio, Lee contacted Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and requested a Jaco Pastorius signature fretless bass delivered to the studio, on evaluation from Fender. According to Lee, he was interested in the bass for several reasons, including his lack of familiarity with fretless basses.

While Lee was experimenting with the bass in the studio, co-producer Nick Raskulinecz overheard Lee playing a catchy riff and suggested this be incorporated into a new song (this exchange was captured on film, and is part of the documentary section of the MVI edition of Snakes & Arrows). Rush drummer Neil Peart was present, but his expansive drum kit had already been shipped off from the studio. With Raskulinecz's encouragement, Peart decided to challenge himself with an unfamiliar instrument setup, like Lee had done with fretless bass. Peart assembled a small kit composed of four drums, the smallest kit he had ever used when recording for a Rush album. Peart recorded drum parts for "Malignant Narcissism" with this minimal kit. Like Lee's bassline, the opening drumming of counting off on the snare rim, was also a bit of a fluke. As Neil Peart describes in a 2007 Modern Drummer article, "Booujze heard me counting off the tempo on my snare rim, and wanted me to start the song like that".

When Lifeson returned to the studio, he had one day to compose a guitar part to play over Lee's fretless riffing, which he did. The piece was added to the nearly finished album, thus making Snakes & Arrows the first Rush album to contain two instrumentals.