"Show Don't Tell" is the first single on Canadian rock band Rush's 1989 album Presto.

"Show Don't Tell" illustrates Rush's move away from synthesizer in favour of a more guitar-oriented approach; the band favoured a more funk/groove style of play and away from the 1980s style of music typical on Power Windows and Hold Your Fire, the two preceding albums.

In Rush's music of the late 1970s and early 1980s, their progressive rock is indicated by asymmetric time signatures and lyrics fitting into a concept album, and in "Show Don't Tell", their progressive rock is shown by using a very complex riff played in unison by the members of the band.

[3] The band chose to use more funk by using extended chord tones, a dramatic pause eighteen seconds into the song and other methods as well.

He explained in Canadian Musician: "Show Don't Tell" begins with a syncopated guitar riff that appears two or three times throughout the song.