Analyzing Yes lyrics is a challenge. As Rick Wakeman is fond of joking, "NASA is spending all that money going to Mars. They should just talk to Jon. He's already been there!"
I think of each of his lines as you might a painting in gallery of paintings. each line is its own thing and every song is a gallery of not only of Jon's paintings but each of the members efforts as well. it's through intuition and understanding between the members that all these small works of art can live together in a single large space, complementing each other and never cancelling each other out. it wasn't without hardship between them but their artistic end product is difficult to match. If i had the time and talent, i would probably make a hobby of creating a series of paintings based on his lyrics.
I ❤️❤️❤️ this song. My husband and I always say ‘And You and I’ whenever we leave each other. Seeds of life, our children. And you and I climbing over all obstacles of life together. Money, politics, weightless in the grand scheme of truth. All that’s left in the end is “And You and I”.
Thanks for your interpretation. Jon is not a Christian, per se, Rick Wakeman, the keyboard player is. Jon believes that all religions lead to salvation, much like all rivers lead to the same ocean. Being a Christian myself, I still love Jon and have met and talked with him several times. Started to listen to YES music in 1972 and have around 20 concerts attended. He is a VERY positive person and chooses to see the positive in almost everything he does, hence the spirit of Jon's music. Would love your response to AWAKEN. Blessings!!
I have enjoyed your reaction videos so much. I've binge watched the ones you do on YES and found myself with this big smile on my face all night tonight. I'm a 911 call taker on the night shift. It's a night that didn't have many calls. We're allowed personal devices when the call volume is low and I couldn't have made a better choice for my spare time tonight. THANK YOU so much for the YES reactions. I'm a Christian as well and have been performing since the early 70s. Always wishing I had a tiny bit of the talent that any one of the YES members have. I think you're seeing what a lot of us see in YES, They are so much more than just songs and albums. To many they are the Prog Standard by which most other prog bands are compared and who many of them consider their influence. It's wonderful to see someone like you enjoy the music. Thanks again for doing the videos.
Awaken will really give you more context to Jons universal view. Then "The Revealing Science Of God" and "The Remembering" will add so much more. "Turn Of The Century" will make you cry.
Listening to you work with those lyrics tells me one thing for sure, you are a very smart young man. You are rooted in music and very in tune with emotion as well. It's quite a pleasure listening to your interpretations even though as we know they are only loosely oriented to any message if at all. They are about mood and sound as you know, but I think ti's inevitable that if you are going to write lyrics even as Jon does you will inevitably be expressing some ideas within you.
When they played this live Jon dedicated this to his wife. But when Chris died he dedicated it to him. He says love is so powerful, and that is what this is about.
For a great marriage of music and lyrics check out Joni Mitchell. Her lyrics are very complex but have a more cohesive narrative. Her songs Furry Sings the Blues, Hejira, and In France They Kiss on Main Street are lyrically and musically transcendent.
I saw Yes twice in the 1970s. Once in a big arena with a backdrop designed by Roger Dean (the creator of their logo and artist for many of their album covers). The other time I saw them was "in the round" with a rotating stage. Both times they were phenomenal. Good reaction. Thx.
Don Thomas Dunigan I saw them in 1979 in the round at Madison Square Garden. The best concert I ever saw and heard to this day! I have seen them 3 more times, though without Jon! Good but not great!
Entertaining reaction! "&U&I" has always been one of my favorite "lay back and chill" songs. -------------------------------- Now, young pilgrim, you must proceed directly to the final track of CttE -- "Siberian Khatru". An amazing piece of music which will rock your world and keep you rockin'. Equal in musicality and power, it differs from the first two cuts (hell, it's almost danceable), and is the perfect third leg for this towering tripod of musical excellence. It's what made this LP so amazing, and why CttE is on my "Five Albums to Be Stranded on a Desert Island With" list. I'd also be interested in your critical comparison of "Khatru" and "Starship Trooper".
Definitely in my top 5 Yes songs of all time! If you like the positive nature of their songs you'll definitely love the Going for the One Album! 5 of the most beautiful and amazing musicianship you'll ever hear!
Whenever I see videos of reactions to Yes, I'm very happy, because it's an absolutely magical band and it occupies a very cool chapter in my life. This song, especially, brings me beautiful memories of an absolutely unforgettable time in my life. Thank you for talking about such a fantastic song!
I used to say that Yes and Pink Floyd were two sides of the same coin, the main difference being that Yes had a positive outlook and Floyd didn’t. Just compare And You And I to Us and Them. It’s the difference between Jon Anderson and Roger Waters. I believe that the Cord of Life refers to something like an umbilical cord. It’s not about chords (with an H) of music. The seeds of life may refer to unfertilized eggs. 500 years ago Martin Luther nailed a list of grievances to a Catholic Church door in Germany, signaling the Protestant Church’s split from the Catholic Church. Is Luther the preacher and Jesus the teacher? Who knows what Jon was thinking when he wrote these lyrics? It’s an uplifting song though, isn’t it? BTW, Rick Wakeman’s MiniMoog and Mellotrons sound great on this track.
@@joelliebler5690 I like both. The sadness and the beauty, the anger and the joy. I don't think you can just state one while ignoring the other, but yes, I guess the emphasis is different between the 2, so there's that
@@joelliebler5690 agreed, but I think it's also important to acknowledge and feel the sadness and the pain too. Both seem to be necessary. If all we experienced was joy, what would it mean, unless we also experienced sorrow. I 'feel' like that's at least partly the point of the story of Adam & Eve. They wanted to 'know', but how can you know good unless you also experience evil. I feel that's at least part of what's going on in that story.
I used to listen to this song when it was raining. "In The end we'll agree, we'll accept, we'll immortalize, that the truth of the man maturing in his eyes" Apocalypse means unveiling
"Sad preacher nailed upon the colored door of time" - conjurs up images of Martin Luther nailing his list of heresies to the door of the Catholic Church.
Yes was my very first concert in 1973, at the Baltimore Civic Center, they were excellent. What an incredible name for a group YES! What a beautiful song.
There is a trifecta with YES. 1970- The Yes Album (their third album) 1971- Fragile 1972- Close To The Edge. I always listen to those albums in chronological order.
It’s pretty damn magnificent, isn’t it? I’ve been listening to this for almost three quarters of my life and I still don’t know what half of it is about. Jon Anderson is given to bouts of revisionism and I’ve read him provide different versions of the meanings of his songs over the years. Even Chris Squire said he had no idea what any of the lyrics meant. In fact, it almost seems that in your reactions, less attention is paid to the music and the playing, which are phenomenal, because you are trying to make sense of the song lyrically when there is no real sense to be made of it.
And AGAIN you are absolutely Correct!!!! Creation of Life through Music and we reflect that through our expression in writing ...sculpting....playing instruments....singing.....sounds and words......through the Creator.
Pablo Gaeta I like it though I personally like Into The Lens more from that album. Tempus Fugit is my top forty of YES songs. No knock on it there are just so many great YES and ABWH songs!
Yes, it's true that sometimes YES lyrics are used for how they sound, more so than what they mean, but despite that, YES lyrics have meaning. It's just that sometimes you have to look 'beneath the surface' to find, or understand them. It's also fun to look at them and analyze them for yourself, like you're doing, and come up with your own meaning. I did that with Close to the Edge and the person who posted CttE on yt liked it so much he pinned it to the top. It's just my own personal interpretation of what I felt (and saw in my mind) as I've listened to it over the years. For whatever reason, a lot of people liked what I wrote, despite the fact that it's not actually what CttE is about. I guess they just enjoyed the 'fantasy' : ) Also, there's a website called SongFacts that interviews band members about their music and Jon would often tell them what the song was about. Check it out. I used SongFacts a lot when I wrote on my blog my top 40 favorite pieces of Prog Rock music that's 8+ minutes in length. I had so much fun writing it. Now if only I could get paid to write, hah hah. There's a piece by RUSH called La Villa Strangiato. When I checked SongFacts for info on this piece, cause it made my list (hah), it blew my mind what the piece is actually about, so if you ever react to it, I recommend you read it, after you listen to it. Always listen for yourself first, imo : )
The very beginning is Howe, making sure sure his guitar is tuned. There is NO BAND LIKE YES! You are on the right track with Jon's lyrics.......AMEN & AMEN
As has been mentioned earlier, Jon has teased different meanings over the years. Once at a concert I heard him introduce this song as, "...a twenty-four century love song." The line " As the Foundation left to create the spiral aim..," jibes with that comment. It is a reference to Asimov's Foundation series of books.
I hope you're checking out some live performances of YES on yt. There's a ton. Watching them perform this live is a treat, as is all of their music. We are so lucky that we can watch live concerts from the past whenever we want. It's one of the wonderful things about technology, for sure.
Hey Daniel! New to your channel. Love your reactions and lyric interpretations. I feel you have a very creative, inquisitive and insightful soul. And the fact that you’re listening to music I grew up with doesn’t hurt. Planning to check out your other site too.
Tha acoustic guitar reminded me of fractal continuation?..a perpetual change?..but it all is the same inthe end? in the end..there is no end? great reaction again.
I agree with York, Awaken needs to be next. And one old hippie who is a Christian to another Christian, you HAVE TO FOLLOW Awaken with Wonderous Stories. The hair on your neck will stand on end and you will goosebumps all over. Love your reactions
I would call for the reverse, the way they appear on Going For The One. Listen to Wondrous Stories first, and then follow with Awaken. I have "I awoke this morning Love laid me down by the river" from Wondrous Stories set as the first alarm on my phone. Followed by " High vibration go on to the sun, oh let my heart dreaming past a mortal as me. Where can I be? Wish the sun to stand still. Reaching out to touch our own being Past a mortal as we Here we can be We can be here, be here now. Here we can be." from Awaken for my snooze alarm. I start every day I set my alarms with those two clips.
You will still love it after 100 listens. As to the lyrics, your guess is as good as anybody's, but I love your interpretations! Tales from Topographic Oceans will really give you something to work with ...
More great Yes songs to try: “On The Silent Wings Of Freedom” “Heart Of The Sunrise” “Awaken” “Tempus Fugit” “South Side Of The Sky” “America” “Perpetual Change”
As a diehard Yes fan for nearly 5 decades, here are my comments. So, Yes made many references to Sci Fi novels (Heinlein’s Starship Troopers-which is a helluva lot better than the stupid movies, for example). The references in this song are, from Isaac Azimov’s classic Foundation Trilogy, particularly the last half of the Second book “Foundation and Empire”-the story of Bayta Darell. The you find teachers, and “spiral aims”. So glad you listen to Yes. If you want to get Rush or Dream Theater, or Tool, then an understanding and familiarity with Yes is indispensable 😊 thanks for your reaction!
I could not agree more - Yes evokes such a feeling of positivity. Since you're such a big Yes fan, can I suggest you react to "Ebb and Flow" by Steve Howe. The Clap and Mood for a Day were prequels to this masterpiece.
Yes, is 2 bands. In the 80s both bands United. I saw the concert. Check out Yes UNION album and the background of the 2. Jon Anderson is the only one who is in both.
Jos Wheadon, who created "Firefly", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" TV shows, named his production company Mutant Enemy after the line in this song "There'll be no mutant enemy we shall certify".
Got to see Yes at San Diego sports arena in 79, I believe. They had a revolving stage and would freeze after each song ended. Great show. 14th row, ears rang for hours after. Really appreciated your wrap-up at 27:00. Jon Anderson is new age, not Christian, using crystals and meditation, so his lyrics are filtered through that lens, though I believe Jesus reaches out to the lost even in the dark searching.
You're gonna have a blast with the lyrics of Tales From Topographic Oceans. I like your reads, you're not afraid to say what you first think. That's what reacting's all about. Good good good
Hi Dicon, FYI the prog torch is still carried - and at the same general high quality level. This is, for me, personified by Steven Wilson - who works alone / plays all sorts of prog with this band, Porcupine Tree. A taste - and shortish - "Trains" - Porcupine Tree . Not always happy, always beautiful, often impressive, listenable prog. Will not disappoint. You have also listened to a lot of SW - films, adverts, plus he's the guy the big prog bands go to for remastering. Remastered Yes is SW work... bands go to him cause he can feel what their music is about and painfully recreates the original; a perfectionist.
If and when you have a listen to the 'Yessongs' version of this song, you'll be very surprised by the steeeeel guitar 🎸 intro. To my recollection, it's the first time a band really cranks up the volume with amps from analog heaven for this very said instrument. Steve Howe strays from the stereotypical treatment of the steel and profoundly expresses the steel's potential power. I don't think enough has ever been mentioned about Howe's stroke of brilliance for seeing the steel as a lead instrument. Great review!
There is a magic performance of this track on the 2004 live Tsonga album. Line up of course is the big 5 from mid 70's. The crowd make it. A must listen.
Rick Wakeman had a pretty good quote about this song from the YesYears video: "And You And I was a sort of mini-quintet sonata. It was everything fans loved about Yes music, and everything the critics hated us for." I'll just also add that on the '72 tour Jon used to introduce this song by saying when recording it the placeholder title they had for it was "The Protest Song". Make of that what you will when it comes to interpreting the lyrics.
I always felt a connection to the spiral arm and the double helix of DNA. Climbing over the sea to the valley is perhaps a nod to evolution, that we came form the sea onto the land (and maybe a connection to the ocean maid?). so for me the beginning, "Seeds of Life" is about the development of humanity on earth and our self-awareness, which we use to try and make sense of the world we perceive. That drive to understand involves preachers and teachers and eventually we can climb higher, over other things (the sun, a river) until we reach an endless sea.
It is a love song that Jon co-wrote for his first wife! One of my all time favorite songs.I first listen to this when I was 13. My brother owned the YESSONGS album and this one got me lost in the sauce. Amazing!
Love your analysis, when this came out me and my buddies would smoke weed and trip on this album, don't do that anymore, but it was frickin awesome! you should check out yes doing this complete album live, they perform it without Jon Anderson but the new singer is also very good, he's a lot younger than the rest of the band, he was in a yes cover band before being invited to join yes
This is one of my favorite Yes songs. Just beautiful sounds. By the time they did Topographic Oceans that's when I got off of the Yes train. A double album with only 4 songs. They simply became too big for their britches. Bombastic and overblown. Emerson, Lake & Palmer fell into the same trap. Still I love The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to The Edge.
Claude Debussy's music has been described as "tone poems". I think Yes songs are very much sonic poems and it always seemed to me that Anderson's lyrics were written to add to the sonic poetry rather than anything else. But I just love that you earnestly look for meaning in the lyrics. I think you do a great job of it.
Young blood; I just recently found your channe and see you’ve been covering some really good stuff. Yes is my band so I’m all about your reactions now. I stumbled on this really nice video of Yes doing some very early stuff. This one is called Then. I think you’ll like it! ruclips.net/video/W10qiXqlvo8/видео.html
for your age you did a fine job with the lyrics!! When i was your age i had no idea about the Golden Ration and Metaphysics. Amazing dude! That is exactly what he is talking about there, The Spiral Aim. The aim of attaining that Higher Consciousness of the Source (or God if you like), or The One. The Spiral of INFINITY. The Ratio is also found in the petals of Flowers. The Themes which Jon talks about in a lot of songs are the Archetypes...the original blueprints inherent in the Cosmos itself. Number, letters, Symbols, Sacred Geometry. Jon is a Christian Mystic but studies many different Cultures Mystery Teachings. These are non Main Stream Teachings about Spirituality. Jon is also into Alchemy which is like Meta Physics in that it is a beautiful blend of Science and Spirit. You should check out an amazing series on the Gaia app called MYSTERY TEACHINGS with Dr. Theresa Bullard. It takes ancient Mystery Teachings and correlates them with modern day science especially Quantum Physics. You can relate to it whether you are a Church goer or not. Because God does exist I just don't like to use that term God. You will never hear the word God in any Yes song ever. Yet that is all that every Yes song is about.....God, The Source, The One, Universal Consciousness, Divine Intelligence, The Quantum Sea, The Zero Point Field, Anti Matter, what ever you want to call it. But really you should check out that series if you want to learn more about Ancient Spiritual Knowledge, It's some amazing stuff.
I've loved this song since I first heard it in 1974, laying on the floor with my head between the speakers. Yes lyrics themselves are wonderful,, but put together they didn't seem to make sense.,..so I'd just go with the music. BTW, if you were high, that transition was an incredible rush!
A little late to the party but the very beginning of the song was actually Steve Howe tuning his guitar before the recording session began. It got picked up by the recording equipment and they decided to include it as part of the song.
Jon Andersons lyrics are often use for the sound of the words and the images they conjure, to create a mood. They're more like an instrument, than like lyrics in the usual sense. Even when they aren't used in this way, they tend to be very poetic, with a heavy use of metaphor, allegory and surreal imagery. Searching for literal meaning, in most Yes lyrics, is therefore a fairly thankless task. :)
When I was in my late teens, I used to lie on the floor of my bedroom with the crappy little speakers that came with my cheap stereo on either side of my head, close my eyes and let this song carry me to other planets. I guess head phone existed but i was to poor to even think of buying them So I just used the speakers set close to my ears.
Enjoyed the reaction. Again, i'd haven chosen the Wilson remix, actually available on the official Yes You Tube channel (ruclips.net/video/F7-Ky_NflGU/видео.html) - also, it says song is uploaded to RUclips by record company, which would allow for longer chunks (?) between your observations. Just wonderin'! (You cut if off just as the synth picks up on the guitar's final open chord, going higher...)
Daniel. I really enjoy your channel. If you really like Yes, (as I do) you might try an album by them that I love but apparently many dismiss. It is called Tormato. It has some good songs. Like Don't Kill the Whales. Release Release, Circus of Heaven. Also there is another album that as a lot of good songs, that not many people seem to react to. That is called Union. There are a lot of good songs on there. Like "Take the Water to the Mountain" and Dangerous.
The synth at the beginning and in the breaks with the 12 string guitar is a Minimoog. It is a standard Rick Wakeman tool. I don't really try to go down the rabbit hole of figuring out what they "meant," but what they mean to YOU is all that really matters. You don't need to try to figure out what Jon meant because I don't really think it matters all that much. What matter is what they make you think and feel when you listen to it. It is more of a raw reaction and feeling sort of thing.
Keep in mind that Jon wrote lyrics for the poetic sounds of the words themselves. How the lyrics sound being used together. So they may not be telling a coherent story. But you are supposed to listen to the SOUNDS of the words. Not necessarily the meaning. This according to Nigel Luby who worked for Yes for over a decade in that period. If you want to hear a Yes song with a coherent story then listen to the Gates of Delirium. That is the scariest Yes song there is. Until the end of course where the resolution is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.
yes, i always thought that trying to literally interpret Yes lyrics was fairly fruitless; I always felt the meaning was in the sense of the song, how it makes you feel, rather than the strict meaning of the words.
I always took 'And You and I' as a cryptic love song to Anderson's wife. Anderson claims that he just fills the tune he sings with the right sound of words at first, and if you can hear some of that in the practice sessions (extensions on some deluxe CDs) that were made during the making of "Close to the Edge" as he reworks the poetry, a theme pops out. Anderson purposely kept some words for their sound and others for their meaning.
Great to see you love Yes . This means there is hope these great songs will last forever. Sorry don’t have your beliefs as I am an atheist . Jon Anderson’s lyrics are always a bit over the top interesting to hear how you interpreted them. I don’t think he is particularly religious. You need to get some of the DVDs to see them perform these songs live . So good to see a person if your age enjoying this music which really is the Classical Music of Rock
Analyzing Yes lyrics is a challenge. As Rick Wakeman is fond of joking, "NASA is spending all that money going to Mars. They should just talk to Jon. He's already been there!"
I love that. It's perfect!
I think of each of his lines as you might a painting in gallery of paintings. each line is its own thing and every song is a gallery of not only of Jon's paintings but each of the members efforts as well. it's through intuition and understanding between the members that all these small works of art can live together in a single large space, complementing each other and never cancelling each other out. it wasn't without hardship between them but their artistic end product is difficult to match. If i had the time and talent, i would probably make a hobby of creating a series of paintings based on his lyrics.
I ❤️❤️❤️ this song. My husband and I always say ‘And You and I’ whenever we leave each other. Seeds of life, our children. And you and I climbing over all obstacles of life together. Money, politics, weightless in the grand scheme of truth. All that’s left in the end is “And You and I”.
I think back about my late wife and the good times, happiness that we had.
Maybe the most beautiful music ever. This song is what I listen to when I need some beauty in my life. Remarkable
Close To The Edge is the #1 progressive rock masterpiece
Never to be matched.
it's like listening to sacrid geometry!
Thanks for your interpretation. Jon is not a Christian, per se, Rick Wakeman, the keyboard player is. Jon believes that all religions lead to salvation, much like all rivers lead to the same ocean. Being a Christian myself, I still love Jon and have met and talked with him several times. Started to listen to YES music in 1972 and have around 20 concerts attended. He is a VERY positive person and chooses to see the positive in almost everything he does, hence the spirit of Jon's music. Would love your response to AWAKEN. Blessings!!
I would say that Jon is a better "Christian" than most Christians.
Bill Bruford is a regular churchgoer as well (Anglican).
@@matthewweber3904 Ah, my daughter, son in law and GrandChildren attend the Anglican church....very cool. Will have to pass that on to her.
I read that when Rick Wakeman was asked about Jon, he said, "Jon is the only man trying to save this planet who is not actually FROM this planet!"
@@debrabrabenec3731 He did indeed say that.
I have enjoyed your reaction videos so much. I've binge watched the ones you do on YES and found myself with this big smile on my face all night tonight. I'm a 911 call taker on the night shift. It's a night that didn't have many calls. We're allowed personal devices when the call volume is low and I couldn't have made a better choice for my spare time tonight. THANK YOU so much for the YES reactions. I'm a Christian as well and have been performing since the early 70s. Always wishing I had a tiny bit of the talent that any one of the YES members have.
I think you're seeing what a lot of us see in YES, They are so much more than just songs and albums. To many they are the Prog Standard by which most other prog bands are compared and who many of them consider their influence. It's wonderful to see someone like you enjoy the music. Thanks again for doing the videos.
Awaken will really give you more context to Jons universal view. Then "The Revealing Science Of God" and "The Remembering" will add so much more. "Turn Of The Century" will make you cry.
Yes Awaken, Jon said it’s they’re best
Yes, Awaken is a Masterpiece. Yery uplifting (to me). Always my favorite when included in a live show.
Listening to you work with those lyrics tells me one thing for sure, you are a very smart young man. You are rooted in music and very in tune with emotion as well. It's quite a pleasure listening to your interpretations even though as we know they are only loosely oriented to any message if at all. They are about mood and sound as you know, but I think ti's inevitable that if you are going to write lyrics even as Jon does you will inevitably be expressing some ideas within you.
When they played this live Jon dedicated this to his wife. But when Chris died he dedicated it to him. He says love is so powerful, and that is what this is about.
For a great marriage of music and lyrics check out Joni Mitchell. Her lyrics are very complex but have a more cohesive narrative. Her songs Furry Sings the Blues, Hejira, and In France They Kiss on Main Street are lyrically and musically transcendent.
I forgot about this song its gotta be over 20 years since i heard it thanks
I love your little smile when the organ comes in at 16:40. It’s pure happy music...and this song is also so very ethereal.
I saw Yes twice in the 1970s. Once in a big arena with a backdrop designed by Roger Dean (the creator of their logo and artist for many of their album covers). The other time I saw them was "in the round" with a rotating stage. Both times they were phenomenal. Good reaction. Thx.
Don Thomas Dunigan I saw them in 1979 in the round at Madison Square Garden. The best concert I ever saw and heard to this day! I have seen them 3 more times, though without Jon! Good but not great!
Entertaining reaction!
"&U&I" has always been one of my favorite "lay back and chill" songs.
--------------------------------
Now, young pilgrim, you must proceed directly to the final track of CttE -- "Siberian Khatru".
An amazing piece of music which will rock your world and keep you rockin'.
Equal in musicality and power, it differs from the first two cuts (hell, it's almost danceable), and is the perfect third leg for this towering tripod of musical excellence.
It's what made this LP so amazing, and why CttE is on my "Five Albums to Be Stranded on a Desert Island With" list.
I'd also be interested in your critical comparison of "Khatru" and "Starship Trooper".
Your spiritual consciousness per the Apocalypse section of this masterpiece is on point.
Biblically found in the book of Revelation.
I propose ''Firth of Fifth'' from Genesis. One of the best progressive song of all time!
Garbage
Definitely in my top 5 Yes songs of all time! If you like the positive nature of their songs you'll definitely love the Going for the One Album! 5 of the most beautiful and amazing musicianship you'll ever hear!
Whenever I see videos of reactions to Yes, I'm very happy, because it's an absolutely magical band and it occupies a very cool chapter in my life. This song, especially, brings me beautiful memories of an absolutely unforgettable time in my life. Thank you for talking about such a fantastic song!
Yes made music meant to evoke ethereal emotions.
I used to say that Yes and Pink Floyd were two sides of the same coin, the main difference being that Yes had a positive outlook and Floyd didn’t. Just compare And You And I to Us and Them. It’s the difference between Jon Anderson and Roger Waters.
I believe that the Cord of Life refers to something like an umbilical cord. It’s not about chords (with an H) of music. The seeds of life may refer to unfertilized eggs.
500 years ago Martin Luther nailed a list of grievances to a Catholic Church door in Germany, signaling the Protestant Church’s split from the Catholic Church. Is Luther the preacher and Jesus the teacher? Who knows what Jon was thinking when he wrote these lyrics? It’s an uplifting song though, isn’t it?
BTW, Rick Wakeman’s MiniMoog and Mellotrons sound great on this track.
An optimist and a nihilist.
rtwbikerider That is why I love Jon’s attitude and not crazy about Roger but do like Pink Floyd!
@@joelliebler5690 I like both. The sadness and the beauty, the anger and the joy. I don't think you can just state one while ignoring the other, but yes, I guess the emphasis is different between the 2, so there's that
YES makes you feel hope and happiness and belief in something that is bigger than all of us that brings us together and not apart if we only want it!
@@joelliebler5690 agreed, but I think it's also important to acknowledge and feel the sadness and the pain too. Both seem to be necessary. If all we experienced was joy, what would it mean, unless we also experienced sorrow. I 'feel' like that's at least partly the point of the story of Adam & Eve. They wanted to 'know', but how can you know good unless you also experience evil. I feel that's at least part of what's going on in that story.
I used to listen to this song when it was raining. "In The end we'll agree, we'll accept, we'll immortalize, that the truth of the man maturing in his eyes" Apocalypse means unveiling
"Sad preacher nailed upon the colored door of time" - conjurs up images of Martin Luther nailing his list of heresies to the door of the Catholic Church.
Nailed it! (See what I did there?)
He was right.
Yes was my very first concert in 1973, at the Baltimore Civic Center, they were excellent. What an incredible name for a group YES! What a beautiful song.
wondrous stories is a great song from them.
There is a trifecta with YES.
1970- The Yes Album (their third album)
1971- Fragile
1972- Close To The Edge.
I always listen to those albums in chronological order.
1972 Close to the Edge
1973 Tales from Topographic Oceans
@@rogerhennie8939 I stand corrected. Thanks mate.
It’s pretty damn magnificent, isn’t it?
I’ve been listening to this for almost three quarters of my life and I still don’t know what half of it is about. Jon Anderson is given to bouts of revisionism and I’ve read him provide different versions of the meanings of his songs over the years. Even Chris Squire said he had no idea what any of the lyrics meant. In fact, it almost seems that in your reactions, less attention is paid to the music and the playing, which are phenomenal, because you are trying to make sense of the song lyrically when there is no real sense to be made of it.
And AGAIN you are absolutely Correct!!!! Creation of Life through Music and we reflect that through our expression in writing ...sculpting....playing instruments....singing.....sounds and words......through the Creator.
I would do "Awaken" next. Here's a great Live version with the great Rick Wakeman: ruclips.net/video/nDXccU0xgNo/видео.html
I seem to be the only one on the planet who has Tempus Fugit as his favourite Yes song. . . but I highly recommend it.
Pablo Gaeta I like it though I personally like Into The Lens more from that album. Tempus Fugit is my top forty of YES songs. No knock on it there are just so many great YES and ABWH songs!
The most phenomenal bass lines ever written.
Good song, number 38 on my top YES song list!
Really love the lyric breakdown. This is for sure one of the best songs yes ever created. Heart of the sunrise is a great song from yes.
Going for the one another Great YES album
Yes, it's true that sometimes YES lyrics are used for how they sound, more so than what they mean, but despite that, YES lyrics have meaning. It's just that sometimes you have to look 'beneath the surface' to find, or understand them. It's also fun to look at them and analyze them for yourself, like you're doing, and come up with your own meaning. I did that with Close to the Edge and the person who posted CttE on yt liked it so much he pinned it to the top. It's just my own personal interpretation of what I felt (and saw in my mind) as I've listened to it over the years. For whatever reason, a lot of people liked what I wrote, despite the fact that it's not actually what CttE is about. I guess they just enjoyed the 'fantasy' : )
Also, there's a website called SongFacts that interviews band members about their music and Jon would often tell them what the song was about. Check it out. I used SongFacts a lot when I wrote on my blog my top 40 favorite pieces of Prog Rock music that's 8+ minutes in length. I had so much fun writing it. Now if only I could get paid to write, hah hah.
There's a piece by RUSH called La Villa Strangiato. When I checked SongFacts for info on this piece, cause it made my list (hah), it blew my mind what the piece is actually about, so if you ever react to it, I recommend you read it, after you listen to it. Always listen for yourself first, imo : )
The very beginning is Howe, making sure sure his guitar is tuned. There is NO BAND LIKE YES! You are on the right track with Jon's lyrics.......AMEN & AMEN
As has been mentioned earlier, Jon has teased different meanings over the years. Once at a concert I heard him introduce this song as, "...a twenty-four century love song." The line " As the Foundation left to create the spiral aim..," jibes with that comment. It is a reference to Asimov's Foundation series of books.
When you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
Good luck with the thinking of more after life! There is but one life to live so, young man live it while you can!👍🏻❤️☮️
I hope you're checking out some live performances of YES on yt. There's a ton. Watching them perform this live is a treat, as is all of their music. We are so lucky that we can watch live concerts from the past whenever we want. It's one of the wonderful things about technology, for sure.
Hey Daniel! New to your channel. Love your reactions and lyric interpretations. I feel you have a very creative, inquisitive and insightful
soul. And the fact that you’re listening to music I grew up with doesn’t hurt. Planning to check out your other site too.
Welcome to the channel, glad you're enjoying the videos:)
Yes were such an incredibly rich and diverse entity, brave lyrics indeed with a steely determination to just over deliver.
Thanks Daniel! I, too, share your belief system. FYI - apocalypse = apokálypsis ἀποκάλυψις, from ἀπό and καλύπτω, literally "an uncovering" (revealing) Bless you! + 2 Chronicles 16.9a
Tha acoustic guitar reminded me of fractal continuation?..a perpetual change?..but it all is the same inthe end? in the end..there is no end? great reaction again.
Steve was checking his tuning. When they heard it in the playback booth, they decided to keep it as part of the song.
Good work young chap... you have a very open mind to try and analyse Jon's lyrics.
Yes. Yeshua.
I agree with York, Awaken needs to be next. And one old hippie who is a Christian to another Christian, you HAVE TO FOLLOW Awaken with Wonderous Stories. The hair on your neck will stand on end and you will goosebumps all over. Love your reactions
I would call for the reverse, the way they appear on Going For The One. Listen to Wondrous Stories first, and then follow with Awaken.
I have
"I awoke this morning
Love laid me down by the river"
from Wondrous Stories set as the first alarm on my phone. Followed by
" High vibration go on
to the sun, oh let my heart dreaming
past a mortal as me.
Where can I be?
Wish the sun to stand still.
Reaching out to touch our own being
Past a mortal as we
Here we can be
We can be here,
be here now.
Here we can be."
from Awaken for my snooze alarm. I start every day I set my alarms with those two clips.
I ❤️ Tempus Fugit. My fav Yes song varies with what is going on in my life. God’s gift to our souls. Yes.
You are awesome!!! Jon Anderson was definitely thinking about Christianity when writing those lyrics.
Great. Thx.
You will still love it after 100 listens. As to the lyrics, your guess is as good as anybody's, but I love your interpretations! Tales from Topographic Oceans will really give you something to work with ...
More great Yes songs to try:
“On The Silent Wings Of Freedom”
“Heart Of The Sunrise”
“Awaken”
“Tempus Fugit”
“South Side Of The Sky”
“America”
“Perpetual Change”
America, isn’t that the Simon and Garfunkel cover?
Dell Little yes it is!
Heart of the sunrise my other favorite on this album, later , leave it song earlier all the good people , close to the edge.of course this one
you left out about 40 other great pieces of music, but it's a good start : )
I love Jon’s voice
As a diehard Yes fan for nearly 5 decades, here are my comments. So, Yes made many references to Sci Fi novels (Heinlein’s Starship Troopers-which is a helluva lot better than the stupid movies, for example). The references in this song are, from Isaac Azimov’s classic Foundation Trilogy, particularly the last half of the Second book “Foundation and Empire”-the story of Bayta Darell. The you find teachers, and “spiral aims”. So glad you listen to Yes. If you want to get Rush or Dream Theater, or Tool, then an understanding and familiarity with Yes is indispensable 😊 thanks for your reaction!
That wonderful Martin 12 string sounds sooooooo good.
I could not agree more - Yes evokes such a feeling of positivity. Since you're such a big Yes fan, can I suggest you react to "Ebb and Flow" by Steve Howe. The Clap and Mood for a Day were prequels to this masterpiece.
Yes, is 2 bands. In the 80s both bands United. I saw the concert. Check out Yes UNION album and the background of the 2. Jon Anderson is the only one who is in both.
I believe for Union it is both Anderson and Squire in both.
Jos Wheadon, who created "Firefly", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" TV shows, named his production company Mutant Enemy after the line in this song "There'll be no mutant enemy we shall certify".
Got to see Yes at San Diego sports arena in 79, I believe. They had a revolving stage and would freeze after each song ended. Great show. 14th row, ears rang for hours after. Really appreciated your wrap-up at 27:00. Jon Anderson is new age, not Christian, using crystals and meditation, so his lyrics are filtered through that lens, though I believe Jesus reaches out to the lost even in the dark searching.
And this is a love song for the most part.
You're gonna have a blast with the lyrics of Tales From Topographic Oceans. I like your reads, you're not afraid to say what you first think. That's what reacting's all about. Good good good
Hi Dicon, FYI the prog torch is still carried - and at the same general high quality level. This is, for me, personified by Steven Wilson - who works alone / plays all sorts of prog with this band, Porcupine Tree. A taste - and shortish - "Trains" - Porcupine Tree
. Not always happy, always beautiful, often impressive, listenable prog. Will not disappoint. You have also listened to a lot of SW - films, adverts, plus he's the guy the big prog bands go to for remastering. Remastered Yes is SW work... bands go to him cause he can feel what their music is about and painfully recreates the original; a perfectionist.
If and when you have a listen to the 'Yessongs' version of this song, you'll be very surprised by the steeeeel guitar 🎸 intro. To my recollection, it's the first time a band really cranks up the volume with amps from analog heaven for this very said instrument. Steve Howe strays from the stereotypical treatment of the steel and profoundly expresses the steel's potential power. I don't think enough has ever been mentioned about Howe's stroke of brilliance for seeing the steel as a lead instrument. Great review!
There is a magic performance of this track on the 2004 live Tsonga album. Line up of course is the big 5 from mid 70's. The crowd make it. A must listen.
Here it is!! You rented to my favorite song ever! 😃
Reacted
Rick Wakeman had a pretty good quote about this song from the YesYears video: "And You And I was a sort of mini-quintet sonata. It was everything fans loved about Yes music, and everything the critics hated us for." I'll just also add that on the '72 tour Jon used to introduce this song by saying when recording it the placeholder title they had for it was "The Protest Song". Make of that what you will when it comes to interpreting the lyrics.
I always felt a connection to the spiral arm and the double helix of DNA. Climbing over the sea to the valley is perhaps a nod to evolution, that we came form the sea onto the land (and maybe a connection to the ocean maid?). so for me the beginning, "Seeds of Life" is about the development of humanity on earth and our self-awareness, which we use to try and make sense of the world we perceive. That drive to understand involves preachers and teachers and eventually we can climb higher, over other things (the sun, a river) until we reach an endless sea.
It is a love song that Jon co-wrote for his first wife! One of my all time favorite songs.I first listen to this when I was 13. My brother owned the YESSONGS album and this one got me lost in the sauce. Amazing!
It is a wonderful Love song.
Josh Whedon of Buffy the Vampire fame took "Mutant Enemy" from this song as the name of his production company. Grrr Arrrg!
Love your analysis, when this came out me and my buddies would smoke weed and trip on this album, don't do that anymore, but it was frickin awesome! you should check out yes doing this complete album live, they perform it without Jon Anderson but the new singer is also very good, he's a lot younger than the rest of the band, he was in a yes cover band before being invited to join yes
This is one of my favorite Yes songs. Just beautiful sounds. By the time they did Topographic Oceans that's when I got off of the Yes train. A double album with only 4 songs. They simply became too big for their britches. Bombastic and overblown. Emerson, Lake & Palmer fell into the same trap. Still I love The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to The Edge.
Claude Debussy's music has been described as "tone poems". I think Yes songs are very much sonic poems and it always seemed to me that Anderson's lyrics were written to add to the sonic poetry rather than anything else. But I just love that you earnestly look for meaning in the lyrics. I think you do a great job of it.
Young blood; I just recently found your channe and see you’ve been covering some really good stuff. Yes is my band so I’m all about your reactions now. I stumbled on this really nice video of Yes doing some very early stuff. This one is called Then. I think you’ll like it! ruclips.net/video/W10qiXqlvo8/видео.html
It's always such a forlorn feeling when it fades out and ends, just for a moment, isn't it?
Just pulls your soul right out of ya, and then stomps all over it eh?
for your age you did a fine job with the lyrics!! When i was your age i had no idea about the Golden Ration and Metaphysics. Amazing dude! That is exactly what he is talking about there, The Spiral Aim. The aim of attaining that Higher Consciousness of the Source (or God if you like), or The One. The Spiral of INFINITY. The Ratio is also found in the petals of Flowers. The Themes which Jon talks about in a lot of songs are the Archetypes...the original blueprints inherent in the Cosmos itself. Number, letters, Symbols, Sacred Geometry. Jon is a Christian Mystic but studies many different Cultures Mystery Teachings. These are non Main Stream Teachings about Spirituality. Jon is also into Alchemy which is like Meta Physics in that it is a beautiful blend of Science and Spirit. You should check out an amazing series on the Gaia app called MYSTERY TEACHINGS with Dr. Theresa Bullard. It takes ancient Mystery Teachings and correlates them with modern day science especially Quantum Physics. You can relate to it whether you are a Church goer or not. Because God does exist I just don't like to use that term God. You will never hear the word God in any Yes song ever. Yet that is all that every Yes song is about.....God, The Source, The One, Universal Consciousness, Divine Intelligence, The Quantum Sea, The Zero Point Field, Anti Matter, what ever you want to call it. But really you should check out that series if you want to learn more about Ancient Spiritual Knowledge, It's some amazing stuff.
the was no feeling like being at a live yes show ,,,surrounded by song
Quite a time with Close to the Edge, Thick as a Brick and Dark Side of the Moon...
16:31 I wish I could live in this stretch of music forever
I've loved this song since I first heard it in 1974, laying on the floor with my head between the speakers. Yes lyrics themselves are wonderful,, but put together they didn't seem to make sense.,..so I'd just go with the music. BTW, if you were high, that transition was an incredible rush!
A little late to the party but the very beginning of the song was actually Steve Howe tuning his guitar before the recording session began. It got picked up by the recording equipment and they decided to include it as part of the song.
Agreed as to suggestion below to review the song Awaken from the album Going for the One.
If this song doesn't stir your soul, you're dead.
Spiraling means DNA.
Jon Andersons lyrics are often use for the sound of the words and the images they conjure, to create a mood. They're more like an instrument, than like lyrics in the usual sense. Even when they aren't used in this way, they tend to be very poetic, with a heavy use of metaphor, allegory and surreal imagery. Searching for literal meaning, in most Yes lyrics, is therefore a fairly thankless task. :)
tl/dr - Just let it wash over you. Especially on a first listen. :)
Yes, the soul is eternal (no pun intended)
After years of listening to this music I learned not to spend too much time on the lyrics. I think of them mostly as sounds.
Since you love Yes, I recomment a listen to the live performance of "Turn of the Century" from the album Keys to Acsension
When I was in my late teens, I used to lie on the floor of my bedroom with the crappy little speakers that came with my cheap stereo on either side of my head, close my eyes and let this song carry me to other planets. I guess head phone existed but i was to poor to even think of buying them So I just used the speakers set close to my ears.
Enjoyed the reaction. Again, i'd haven chosen the Wilson remix, actually available on the official Yes You Tube channel (ruclips.net/video/F7-Ky_NflGU/видео.html) - also, it says song is uploaded to RUclips by record company, which would allow for longer chunks (?) between your observations. Just wonderin'! (You cut if off just as the synth picks up on the guitar's final open chord, going higher...)
yes think you sir you wil geven me to anothere chances think you and all polowers think you.
Daniel. I really enjoy your channel. If you really like Yes, (as I do) you might try an album by them that I love but apparently many dismiss. It is called Tormato. It has some good songs. Like Don't Kill the Whales. Release Release, Circus of Heaven. Also there is another album that as a lot of good songs, that not many people seem to react to. That is called Union. There are a lot of good songs on there. Like "Take the Water to the Mountain" and Dangerous.
Nice brain dude, enjoy the journey!
The synth at the beginning and in the breaks with the 12 string guitar is a Minimoog. It is a standard Rick Wakeman tool. I don't really try to go down the rabbit hole of figuring out what they "meant," but what they mean to YOU is all that really matters. You don't need to try to figure out what Jon meant because I don't really think it matters all that much. What matter is what they make you think and feel when you listen to it. It is more of a raw reaction and feeling sort of thing.
6:10 In addition to what you mentioned, if you've never seen it, search 'Vortex Math' on yt.
Keep in mind that Jon wrote lyrics for the poetic sounds of the words themselves. How the lyrics sound being used together. So they may not be telling a coherent story. But you are supposed to listen to the SOUNDS of the words. Not necessarily the meaning. This according to Nigel Luby who worked for Yes for over a decade in that period. If you want to hear a Yes song with a coherent story then listen to the Gates of Delirium. That is the scariest Yes song there is. Until the end of course where the resolution is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.
yes, i always thought that trying to literally interpret Yes lyrics was fairly fruitless; I always felt the meaning was in the sense of the song, how it makes you feel, rather than the strict meaning of the words.
Masterpiece. Try 'Parallels"!
I always took 'And You and I' as a cryptic love song to Anderson's wife. Anderson claims that he just fills the tune he sings with the right sound of words at first, and if you can hear some of that in the practice sessions (extensions on some deluxe CDs) that were made during the making of "Close to the Edge" as he reworks the poetry, a theme pops out. Anderson purposely kept some words for their sound and others for their meaning.
Or you could react to the album Going for the one you will love it even more than we enjoy your show. Prog rock on!
Great to see you love Yes . This means there is hope these great songs will last forever.
Sorry don’t have your beliefs as I am an atheist . Jon Anderson’s lyrics are always a bit over the top interesting to hear how you interpreted them. I don’t think he is particularly religious. You need to get some of the DVDs to see them perform these songs live . So good to see a person if your age enjoying this music which really is the Classical Music of Rock
The lyrics that weren’t really heard were being sung in the background in highly processed vocals.
Much clearer live.