Roundabout

This was Yes' breakthrough hit and one of their most well-known songs, but the band wasn't looking for a hit at the time. The album version runs 8:29, but it was edited to 3:27 for release as a single, which climbed to #13 on the US Hot 100, giving the band their biggest hit until they eclipsed it with "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" in 1983.

In our interview with Jon Anderson, he explained: "When we first heard the 'Roundabout' single, it was on the radio. We didn't know it was released. We were busy being a band on the road, and then we heard the edit and we thought, 'Wow, that must have been a big pair of scissors to edit that song.' I mean, it was just totally wrong musically. It actually worked and all of a sudden we became famous, we had a hit record and more people came to see us, which was great, because then they would see the progression of music we'd been doing and they'd see us more as a band and not just wait for 'Roundabout.' Because we didn't do that 'Roundabout' in those days. We did the 8 minute version."

Yes lead singer Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe wrote this song near the end of a tour when they were traveling in Scotland. They were in the back of a van going from Aberdeen to Glasgow when the song came together. Awed by the scenery, Anderson came up with lyrics like "Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there," as the mountains would disappear into the clouds.

The band had been touring for about a month, and Anderson was looking forward to his imminent return to London, where he could once again see his wife at the time, Jennifer. The lyrics, "Twenty four before my love you'll see I'll be there with you" indicate that he is just 24 hours away from being with her again.

The lyrics describe a psychedelic-country life, with allusions to driving. A roundabout is a kind of traffic circle that substitutes for a stoplight and confounds tourists who are unfamiliar with them. Traffic patterns don't always make the most poetic lyrics, but the word "Roundabout" sings very well and fits with the theme of the song, as when Jon Anderson came to a roundabout in Scotland, he knew that he was almost home.

Glen Burtnik, who wrote several Styx songs when he was with the band and also co-wrote the songs "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" and "Spirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man," tells us that "Roundabout" is a great example of a songwriting technique called "deceptive cadence," which means putting a note or chord where it is not expected. Says Glen: "Even though all the indications lead you to expecting a certain outcome, the writer/arranger intentionally surprises you by going someplace else musically." Another example of this technique is "A Day In The Life" by The Beatles.

The lake mentioned in this song ("In and around the lake...") is Loch Ness, which Jon Anderson saw when he was riding through Scotland. This lake is supposedly inhabited by a rarely seen creature known as the Loch Ness Monster.

This song is known as a showcase for the musicianship of Yes, notably the keyboard work of Rick Wakeman and the acoustic guitar intro played by Howe. Fragile was Wakeman's first album with the band. Anderson says it's a "happy song" and describes it as a "Scottish jig."

The odd sound at the beginning of this song is a piano played back backwards. Their engineer Eddy Offord spent a lot of time stringing up tape the wrong way and picking out just the right notes to make it work.