“Roundabout” – Single by Yes from the album Fragile
B-side “Long Distance Runaround”
Released 4 January 1972 (US)
Label Atlantic
Songwriters Jon Anderson and Steve Howe
Producers Yes, Eddy Offord
Charted No.13 in U; No.9 in Canada; No.27 in Netherlands
Video: Live at the Rainbow Theatre, London, UK. 15 & 16 Dec 1972 (‘Close to the Edge’ Tour)
The song originated in March 1971 when the band were on tour promoting The Yes Album (1971), travelling from Aberdeen to Glasgow after a gig in Aviemore, Scotland. They encountered many roundabouts on the way; Anderson claimed “maybe 40 or so”, which inspired Anderson and Howe to write a song about the journey as they sat in the back of the band’s transit van, and include the roundabouts and the surrounding mountains into the lyrics.
Anderson had smoked cannabis during the trip, “so everything was vivid and mystical”. Anderson added: “It was a cloudy day, we couldn’t see the top of the mountains. We could only see the clouds because it was sheer straight up … I remember saying, ‘Oh, the mountains–look! They’re coming out of the sky!'” He began to write the song’s lyrics in his notebook in a free-form style with minimal edits: “I just loved how words sounded when I put them together.”
Within 24 hours, the band had arrived back home in London where Anderson reunited with his then wife Jennifer, which inspired the song’s lyric “Twenty-four before my love, you’ll see, I’ll be there with you”. A loch they passed as they neared Glasgow became the idea behind the line “In and around the lake”. Upon their arrival at their hotel in Glasgow, Anderson and Howe began to put down song ideas on their recorder.
“Roundabout” was Yes’ breakthrough hit and is 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 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.
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.
YES
Jon Anderson – lead & backing vocals
Steve Howe – electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Chris Squire – bass guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals
Rick Wakeman – Hammond organ, harpsichord, Minimoog, grand piano, Mellotron
Bill Bruford – drums, percussion
