Big Generator (song)

"Big Generator"
Song by Yes
from the album Big Generator
Released 28 September 1987
Recorded 1985-1987 (exact date and location unknown)
Length 4:33 (Big Generator version)
3:41 (The Ultimate Yes version)
Label Atco Records
Composer(s) Jon Anderson, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin, Chris Squire, Alan White
Lyricist(s) Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin
Producer(s) Yes, Trevor Horn, Trevor Rabin, Paul De Villiers

"Big Generator" is a song by Yes that appears on their 1987 album, Big Generator. The song was released as a single[1] exclusively in the U.S., and was backed with itself. It appeared on every show on the Big Generator tour, but nowhere else to date.[2]

Meaning

The song, according to Jon Anderson, is about how we are all a part of the Earth, its eyes, its ears, its voice.[3]

On the album/At the end of the song

This song, which sounds as if to be in the same vein as "Rhythm of Love", "Love Will Find a Way" and others (it is also sometimes compared to "Owner of a Lonely Heart", being a harder rock number), is second in order on the album. The final section of "Big Generator" concludes with the lines "Moving through the night... Moving, etc.", which is partially paused by the middle vocal passage (starting at 3:55 and finishing at 4:07) that comes out of nowhere and is extremely spooky, where Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, and Trevor Rabin sing the lines "Flying out the soft machine, we offer all surprise to you... Praise oh praise this anthem generator". Finally after resuming the conclusion of the song, it ends with the guitar riff.

A remix of the song was first issued in July 1988 on a 12" promo single,[4] then later in 2004 on The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection. The remix keeps the verses exactly where they are, but is much compressed by replacing the vocal arrangement with their first line "Big generator" (from Chorus 1) as part of an intro, profusely scrambling choruses, and forcibly removing a huge amount of bridge sections. In addition, it features some vocals which have never been used on the original version of the song for the most part of a year.

In the live setting

Typically, the song was performed just after "Shoot High Aim Low". Discounting announcements, it usually lasted for about five minutes, but sometimes lasted longer; the performance on 14 November 1987 lasted for approximately 6:26. As with "Rhythm of Love", the song's intro was never played.

Personnel

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Yesworld Yes official website, retrieved 30 January 2007.
  2. ↑ Forgotten Yesterdays Yes tour log, retrieved 30 January 2007.
  3. ↑ Forgotten Yesterdays Yes tour log, retrieved 30 January 2007
  4. ↑ Liner notes booklet for The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection
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