A river a mountain to be crossed
The sunshine in mountains sometimes lost
Around the south side so cold that we cried
Were we ever colder on that day
A million miles away
It seemed from all eternity

Move forward was my friend's only cry
In deeper to somewhere we could lie
And rest for the the day with cold in the way
Were we ever colder on that day
A million miles away
It seemed from all eternity

The moments seemed lost in all the noise
A snow storm a stimulating voice
Of warmth of the sky of warmth when you die
Were we ever warmer on that day
A million Miles away
We seemed from all eternity

La la la la la la, la la la la la la la la

The moments seemed lost in all the noise
A snow storm a stimulating voice
Of warmth of the sky of warmth when you die
Were we ever warmer on that day
A million Miles away
We seemed from all eternity

The sunshine in mountains sometimes lost
The river can disregard the cost
And melt in the sky warmth when you die
Were we ever warmer on that day a million miles away
We seemed from all of eternity


Lyrics submitted by musicandnintendo, edited by Wazoo92, songdood

South Side of the Sky Lyrics as written by Chris Squire Jon Anderson

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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South Side of the Sky song meanings
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    General Comment

    I haven't read anything to verify or disprove what you have said above..

    The image I had (before reading you all's) was like on that movie "Alive" with the soccer players, when their plane crashes in the mountains somewhere, and they end up having to eat the dead.. But some survive in the end...

    The "lala" part of this song is wierd - but freaking awesome -- the piano and drums are so fucking awesome too in this part -- especially when you are picturing that it's a daydream of someone who is barely concious in subzero temperatures...

    Then that fucking awesome machine sound comes in.. starts quitely.. gets louder.... and the reality of the subzero temperatures - empending death!! - wakes you out of that utopian hallucination! The only way to die is to die hard and like a man.

    I too am surprised that this song is not mentioned often among Yes fans --- I don't think they even play it in concert.. But I'm not much for the "popular" Yes songs... So I think this song is way more important than "Roundabout", but on the other hand, not as important as "Heart of The Sunrise"...

    About Bruford: when you listen to Alan White on Relayer, you see that Yes didn't really miss Bruford (white does fucking awesome on that album)..

    But a lot of credit still should go to Bruford on fragile (I wasn't as impressed on the Edge)...

    When I listen closely to the drum compositions on South Side, Long Distance Runaround, and Sunrise, I am so amazed at how clever -- and simply beautiful his drumming was.. Clearly Bruford was integral on fragile, but on the Edge, something is missing, and it makes sense to me that he departed at that point.

    lyricstudenton April 10, 2005   Link

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