The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)

Huhh.. Maybe the YES tune that had the strongest impact on me. Deep, mysterious, beautiful, complex and yet organic, and so much more.

I agree (to some critics) that the project of that double album was a bit "over the edge", that that kind of story about the "evolution of mankind" was a bit too much for an album, but I never really cared about the lyrics, except for them generally having that spiritual, uplifting vibe... What's absolutely amazing about this track (just as for most YES classics) is the whole organic "something made of music + voice + words". I always felt that every incredible guitar cord and keyboard phrase is so well placed in terms of sound (the way the guitar chords are differently played each time, don't find the right words to express what I hear...), so epic, beautiful, it is certainly also a question of personally being "tuned" in the same way as the musicians... No wonder lots of people just HATE that sound and think it to be "artsy"

For me it is just a fu****ing masterpiece of art, period.

TFTO 4 movements are based on a footnote in Paramhansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi according to the liner notes. I do not remember any more specifics then that. TRSoG is clearly about evolution from amoeba to spiritual beings.

The opening chant is about evolution, The very beginning to now. The ascent of man. The title says it all. Science is slowly revealing the hand of God over billions of years. to see the Some of the lyrics are wrong here again. "Dawn of light lying between a silence and sold sources" It's "Solid sources." Using a solid (dust) to create everything.

I don't even listen to the lyrics just the way they chant it is amazing.

Well, well well! John Anderson-based this and the other three songs from the Tales of topographic oceans Lp on the footnote on page 100 of the book ‘autobiography of a Yogi’. The lyrics express the evolution of the human soul into an Enlightened state. The spiritual nature of these lyrics reflect an Eastern /Hindu /yogic perspective rather than a Christian/western one. To my mind, this song’s lyrics offer one of the greatest manifestations of revealing the essence of The Self that words in their limited scope can! Merci beaucoup Jon Anderson!!

"The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)"

Dawn of light lying between a silence and sold sources Chased amid fusions of wonder In moments hardly seen forgotten Coloured in pastures of chance dancing leaves cast spells of challenge Amused but real in thought, we fled from the sea whole

Dawn of thought transferred through moments of days undersearching earth Revealing corridors of time provoking memories Disjointed but with purpose Craving penetrations offer links with the self instructors sharp and tender love As we took to the air a picture of distance

Dawn of our power we amuse redescending as fast as misused expression As only to teach love as to reveal passion chasing late into corners And we danced from the ocean

Dawn of love sent within us colours of awakening among the many wont to follow Only tunes of a different age As the links span our endless caresses for the freedom of life everlasting

Talk to the sunlight caller Soft summer mover distance mine

Called out a tune but I never saw the face Heard but not replaced I ventured to talk but I never lost my place

Cast out a spell rendered for the light of day Lost in lights array I ventured to see as the sound began to play

What happened to this song we once knew so well Signed promise for moments caught within the spell I must have waited all my life for this Moment moment

The future poised with the splendour just begun The light we were as one And crowded through the curtains of liquid into sun

And for a moment when our world had filled the skies Magic turned our eyes To feast on the treasure set for our strange device

What happened to wonders we once knew so well Did we forget what happened, surely we can tell We must have waited all our lives for this Moment moment moment

Starlight movement Reasons Release forward Tallest rainbow Sun shower seasons Life flower reasons

They move fast, they tell me But I just can't believe that I can feel it There's someone to tell you Amid the challenge we look around in unison with you

Getting over overhanging trees, let them rape the forest Thoughts would send our fusion clearly to be home Getting over wars we do not mean, or so it seems so clearly Sheltered with our passion clearly to be home

They move fast, they tell me But I just can't believe they really mean to There's someone to tell you And I just can't believe our song will leave you

Skyline teacher Warland seeker Send out poison Cast iron leader

And through the rhythm of moving slowly Sent through the rhythm work out the story Move over glory to sons of old fighters past

Young Christians see it from the beginning Old people feel it, that's what they're saying Move over glory to sons of old fighters past

They move fast, they tell me But I just can't believe they really mean to There's someone to tell you A course towards a universal season

Getting over overhanging trees, let them rape the forest They might stand and leave them clearly to be home Getting over wars they do not mean, we charm the movement suffers Call out all our memories clearly to be home

We've moved fast, we need love A part we offer is our only freedom

What happened to this song we once knew so well Signed promise for moments caught within the spell We must have waited all our lives for this Moment moment

Past present movers moments we'll process the future, But only through Him we know Send flowered rainbows

A piece apart chased flowers of the dark and lights of songs To follow and show all we feel for and know of Cast round

You seekers of the truth aceepting that reason will relive And breathe and hope and chase and love For you and you and you

I don't feel this one really holds together like "The Ancient" and "Ritual" do, and some parts of the lyrics sound completely stoned of course. Yeah, but if you love this band you're able to cut off attention to some of the lyrics, and listen to the drama of the music and the unearthly grooves (like the wonderous flow of piano, mellotron strings, cymbals and slow drums that opens the second section).

There's an ecstatic lift to the opening that's so typical of Yes: the conviction and joy as he intones "Talk to the sunlight caller", over those waves of guitar and mellotron. The bits around the "And thru the rhythm" verses and the speeded-up solos after, that's the stuff that sounds the most out-of-the-way now, but I loved that part when I first heard the album.

This song is partially about the miracles that occurred during the time of Exodus, and how we've seemingly forgotten the miracles that God performed for the Israelites when they were fleeing the Egyptians.

"We fled from the sea whole." and "And we danced from the ocean." clearly refer to the Red Sea crossing.

"What happened to this song we once knew so well?" questions why miracles are not recognized in everyday life, or it could be questioning why God doesn't perform the same types of miracles he performed in Exodus.

"Did we forget what happened? surely we can tell" again refers to the miracles of the Exodus, and the fact we "can tell" what happened via reading the Bible.

The whole theme of God runs through this song, thus the name "Revealing Science of God".

Anderson's channeling—by way of smoking—some heavy shit.

Michael Garrret is right about the Hindu origin of the song, and while it is tempting to connect ‘we fled from the sea whole’ to the Red Sea parting, Moses’ tribe didnt actually flee from the sea, but rather the Pharaoh’s army. You could say they fled~through~ the sea , perhaps. The ‘sea whole’ is the phrase that makes me think more of evolution, as life as an amalgamation of many species fled, or transitioned , from the sea to the tide pools to the swamps to the land. Anderson uses the phrase ‘whole’ in a similar manner on their previous album, Close to the Edge. ~~~~~~~~~ But it is reasonable to read Christian themes in the song as well since Anderson and co-writer likely Howe were forerunners of what eventually became known as New Age. They fused Eastern, Western, and Ancient religious and philosophies. While this was not unique in that the Theosophists aimed to fuse Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Jewish spirituality about a hundred years ago. Painter Mondrian and poet TS Elliot were theosophists, with Elliot’s “The Wasteland” being a theosophist masterpiece. Some of the beatniks also sought to generalize a spirituality from all the world religions, but most were mainly nihilists because they were the first generation to have to learn to live with global nuclear annihilation at a very young age. Yes were of the hippies movement that turned the non-conformist beatnik pessimism and city grime existentialism into a non-judgmental optimism bathed in nature.

[Edit: typo]