Shoot High Aim Low

There were at least two occasions when American Marines invaded Nicaragua, and one of them, in 1912, started at a port town called "Bluefields." That's the part of the song that Jon Anderson is signing about, and everything else the rikdad said about that part of the song fits in just right.

But Trevor's lines seem to be about something else entirely. Trevor is singing about sitting on a beach in a car with a girl and trying to get laid, but I think the twist is that the car is parked on the beach at Bluefields, years later after the amphibious assault. "We sat for hours on the crimson sand, he sings. People died there years ago, and now Trevor is basically singing about trying to the most life-affirming thing that a person can do, in that same spot where people died.

Shoot High, Aim Low indeed.

Young men die in a war whose point is not apparent to them. The scene is an amphibious invasion, troops landing on the beach. One of the repeated reflections is that life prior to the war (rides in a blue sedan) had not yet amounted to much before many of the men died on the beach.

The war is not specified; World War II's D-Day nominally fits the bill, although the British forces (none of Yes are American) did not suffer terribly in those landings. There were many other smaller landings, though, throughout that war. The Falklands War was much more recent when the song was written although the British landings there were not terribly bloody, either. The war being described may be fictional.

Jon Anderson: The blue fields is a part of Nicaragua and as long as you know that, the song makes a lot of sense. I'm the guy in the helicopter going in at ninety miles per hour and I'm going to blow everybody up. A very sick sort of situation. The song is a dedication to live beyond war and at the same time Trevor is singing the dream of love: in the car with a girl having fun.

This is my favorite Yes song. I am shocked that it's only got one comment. Anyway, I never thought that it was about war, but I didn't really have a specific idea on what it was about either. War seems to make sense, though. Yep.

yeah, this is up their as my favorite song or at least tied for it by Yes. thats a prety good theory "rikdad", i cant think of anything better.

I agree completely with Rikdad. This is EXACTLY what I had envisioned before I first read Rikdad's comments. In fact, I logged onto this website just to see what others thought the meaning was.

The song has a more general message, about the waste of human life in wars (such as the millions of young men who died in WW1). But I think it clearly uses the the landings during D-day to describe it. "Someone shouted open the door, lookout!" Everyone who has watched Saving Private Ryan knows this scene of carnage. Also, I think "in the blue sedan, we never got much further" really nails the point, since the Higgins landing craft were painted blue, and many were taken out, fully loaded with men (they never got much further except to wash up on the beach), by the heavy concentration of shell fire from the German batteries.

i see a post-apocalyptic situation. the blue fields could be Nicaragua, but i see somewhere midwest USA. the blue sedan. a group of people escaping into the countryside. "...so fast this expedition..." they split out without much notice, on the run from disaster. "...so vast this heavy load..." carrying with themselves a last hope for humanity and for some kind of civilization as chaos consumes all behind and before them. "...with a touch of luck and a sense of need..." desperation. it reminds me of the first 100 or so pages of Stephen King's THE STAND, when it is all breaking down and people are running away from disintegrating society. "...seeing the guns and their faces..." theyve run in among other desperadoes. there's killing, maybe. tense situations. Octavia Butler's PARABLE OF THE SOWER comes to mind. "...exchanges in the currency of humans bought and sold..." the ravages of capitalist civilization have brought mankind to the edge of ruin and have transcended, finally, that edge. "...and the leaders seem to lose control..." economic and environmental collapse ensue. "...shall we lose ourselves for a reason..." their system pretends to be based on reason but the reality of a system based on infinite growth in a finite world must inevitable lead to ruin. "...shall we burn ourselves for the answer..." of course the paradoxes of this system will lead to war and ruin. nuclear war is hinted at here. "...have we found the place we're looking for..." is this where our way of life was bound to lead all along? is this why all is chaos and war? "...someone shouted open the door, look out!..." the rapidly changing, exploding situation these refugees find themselves in intrude on the narrator's ruminations. "...feeling of imagination..." one of my favorite pieces of the scene. in the chaotic breakdown of systems of control, possibilities open themselves. if one could escape the ensuing, enveloping chaos and find a place of refuge, other kinds of society become possible. the breakdown of the greater system will allow alternative methods of social organization to develop. "...the sun so hard on that endless highway..." escaping into emptiness. a hard road. "...we were all alone. we didnt need much more..." out in open country. maybe enough supplies and knowhow to make a go of it. "...the singers, who sing of love..." carrying this flame forward. this is what was best of humanity and with luck, the coming endtimes war will not wipe it out completely. "...in the blue sedan we never got much further..." ambiguous. did the expedition fail. were they killed, wiped out, by other refugees, by military roadblock, by post nuclear storm, by chaotic circumstances. or did they proceed on foot? it's doubtful anyone will survive the next world war, the ongoing world war of which stages we are already entered upon. there's a chance, but it's not good.

I'd always imagined this as a drug smuggling song. South American or someplace like that. Steel guitars, blue sedans, "someone shouted open the door. LOOKOUT! An ambush by either the other drug runners or the military trying to take the drugs and the expected profit from them. " So fast the expedition, so vast this heavy load. The loaded trucks moving quickly through the back roads The crimson sand, toward the evening when they pick up the "cargo". "Underneath the skin,a feeling , a breakdown..." a premonition of a dangerous trip, a feeling of foreboding on this trip

I could go on, but I'm probably so far off base I'd hate to insult anyone.

The melody the song reminds me of the 1st few minutes of Terminator II depicting an older aged "John Connor" doing battle against the machines....\n\nAnyway I like how the song, the melody drives up the sense of the unknown - apprehension - fear & danger of foreboding, that is "LOOKOUT!"\n\nGreat song.

norselandsrock.com/shoot-high-aim-low-yes/

This ^retrospective supports the alternating vocals as representing events years apart (war, then much later, an idyllic scene), at Bluefields, a town on the east coast of Nicaragua. The nation was news in the 1980s when the song was written/recorded.

Bluefields originated as a port for European pirates, the name being a corruption of (Abraham) Blauvelt, a "Dutch-Jewish pirate" per Wikipedia. The song's wartime lyrics are said to be partly inspired by the U.S. Marines' landing in 1912.

The retrospective also confirms, however, that Jon Anderson sometimes says Trevor Rabin's vocals are "in dreamtime." This could invite alternate or subtextual interpretations (note: mine is bleak).

To me, the song doesn't depict multiple eras. If years have passed, why are the sands (still) "crimson"? Also, the dual meaning of "sedan" imposes wealth and power in the utopian moment.

The lyrics are thoughts or words of soldier(s), after a battle in which they were overwhelming victors. Their motto is: "shoot high" (set high goals), "aim low" (do what it takes). Also, there's the suggestion of betrayal:

"the steel guitar and the love you give" followed by helicopters' descent, "Seeing the guns and their faces ..."

To survive, the soldiers adopt an existential view: "Who says there's got to be a reason ..."

Western powers claim morality, but in defending our interests, do the same things again and again: "I've heard the singers who sing of love, but ... we never get much further."