And You And I

In my opinion, this is the ultimate love song, a kind of purity that can't be matched. What's funny is that "I love you" (or even the word "love" for that matter... could be wrong on that one but I'm pretty sure I checked it all over) isn't even spoken at all. Cord of Life starts out with the "protagonist" of the song (I like to think of it as a guy since I'm a guy but it could be either gender I guess), who is possibly conflicted, meeting the love interest - its not necessarily "love at first sight", but slowly and surely their world starts coming to life as he/she becomes attached to their partner more and more. Eclipse seems to be an epic representation of the sheer power generated by their love. The Preacher, The Teacher is about the conflict within the protagonist - the preacher being the spiritual side of him, the teacher being the logical side of him. Before he/she met their partner, these two factions were warring and still continue to conflict with each other perhaps, but they "agree and immortalize" upon the fact that this person is their life, and that's all that matters. They realize how lifeless their world was without this person, and how much more beautiful it is united with that person. The entire "Coming quickly to terms of all expressions laid, as a movement regained and regarded both the same, emotion revealed as the ocean maid, all complete in the sound of seeds of life with you" segment reflects upon this core belief that the protagonist's life is completed and filled with life with this person. Finally, there's Apocalypse... I don't think that's necessarily about the end of the world, but represents how once these two have bonded, their love for each other and unity is undying, reaching to legendary extents. They're soul-mates. After they die, their passion transcends Earth into the heavens and eternity.

What a beautiful song.

This song is so remarkably beautiful. It makes me sad to be born in a generation were grunge and pop dominate the musical scene.

This song is about the growth of love over a lifetime.

Chord of Life is about falling in love. Discovering a feeling that was so previously unimaginable.

Eclipse is about marriage. The whole idea of the moon's alignment with the sun is enough to leave me speechless

The Preacher The Teacher is about growing old together. Learning from eachother and changing but somehow still not losing any of the love.

Apocalypse is about death but not in a bad sense. More just the feeling of utter contentment and peace and knowing that you are truely happy that you got to live your life with this one remarkable person and have absolutly no regrets.

It's a bit bit ideolistic, but that's what I love about Yes. This song is just absolutly amazing

when modern bands want to write about love, they usually say "i love you baby, ur hot baby, i wanna make love to you baby" and other funny shit like this. Yes is one of the very, very few original bands in this particular respect (pretty much in others too). I just couldnt agree more with gigiuz - "All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you" is in my opinion one of the greatest things you can say to sb you love, esp in the context of the rest of the song. Everything in this world, including the world itself, is only complete with that person. or in other words, without that person, the world is incomplete.

concise, original, meaningful. brilliant.

I think it is a great song. and talks about love and what it is like. The end of the world angle is also something to think about. Don't have a favorite song but this ranks up with the best.

This is my favorite song of all time. I think it talks about what it will be like when the world ends.

I also like this song, and I think that "All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you.." are the best words I've ever found in a song...

I mostly agree with george2, but I must be the first to say that the glorious harmonic intro by steve howe ("o.k., pling!"), and then the subsequent mellifluous soundscapes, fantastic rhythyms, and the excellent composition rate among the very very best of the 20th century. I still can't get over how well this song, this album was put together. Yes, you are very worthy of the title of "Artist". And thanks to all y'all for giving me way more insight as to the meaning of this masterpiece.

This is probably the most beautiful love song I've ever heard.

It REALLY reminds me of the book Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski, even though the book was written long after.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you for your beautiful interpretations. I think the song is about becoming enlightened. My favorite line is, "And you and I climb over valleys of endless seas."

I was told by someone over 25 years ago that the song was based on Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, a three-book science series in which the protagonist, Hari Seldon, is a mathematician who invents a new field called psychohistory, which could predict the course of history based on a mathematical analysis of the emotional state of the people of the universe - emotion revealed as the ocean maid. Throughout the course of the history covered by the books, merchants, and later, religious, take over control of society, only to both eventually fail - coins and crosses never know their fruitless worth. The series is also a mystery, where the central unknown is the location of one of the two Foundation planets of a spiral galaxy where the psychohistorians that guide the future of civilization reside - a foundation left to create the spiral aim. Knowing the song, I was able to determine the location of the first foundation before it was revealed in the third book. Many of the elements of the song fit the story, enough for those intrigued to pick up the books. Of course, that doesn't discount what many others have said here, as the themes of the books are ancient traditional themes of many cultures.