Owner Of A Lonely Heart

The song meaning is clarified by the video. The video script/screenplay is an adaption of the Franz Kafka novel "The Trial". The script remains faithful to the novel till the very last scene, where in typical Yes fashion we have a happy ending. This is not a betrayal of the novel as Kafka postulates the alternative ending anyway and Yes have simply taken him up on it. The Kafka novel starts with an ordinary guy with an ordinary job leading an ordinary life being arrested. He is told that he is on trial and , to cut a long story short, his sentence is death. In other words, this guy "goes with the flow" and does not question the world around him. The first couple of verses have Yes admonishing this bloke and urging him to make up his own mind about things and take control of his life. Following verses do much the same thing. "Give your free will a chance etc." It's difficult for me to keep explaing the meaning of the song as it is so directly tied to the clip and the novel...I would give away the punchline(s) of the book and ruin it for those who would read it. Sufficient to say that the song is a great piece of music and the lyrics open up worlds to those who care to follow it through. See the clip, read the book and the lyrics will have another level of meaning.