A question for the expert panel

[Alexander]

A year ago I read on the Yesworld site (which used to have more info from the 1970s) that Jon Anderson read a book called "The Singer" in Switzerland and this book inspired his writing for the "Going For The One" album.

Now I can't find this interview. Does anyone know any more about this book?

[Alexander]

I found it! It was in the Yes Museum for 1977. In an interview with Jon Anderson:

"As usual, the album features some literary influences, particularly
on 'Awaken,' the fifteen minute closing number... 'While I was in Switzerland I had a
chance to read a book called "The Singer,"' Anderson explains. 'It's
about this "Star Song" which is an ageless hymn that's sung every
now and again and that inspired this song. It's also influenced by a
book I read recently about the life of Rembrandt--that affected me
quite significantly. I feel the song ends the whole "Topographic"
relation of ideas.'"

Pretty neat, huh? I eat this stuff up because that's from the time when I first discovered Yes. Any comments?:rolleyes:

[Olias of NYC]

I agree with you about these blips from Jon being great. However, I have found that whenever I go back to the sources he cites I'm left scratching my head a bit. For example, I read in an interview that "Initiation of the World" was the inspiration for "Olias of Sunhillow" so I ordered it and read it. I must say that it bared little or no resemblance to the album that Jon created. The footnote from "Autobiography of a Yogi" that inspired TFTO is also not a direct transfer, if you will, from page to album. My point being that often times when an artist cites material, reading that material will add deeper insight into the song. I'm not sure that's always the case with Jon. He seems to take what he reads and puts it through the "Jon Factory" of his mind and comes out with something completely his own. But if you can find "The Singer" definitely read it, who knows. I know reading Carlos Castaneda provided insight, as well as "Siddhartha" for CTTE.

Cheers.
:yesbird:

[Alexander]

Perhaps its like psychic transfer, where the receiver sketches the sent image on paper and everyone sees it's the same image but changed, as if altered somehow by intellectual processes.

Have you read "The Singer"? I don't know it. The idea though seems a fitting inspiration for 'Awaken', and Switzerland--where it was sung--is a great natural amphitheatre for a cosmic happening.

[Green Knight]

I definitely concur with the views of Olias above. Jon is the greatest creator of concepts as he doesn't make heavy-handed connections. There is no way you could know that TfTO is based on the Shastric scriptures, or GoD on War and Peace, or CttE on Siddartha, unless it was common knowledge. The way I see it, Jon reads something, it has a profound effect on him, and then he writes about the effect - the bit he has internalised - rather than the original source material.

****, but he's a gifted one, isn't he?