To Be Over Lyrics?

[MasterOfPuppets]

Does anyone know what is being said at the end of To Be Over (after "Be ready to be loved")?

[pianozach]

Funny you should ask . . .

This is the third thread in the Relayer section to ask that.

Cindy has answered this question twice, the first time back in July 2006, then again in December 2006:



I copied and pasted this from one of my other posts here.
You can read the story....


"New som du lay
sah du rah
sah du lay
tu sah rah,
du sah dulay,
sah du rah,
tey tu santeh."


From Notes From The Edge -back-issues/0172
Someone recently asked about the unintelligible lyrics at the end of "To Be Over." I'm pleased to be able to say that I can actually help out here. Back in the 70s, when I was publishing my science fiction fanzine KHATRU, one of my regular contributors was a guy named Freff, who's had columns in
various music magazines (primarily MUSICIAN and KEYBOARD) over theyears.

He did a fair amount of artwork for me, and some writing.
In June 1976 he interviewed Jon Anderson, and I published a transcript of that interview in my February 1978 issue. And Freff brought up that point.



So here is the relevant portion of this interview. It is Copyright
1978 by Jeffrey D. Smith and Jeffrey A. Frane.


FREFF: How about that incomprehensible chant at the end of "To Be
Over"?

JON: It's just sounds.

FREFF: Not words?

JON: It isn't words. It was never meant to be any kind of
mysterious thing. I did want a sound, like a lot of people
doing a little song, but I didn't want any words. It goes
"New som du lay sah du rah sah du lay tu sah rah, du sah du
lay, sah du rah, tey tu santeh." It can be interpreted any
way you want. Have you got an interpretation?

FREFF: Well, not really. Using a graphic equalizer to try and pull
it out the best I could get was a batch of sounds that might
have been "someday, someone..."

JON: Really?

FREFF: It was *very* annoying. A conundrum.

JON: It was never meant to be. I think I wrote it down, didn't I?

FREFF: Nope.

JON: That's where it went wrong. I should have done that. It was
very simple, really, but instead of going lalala I went du
sah du ray, etc. I didn't really want to write any more
lyrics at that point.

[Hex]

Perhaps this should be under "misheard lyrics", but as a kid I used to sing along:

"Some day, somehow,
Some day soon, somehow,
Some day, some how
there'll be something.."

or something like that. I knew it wasn't that, but it seemed to fit, on so many levels...

Well, two....:lmao:

[MasterOfPuppets]

Funny you should ask . . .

This is the third thread in the Relayer section to ask that.

Cindy has answered this question twice, the first time back in July 2006, then again in December 2006:

Whoops... Anyway, thanks for the info.

[Albedo]

Perhaps this should be under "misheard lyrics", but as a kid I used to sing along:

"Some day, somehow,
Some day soon, somehow,
Some day, some how
there'll be something.."

or something like that. I knew it wasn't that, but it seemed to fit, on so many levels...

Well, two....:lmao:

I always thought it was something like that too. I was disappointed to find out it wasn't.

[scootwhoman]

I think that Jon was stoned, and just forgot what he had sung. "New som du lay" sounds suspiciously like 'nous sommes du soleil', which someone told me means "we love when we play". (Somebody else told me it means "we are of the sun.") Ever since I got into Yes, I have maintained that Jon used his voice like an instrument, to add to the total sound of the music, not as lyricist, trying to communicate phonemes, and that he picked words that gave the right sound over words that would more clearly convey meaning.

I have long heard the last words of 'To Be Over' to be "some day, some XXXX" Of course, by this point, my ears were usually ringing, after listening to the whole album at high volume levels. Relayer just does not sound right unless it is LOUD.

Those words fill out the last moments of a symphony, a work which had three movements, each with its own movements, and that there was a definite 'end' to the music, instead of a fade out. The band winds down the song and the symphony at the same time, with an uplifting, light, and airy feeling, yet with a bit of melancholy, I think. (Maybe it is just that I am sad to hear this favorite Yes album of mine end.)

[Soul Dreamer]

Jon has often put chant like words in his music, so this ending meaning nothing is probably just that.
And i've always liked the ending part because of the voicings.

[soundchaser09]

nous sommes du soliell does mean we are of the sun

[scootwhoman]

Thank you, soundchaser09! We are all stardust, so 'we are of the sun' is accurate. Somehow, I think that Relayer is turning out to be the most durable of the early albums, in that it appeals to younger listeners very strongly.