Yes and PhilosophyThe Spiritual and Philosophical Dimensions of

Yes Music

Yes and Philosophy

Yes is the progressive rock band best known for hits such as “Roundabout” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” There are spiritual and philosophical themes and concerns that repeatedly pop up in Yes music. For instance, “Tales from

Topographic Oceans” is a journey into the collective unconscious; “Gates of Delirium” is a journey into the

madness of war; and “Close to the Edge” is journey into heights of mystic awareness.

Yes and Philosophy

Bill Martin was one of the first academics to examine the philosophical dimensions of Yes music.

Compositions like “Close to the Edge,” “Ritual,” “Machine Messiah,” “The Gates of Delirium,” “Fly

From Here,” and “Roundabout” are ambitious pieces of music . According to Martin, Yes’ best

works exhibit “structure and vision.”

Yes and Philosophy

Well . . .“Roundabout,” is an apt description for the Uroboros, the mythical serpent, which twists back to devour its own tail. The Uroboros symbolizes the self-reflexive , cyclical, and eternal nature of the Universe. Like the Uroboros, Roger Dean’s “Yes” logo twists back upon itself and has no beginning or ending.

Yes’ lyrics are renowned for being cryptic and mystical, which has led many critics to dismiss the band’s work as pretentious and rationally unintelligible. What exactly is a Roundabout, after all?

Yes and Philosophy

Bassist Chris Squire has encouraged Yes fans to come up with their own interpretations of Yes’ cryptic lyrics. In my view, there are several interesting parallels between the song “Roundabout” and the Uroboros.

1) Roundabout - the term is an apt description for the Uroboros.2) Chris Squire's bass riff doubles back on itself like the mythological Uroboros (this point was first made by the respected philosopher Bill Martin).3) The song Roundabout seems to travel full circle (the ending is a variation on the musical theme the song began with).4) Roger Dean explicitly depicts the Yes logo as the Uroboros.5) Jon Anderson frequently uses snake imagery in his songs (in “Cage of Freedom” he sings about "snakes eating their own tails.")

Yes and Philosophy

What is the significance of the Uroboros motif?

The Uroboros is one of the most potent images in the mythic imagination. Artwork and jewelry depicting the Uroboros date to earliest antiquity. Descriptions of the Uroboros appear in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Plato’s philosophy, and in the Hindu Upanishads. The Uroboros was a frequently used motif in alchemy; the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung believed the Uroboros symbolically represented the psyche; and the chemist Kekule dreamt of a Uroboros shortly before discovering that the structure of the benzene molecule resembled a snake eating its own tail! Further, the physicist John Wheeler described the relationship matter at the quantum level and consciousness a being like a “smoky dragon biting its own tail.”

Yes and PhilosophyThe Uroboros motif crops up in Roger Dean’s artwork too. Consider the way water is recycled by nature in artist Roger Dean’s famous painting “Close to the Edge.” Here, the entire life cycle is implicitly represented by the flow of water depicted in Dean’s painting. That is, the water cyclically journeys endlessly from the lake, to the waterfall, to the misty rain clouds and back to the lake.

Yes and PhilosophyTo learn more about the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of Yes music you can check out my book “Yes and Philosophy” at Amazon.