Roundabout (8:30)

“Roundabout” is the opening track for the 1971 album Fragile by British progressive rock band Yes. The song was written by singer Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe. In January 1972, an edited version of the song was released as a single with “Long Distance Runaround” on the B-side. “Roundabout” has become one of the best-known songs by Yes. Live versions of the song are found on the albums Yessongs (1973), Keys to Ascension (1996), House of Yes: Live from House of Blues (2000), and Live at Montreux 2003 (2007). The Yessongs version was released as a single in 1974.[1] An acoustic arrangement of “Roundabout” was recorded for The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection, released in 2003.

The single was one of the band’s biggest hits in the United States, peaking at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single version of the song was edited down to 3:27 for American pop radio airplay, although many stations played the full version of the song. “Roundabout” peaked at #22 on the Dutch Top 40.[2]

Anderson has said that the song’s cryptic lyrics simply came to him while driving to the studio one early morning. This explains the lyric “Call it morning driving through the sound and even in the valley”.

Howe’s use of octave harmonics on the acoustic guitar introduction of the song and the instrumental break in the middle, plucking four notes that compose an Em chord on an open guitar, has become one of his signature pieces of guitar work.