The sort of music that Chris Squire and Yes are usually associated with is complex and often bombastic. Not hard rock, mind you, but as progressive rock, it's still rock, music with a lot of energy to it. But Yes has also produced some lovely soft pieces, soaring, celestial, and romantic.
My first post in this series, Yes, Squire, featured the song "Heart of the Sunrise" from their most celebrated album, Fragile, and that song incorporates both hard and soft parts. The other songs I've posted, "Starship Trooper" in Yes Again, Squire, "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" in Squire's (Not So) Silent Wings, and "Tempus Fugit" in Yes, Tempus Fugit, Squire (not the most creative titles for these posts, I know, sorry about that), have all been on the hard side. This time around will be different.
"Onward" appears on the same album as "On the Silent Wings of Freedom," Tormato, released in 1978, and it was written by Squire alone, rather than being the usual collaborative work that most Yes compositions are. It's a short piece, only a little over 4 minutes long. And Squire's bass playing is simple, restrained, a slow rising and falling, rather than the elaborate, loud and fast-moving lead of the other songs. According to the Wikipedia entry on the song, "Onward" is "a very direct love song from Chris Squire to his then wife, Nikki Squire." Squire also contributes backing vocals behind Jon Anderson's lead.
The video, Onward by Yes, is once again a product of vzqk50HD Productions, who are responsible for the choice of images that accompany the music.
And here are the lyrics:
The Wikipedia entry also notes that the orchestral arrangement on this song was done by Andrew Pryce Jackman, who played keyboards in the band that Squire played in before he formed Yes, called The Syn. Jackman also did the orchestral arrangement on another song on Tormato, "Madrigal," and worked and performed on Squire's 1975 solo album, Fish Out of Water. This wasn't the first time Yes incorporated symphonic backing on their albums, as their second album, Time and a Word released in 1970, made use of a studio orchestra on every song. Nor would it be the last time, as an orchestra was also used in lieu of a keyboardist on their 19th album, Magnification, released in 2001.
But you can search through their entire discography, and you would be hard pressed to find a composition more beautiful than Chris Squire's "Onward" and, given his recent passing, I don't think you could find a better tribute to remember him by.
My first post in this series, Yes, Squire, featured the song "Heart of the Sunrise" from their most celebrated album, Fragile, and that song incorporates both hard and soft parts. The other songs I've posted, "Starship Trooper" in Yes Again, Squire, "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" in Squire's (Not So) Silent Wings, and "Tempus Fugit" in Yes, Tempus Fugit, Squire (not the most creative titles for these posts, I know, sorry about that), have all been on the hard side. This time around will be different.
"Onward" appears on the same album as "On the Silent Wings of Freedom," Tormato, released in 1978, and it was written by Squire alone, rather than being the usual collaborative work that most Yes compositions are. It's a short piece, only a little over 4 minutes long. And Squire's bass playing is simple, restrained, a slow rising and falling, rather than the elaborate, loud and fast-moving lead of the other songs. According to the Wikipedia entry on the song, "Onward" is "a very direct love song from Chris Squire to his then wife, Nikki Squire." Squire also contributes backing vocals behind Jon Anderson's lead.
The video, Onward by Yes, is once again a product of vzqk50HD Productions, who are responsible for the choice of images that accompany the music.
And here are the lyrics:
Contained in everything I do
There's a love I feel for you
Proclaimed in everything I write
You're the light, burning brightly
Onward through the night
Onward through the night
Onward through the night of my life
Displayed in all the things I see
There's a love you show to me
Portrayed in all the things you say
You're the day leading the way
Onward through the night
Onward through the night
Onward through the night of my life
Onward through the night
Onward through the night
Onward through the night of my life
The Wikipedia entry also notes that the orchestral arrangement on this song was done by Andrew Pryce Jackman, who played keyboards in the band that Squire played in before he formed Yes, called The Syn. Jackman also did the orchestral arrangement on another song on Tormato, "Madrigal," and worked and performed on Squire's 1975 solo album, Fish Out of Water. This wasn't the first time Yes incorporated symphonic backing on their albums, as their second album, Time and a Word released in 1970, made use of a studio orchestra on every song. Nor would it be the last time, as an orchestra was also used in lieu of a keyboardist on their 19th album, Magnification, released in 2001.
But you can search through their entire discography, and you would be hard pressed to find a composition more beautiful than Chris Squire's "Onward" and, given his recent passing, I don't think you could find a better tribute to remember him by.
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