Owner of a Lonely Heart
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| "Owner of a Lonely Heart" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Yes | ||
| from the album 90125 | ||
| Released | October 1983 | |
| Recorded | 1983 | |
| Genre | Hard Rock | |
| Length | 4:25 | |
| Label | Atco Records | |
| Producer(s) | Trevor Horn | |
| Chart positions | ||
| Yes singles chronology | ||
| Don't Kill The Whale (1978) |
Owner of a Lonely Heart (1983) |
Leave It (1984) |
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" is a song by the British rock band Yes. It is the opening track of their 1983 album 90125. Written primarily by Trevor Rabin (who was new to the band at the time), the song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 — to this date Yes's biggest chart success by far.
Standout features of the song include:
- its utter simplicity (something for which Yes has never been known);
- the catchy, heavily distorted introductory guitar riff, which establishes a motif for the song;
- producer Trevor Horn's innovative use of jarring orchestra hits and other high-tech sound effects;
- Rabin's disorienting, schizophrenic guitar solo, which was played through an auto-harmonizer to produce parallel intervals, and sounds as if it were recorded at maximum volume in a phone booth;
- copious use of cowbell.
The song's falsetto titular refrain is actually sung by producer Trevor Horn as well as (lead singer) Jon Anderson.[citation needed] Rabin also ably performed this song during his 1989-90 solo tour, with a bit of difficulty on the higher vocal range. Invariably, the Rabin-era band performed this song, preceded by a truncated "Make it Easy" intro. Jon Anderson also has performed "Owner", even though Yes guitarist Steve Howe has repeatedly expressed dislike for the song.
The song's music video, directed by Peter Christopherson, received a great deal of airplay on MTV, introducing the revamped Yes lineup and sound to a new generation of fans largely unfamiliar with the band's very different earlier work, which helped to define the genre of progressive rock.
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" was remixed by Max Graham, reaching number nine in the UK Singles Chart. 808 State also did remixes ('2 Close To the Edge Mix' and 'Not Fragile Mix'). and Kyper used riffs of the song in his own song "Tic-Tac-Toe". The song is also covered by Colin Blunstone, backed by an orchestra. Yet another remix was done in 2004 by Deep Dish.
- Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart excerpt (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- An excerpt from Owner Of A Lonely Heart
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[edit] Origins
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" was, according to a radio interview with Yes in 1991 (with the Union tour), originally written as a ballad, not as the rock song that became famous. Jon Anderson convinced producer Trevor Horn to speed it up and add some guitar riffs to make it stand out and be more "upbeat". However, as the next paragraph states, Trevor Rabin had already recorded an upbeat demo version of this song before Jon Anderson and Trevor Horn joined the 90125 project, so this story is probably not true.
An extremely raw demo version of the song can be found on Rabin's album 90124, with a different pre-chorus verse and a jazz fusion keyboard solo reminiscent of Chick Corea.
[edit] The song in popular culture
- The song was featured in a 1984 advertisement for the Nissan 280Z.
- The refrain appears as part of a polka medley on "Weird Al" Yankovic's Dare to Be Stupid album.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 poked good-naturedly at the song's premise in "Final Justice," while co-host Kevin Murphy's vocal range permitted him to imitate Jon Anderson's tenor on several occasions during the show's 10-year run.
- The popular television show Grey's Anatomy has an episode titled "Owner of a Lonely Heart"—presumably a reference to the song.
- The song was featured on the radio station Flash FM as part of the official soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
- The song was featured in the 2006 movie The Break-Up where it was sung in the movie by John Michael Higgins' character.
- The song was played in the Everybody Hates Chris episode "Everybody Hates the Class President".
| Preceded by "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single January 21, 1984 |
Succeeded by "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club |
[edit] External links & Videos
- All Music Guide entry
- Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart Music Video Remix of the song
| Yes |
|---|
| Jon Anderson | Chris Squire | Steve Howe | Rick Wakeman | Alan White |
| Peter Banks | Tony Kaye | Bill Bruford | Patrick Moraz | Geoff Downes | Trevor Horn | Trevor Rabin | Billy Sherwood | Igor Khoroshev |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Yes | Time and a Word | The Yes Album | Fragile | Close to the Edge | Tales from Topographic Oceans | Relayer | Going for the One | Tormato | Drama | 90125 | Big Generator | Union | Talk | Open Your Eyes | The Ladder | Magnification |
| Live albums: Yessongs | Yesshows | 9012Live: The Solos | Keys to Ascension | Keys to Ascension 2 | House of Yes: Live from House of Blues |
| Compilations: Yesterdays | Classic Yes | Yesstory | The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection |
| Remix albums: Yes Remixes |
| Box sets: Yesyears | In a Word: Yes (1969 - ) | The Word is Live |
