Owner of a Lonely Heart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Owner of a Lonely Heart" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Yes | ||
| from the album 90125 | ||
| B-side(s) | Our Song | |
| Released | October 1983 | |
| Recorded | 1983 | |
| Genre | Pop Rock | |
| Length | 4:25 | |
| Label | Atco Records | |
| Producer(s) | Trevor Horn | |
| Chart positions | ||
| Yes singles chronology | ||
| Into the Lens (1980) |
Owner of a Lonely Heart (1983) |
Leave It (1984) |
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" is a song by the 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. Since then, it has seen many releases; the original release was b-sided with Our Song, while others were b-sided with e.g. Leave It, Make It Easy, and remixes of this song[1].
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.
- 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" has been remixed several times, most notably by Max Graham in April 2005; his version reached number nine in the UK Singles Chart and the music video is still popular. 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.
Frank Zappa also incorporated parts of the song into the guitar solo of one of his own songs, Bamboozled by Love on his 1984 and 1988 (see You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3.
- 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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Contents |
[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 280ZX.
- 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".
- The Disney Channel featured a music video of the song on DTV, set entirely to clips from the 1936 cartoon short Elmer Elephant.
- The song was covered by Brookyln-based indie rock band Grizzly Bear on their 2006 album Sorry for the Delay.
| Preceded by "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single January 21, 1984- January 28, 1984 |
Succeeded by "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club |
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Yesworld Yes official site, retrieved December 25, 2006.
| 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 | Essentially Yes |
| Related Articles |
| Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe |
