I've Seen All Good People

"I've Seen All Good People" is a song performed by the band Yes and written by Jon Anderson and Chris Squire. It is included on 1971 The Yes Album. It is said that the song originated from Gary S. Thomas, who commonly remarks on the goodness of people.

Structure and lyrics

The first part of the song, "Your Move", uses various allusions to the game of chess — such as the phrases "move me onto any black square", "make the white queen run so fast", and "the goal is for us all to capture all we want". It can be attributed to Lewis Carroll's "Through The Looking Glass". In looking glass land if you want to be "satisfied" and "on your way" you must walk backwards on life's chessboard to move ahead. That is "don't surround yourself with yourself"; i.e. live worry free and "give peace a chance". This is opposite of what we were taught: fight with might and force to get ahead. Just before the three minute mark of the song, at the final part of "Your Move", the chorus of John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance can be heard in the background.^[1]

In the studio recording on The Yes Album, the song opens with Jon Anderson singing the sentence "I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way" twice a cappella, in three-part harmony. This is followed by a solo intro by Steve Howe on a 12-string laúd.^[2] As the laúd begins a repeated four-bar phrase, it is joined by bass drum as Anderson resumes singing the lyrics, solo and in three-part harmony. Dual recorders enter on the third verse. Finally, a Hammond organ joins them, playing the same chords as the laúd until the first part of the song ends on a loudly sustained and unresolved organ chord.

The second part, "All Good People", consists of many repetitions of the sentence "I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way" sung to the same melody as before, but over a driving rock accompaniment, ending in a powerful vocal harmony and organ phrase which begins on a chord progression of E, D, C, G, then A. Each repetition of the verse is one whole step lower than the previous as the song fades out.

Covers

• Yes themselves chose some elements of "Your Move" to be re-done and reworked for their song "Nine Voices (Longwalker)" from The Ladder album.
• "Your Move" was covered by the band Shaw Blades and by actor Robert Downey, Jr. on his album The Futurist.
• The opening lyrics are sung by Sarah Silverman on her DVD, Jesus Is Magic at the end of her "Amazing Grace" performance. Off stage are 2 other singers, one of which is the brother of Jimmy Kimmel, her boyfriend at the time. On stage, Sarah appeared to be singing from various body parts via strategically held/placed microphones. She comments in the DVD's extras that the use of these 2 lines was the single greatest expense of the entire movie ($15,000)
• The song is covered by the American rock band Ra on their album Black Sheep under the name "Seen All Good People".
• The song is covered by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs on their album Under the Covers, Vol. 2
• The first portion of the song, "Your Move" is covered instrumentally by Yes guitarist Steve Howe on his album Natural Timbre.
• The song is covered by Lili Haydn during the final scene of the 2011 Documentary, "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward"

In popular culture

• The song was used on Fringe, season 2, episode 4, "Momentum Deferred".
• The song is used in a 2009 TV commercial for Chase's INK program for small businesses.
• The song is featured in the 1995 movie Nixon.
• The final harmony of the song plays in the film Mr. Deeds, as Longfellow Deeds first arrives via helicopter into New York City.
• The song is included in the 2000 movie Almost Famous and is also on the soundtrack album.
• The song was featured in the 1999 movie Dick.
• The song is featured in the 2011 biographical documentary "Bobby Fischer Against the World".

Notes

References