Album: Fragile (1971)

Charted: 13

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• I'll be the roundabout
  The words will make you out 'n' out
  I spend the day your way
  Call it morning driving through the sound of
  In and out the valley
  
  The music dance and sing
  They make the children really ring
  I spend the day your way
  Call it morning driving through the sound of
  In and out the valley
  
  In and around the lake
  Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
  One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
  Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
  Twenty four before my love you'll see
  I'll be there with you
  
  I will remember you
  Your silhouette will charge the view
  Of distant atmosphere
  Call it morning driving through the sound of
  Even in the valley
  
  In and around the lake
  Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
  One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
  Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
  Twenty four before my love you'll see
  I'll be there with you
  
  Along the drifting cloud
  The eagle searching down on the land
  Catching the swirling wind
  The sailor sees the rim of the land
  The eagle's dancing wings
  Create as weather spins out of hand
  
  Go closer hold the land
  Feel partly no more than grains of sand
  We stand to lose all time
  A thousand answers by in our hand
  Next to your deeper fears
  We stand surrounded by million years
  
  I'll be the roundabout
  The words will make you out 'n' out
  I'll be the roundabout
  The words will make you out 'n' out
  
  In and around the lake
  Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
  Twenty four before my love and I'll be there
  
  I'll be the roundabout
  The words will make you out 'n' out
  You spend the day your way
  Call it morning driving through the sound of
  In and out the valley
  
  In and around the lake
  Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
  One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
  Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
  Twenty four before my love you'll see
  I'll be there with you Writer/s: Jon Anderson, Steve James Howe
  Publisher: Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 24

• David Richardson from Glen Allen, VirginiaMy friend read in the newspaper a new band, YES, was playing at the Roanoke Civic Center. We jumped in the car and drove for two hours. I was playing keyboards at the time. We walked into the civic center, just as the band started playing Roundabout. I thought I heard birds singing and sat down in the isle to listen to Wakeman playing keyboards. The song has been stuck in my head ever since. This year, I learned to play and appreciate the guitar part of this song. Truly, one of the most innovative bands of their time in my humble opinion.
• Michael De Santa from Los Santos, San AndreasLove the song. Listen to it on the radio every day.
• Rick from PhiladelphiaGlen Burtnik played Paul McCartney in "Beatlemania".
• Mary Gerdt from Central Virginia Love this explanation...Been listening to this song for so long. Just love the way it feels. More so now.
• Allison from Las Vegas My memory of this song was in the late 70s when I lived along the lake by Cleveland, Ohio. A major fireworks show, accompanied by this song, could be seen and heard for miles. The song was perfect for the occasion and is what I remember most- it might have been the 4th of July. i used to think the lyrics were "in and around the lake. Bombers come out of the sky and they stand there."
• John from OhioIn 2012, "Roundabout" was used as the ending theme song for the first season of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime series. According to the director, "Roundabout" was one of many songs JoJo creator Hirohiko Araki listened to when he wrote the original manga. The usage of "Roundabout" within JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has additionally led to both it and the series' "To Be Continued" insert becoming a collective internet meme, in which videos feature the song's introductory guitar riff before coinciding with the "To Be Continued" insert.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 6th 1972, "Roundabout" by Yes entered Billboard’s Hot Top 100 chart at position #88; and nine weeks later on April 9th, 1972 it peaked at #13 {for 2 weeks} and also spent 13 weeks on the Top 100...
  Was track one of side one from the group's fourth studio album, 'Fragile', and the album peaked at #4 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart...
  The song was their highest charted record on the Top 100 until 1984, then on January 15th, 1984 "Owner of a Lonely Heart" peaked at #1 {for 2 weeks}.
• Tom from Marietta, OhBefore it was possible to look up the lyrics for this song on the internet, I always heard the chorus as, "...mallards come out of the sky, and they stand there." It actually makes more sense than the correct line, with a guy sitting on the shore of a lake, watching ducks fly down out of the sky and land. Oh, well.
• Ron from Tyler, TxThe opening sound is a backwards recording of a piano chord. My college roommate had a reel to reel tape recording of the song and he could play it backwards. When you listen closely you can hear the piano tone. It is repeated once in the song.
• Tanner from Fort Jones, CaI had heard that this song was about a ski run at tahoe called round about. hence the mountains and the lake
• Ron from Tyler, TxWhen I was in college, my roommate had a reel-to-reel tape player and this album on tape. If you ran the tape backwards, the first sound on the opening is a piano chord. It repeats again in the opening. Very cool.
• Mario Anthar from Tijuana, MexicoReply to Bryan of KY. Thanks for sharing that story, it also happened to me, with another band, growing up un Mexico there weren`t many listening options, one day I heard a riff and singing so powerful it blew me away, no one could tell me who it was, the song, black dog from zep. from then one it was a world of seeking, discovery and awe. YES sprung it to another level. Zeppelin opened the door but YES opened a gate. As I started sharing this music with others the Lyrics became a challenge, being a spanish speaker explaining the songs was not easy, long story short, I became an english teacher.
• Dean from Miami , FlI liked the stage costumes the band members of Yes wore when the performed on stage back in the early seventies. The stage costumes were very rock n roll.
• Sam from Hipsville, CaJust ONE of the many songs that made the 70's a very memorable time in music. Right up there with Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin, Stones, etc.
• Wayne from Salem, VaA great YES song,classic! The whole band is excellent. And Chris Squire rocks it on the bass.
• Liz from Wilton, Nh"twenty-four before my love we'll see, I'll be there with you..."
  phone conversation on tour? trying to reassure a girlfriend they'll be together soon?
  
  trying to make sense of Jon's writing would take forever, that's why god gave him that wonderful voice!
• Ed from Raleigh, NcIn high school, I brought these lyrics to an English class doing a section on lyrics interpretation. This one had the teacher scratching her head. Sort of cruel. Luckily, she didn't ask me what I thought they were about.
• Hilarleo from Berkeley, Cadescribing days of driving, supposedly the lyric was generated on tour thru England, where the 'lake' was 'Lake' [or Loch] Ness, one day [24 hrs] out of London. ABSTRACT?? yay :-)
  
• Roger from Waterford, MiGood driving song.
• Guy from Benson, NcChris Squire is probably one of the best bass players who uses a pick. Very agressive yet so clean.
• Michael from OxfordGotta love that middle eight!
• Charles from Charlotte, NcThe song was inspired by a short trip to Scotland ("..in and around the lake, mountains come out of the sky...")
• Bryan from Morgantown, KyIn 1970, my parents bought a house in the deep country and my sister and I were stranded in the middle of nowhere, 13 miles from town (population 2000) and a mile and a half from any neighbors! That Christmas we got matching AM radios that were shaped like a globe with two eyes. Remember those? Anyway, the only thing we could pick up was WLS in Chicago. Late at night, when we were supposed to be asleep, we'd listen to WLS. One night, she in her room with her little earplug in and I in my room with my little earplug in also, this amazing song came on the radio. The disc jockey neither front-announced or back-announced the song, so we didn't know who the artist was or even the title, but we both remarked the next day that it was the most incredible song we'd ever heard and we were on a mission to find out who it was. Fast-forward two years later and we found out it was Yes. Now, many years later after having seen them live probably a dozen times on just about every tour, even meeting them and interviewing them a couple of times, and collecting every solo album/cd of every member and their offshoot bands and what-not...I can say this song still gives me chills. I got to tell Jon Anderson this story one of the times in our meeting and he was so genuinely pleased upon hearing the story of the unknown song...Cheers Jon!
• Caleb from Camp Point, IlChris Squire is very inventive when it comes to creating basslines. This is his very best. Wakeman on the keyboards, what more needs to be said?

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