And You And I

Yes

[I Cord Of Life]

A man conceived a moment's answers to the dream
Staying the flowers daily, sensing all the themes
As a foundation left to create the spiral aim
A movement regained and regarded both the same
All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

Changed only for a sight the sound, the space agreed
Between the picture of time behind the face of need
Coming quickly to terms of all expression laid
Emotions revealed as the ocean maid
All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

Coins and crosses
(Turn round tailor, assaulting)
Never know their fruitless worth
(all the mornings of the interest shown,
presenting one another to the cord)
Cords are broken
(All left dying, rediscovered
Of the door that turned round)
Locked inside the mother Earth
(To close the cover, all the
interest shown)
They won't hide, hold, they won't tell you
(To turn one another, to the
sign at the time float your climb)
Watching the world, watching all of the world
Watching us go by

And you and I climb over the sea to the valley
And you and I reached out for reasons to call

[II Eclipse]

Coming quickly to terms of all expression laid
Emotions revealed as the ocean maid
As a movement regained and regarded both the same
All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

[III The Preacher, The Teacher]

Sad preacher nailed upon the coloured door of time
Insane teacher be there reminded of the rhyme
There'll be no mutant enemy we shall certify
Political ends as sad remains will die
Reach out as forward tastes begin to enter you
Oooh, ooh

I listened hard but could not see
Life tempo change out and inside me
The preacher trained in all to lose his name
The teacher travels, asking to be shown the same
In the end we'll agree, we'll accept, we'll immortalize
That the truth of the man maturing in his eyes
All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

Coming quickly to terms of all expression laid
As a moment regained and regarded both the same
Emotion revealed as the ocean maid
A clearer future, morning, evening, nights with you

[IV Apocalypse]

And you and I climb, crossing the shapes of the morning
And you and I reach over the sun for the river
And you and I climb, clearer towards the movement
And you and I called over valleys of endless seas




Lyrics submitted by yesfan86, edited by Thebigshort, DavidE420

And You And I song meanings
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55 Comments

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  • +13
    My Interpretation

    In my opinion, this is the ultimate love song, a kind of purity that can't be matched. What's funny is that "I love you" (or even the word "love" for that matter... could be wrong on that one but I'm pretty sure I checked it all over) isn't even spoken at all. Cord of Life starts out with the "protagonist" of the song (I like to think of it as a guy since I'm a guy but it could be either gender I guess), who is possibly conflicted, meeting the love interest - its not necessarily "love at first sight", but slowly and surely their world starts coming to life as he/she becomes attached to their partner more and more. Eclipse seems to be an epic representation of the sheer power generated by their love. The Preacher, The Teacher is about the conflict within the protagonist - the preacher being the spiritual side of him, the teacher being the logical side of him. Before he/she met their partner, these two factions were warring and still continue to conflict with each other perhaps, but they "agree and immortalize" upon the fact that this person is their life, and that's all that matters. They realize how lifeless their world was without this person, and how much more beautiful it is united with that person. The entire "Coming quickly to terms of all expressions laid, as a movement regained and regarded both the same, emotion revealed as the ocean maid, all complete in the sound of seeds of life with you" segment reflects upon this core belief that the protagonist's life is completed and filled with life with this person. Finally, there's Apocalypse... I don't think that's necessarily about the end of the world, but represents how once these two have bonded, their love for each other and unity is undying, reaching to legendary extents. They're soul-mates. After they die, their passion transcends Earth into the heavens and eternity.

    What a beautiful song.

    HammerFloydon October 17, 2011   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    This song is so remarkably beautiful. It makes me sad to be born in a generation were grunge and pop dominate the musical scene.

    This song is about the growth of love over a lifetime.

    Chord of Life is about falling in love. Discovering a feeling that was so previously unimaginable.

    Eclipse is about marriage. The whole idea of the moon's alignment with the sun is enough to leave me speechless

    The Preacher The Teacher is about growing old together. Learning from eachother and changing but somehow still not losing any of the love.

    Apocalypse is about death but not in a bad sense. More just the feeling of utter contentment and peace and knowing that you are truely happy that you got to live your life with this one remarkable person and have absolutly no regrets.

    It's a bit bit ideolistic, but that's what I love about Yes. This song is just absolutly amazing

    Existentiatoron October 04, 2008   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    when modern bands want to write about love, they usually say "i love you baby, ur hot baby, i wanna make love to you baby" and other funny shit like this. Yes is one of the very, very few original bands in this particular respect (pretty much in others too). I just couldnt agree more with gigiuz - "All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you" is in my opinion one of the greatest things you can say to sb you love, esp in the context of the rest of the song. Everything in this world, including the world itself, is only complete with that person. or in other words, without that person, the world is incomplete.

    concise, original, meaningful. brilliant.

    Lesteron December 15, 2004   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    I think it is a great song. and talks about love and what it is like. The end of the world angle is also something to think about. Don't have a favorite song but this ranks up with the best.

    YES_Fanon June 23, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This is my favorite song of all time. I think it talks about what it will be like when the world ends.

    KirstenDanielleon June 18, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I also like this song, and I think that "All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you.." are the best words I've ever found in a song...

    gigiuzon September 02, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I mostly agree with george2, but I must be the first to say that the glorious harmonic intro by steve howe ("o.k., pling!"), and then the subsequent mellifluous soundscapes, fantastic rhythyms, and the excellent composition rate among the very very best of the 20th century. I still can't get over how well this song, this album was put together. Yes, you are very worthy of the title of "Artist". And thanks to all y'all for giving me way more insight as to the meaning of this masterpiece.

    ~1lb. of Obscure~on March 31, 2007   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This is probably the most beautiful love song I've ever heard.

    It REALLY reminds me of the book Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski, even though the book was written long after.

    aenema69on February 02, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you for your beautiful interpretations. I think the song is about becoming enlightened. My favorite line is, "And you and I climb over valleys of endless seas."

    dhkeysbasson January 10, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I was told by someone over 25 years ago that the song was based on Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, a three-book science series in which the protagonist, Hari Seldon, is a mathematician who invents a new field called psychohistory, which could predict the course of history based on a mathematical analysis of the emotional state of the people of the universe - emotion revealed as the ocean maid. Throughout the course of the history covered by the books, merchants, and later, religious, take over control of society, only to both eventually fail - coins and crosses never know their fruitless worth. The series is also a mystery, where the central unknown is the location of one of the two Foundation planets of a spiral galaxy where the psychohistorians that guide the future of civilization reside - a foundation left to create the spiral aim. Knowing the song, I was able to determine the location of the first foundation before it was revealed in the third book. Many of the elements of the song fit the story, enough for those intrigued to pick up the books. Of course, that doesn't discount what many others have said here, as the themes of the books are ancient traditional themes of many cultures.

    andyouandion August 23, 2008   Link

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