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cstack3 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Lyrics at the end of "To Be Over" by Yes
    Posted: June 15 2014 at 21:06
There is an interesting conversation on a Facebook page about the last bits of singing by Anderson & company as the amazing song "To Be Over" winds down on "Relayer." 

The words are very indistinct, and are likely Anderson's noodling around in another language, or ancient script.  This site has this interpretation:


After all your soul will still surrender
After all don't doubt your part
Be ready to be loved

New som du lay
Sah du rah
Sah du lay
Tu sah rah
Du sah dulay
Sah du rah
Tey tu santeh 
======

I consider our contributors to be among the best-informed on these matters, period!  Does anyone have any insight into what Anderson is singing, what the inspiration was etc.?  

It is a remarkably beautiful song and one of the most moving I've heard from Yes.  It always comes to me at funeral services.  Cheers, Charles
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2014 at 21:36
I do find this song very beautiful. However, I feel it's a bit too long. I have come to like better the instrumental shorter versions Howe has recorded of it, for they don't go overlong, and I kind of like the main melody better on acoustic guitar. I wish they had included an acoustic version of this song on their acoustic sets of the 2000's.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2014 at 22:20
^ That does not answer Chuck's question.

I think it sounds more like gibberish. Maybe the guys thought the sounds of the gibberish fit in nicely with the music? Maybe that was their writing approach at the time (as the case is with Eno and the Bee Gees) ? Maybe playing around with the line "Nous sommes du soleil" (at least I see it as a hint from the first line of the gibberish you've written) ?

Hope we can get a better answer.

Update: Ah! Here's what I've found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsjk7A8snOM


 
Anyone know what is being sung at the end of the song that is not part of the official lyrics?
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 · 
 
I did a little bit of research. Here is a quote directly from Jon Anderson:

 "It isn't words. It was never meant to be any kind of
mysterious thing. I did want a sound, like a lot of people
doing a little song, but I didn't want any words. It goes
"New som du lay sah du rah sah du lay tu sah rah, du sah du
lay, sah du rah, tey tu santeh." It can be interpreted any
way you want."
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Thanks for the research. I feel better knowing that I'm not crazy.  :-)
Reply
 · 


Edited by Dayvenkirq - June 15 2014 at 22:35
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2014 at 22:52
I always thought this was another one of Jon's sound poems ---which can mean whatever you want--it certainly is a beautiful end to an amazing album---bring Jon and Patrick back!Cry
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2014 at 23:22
I have adopted the term 'vocable' for such passages. Vocals without real words, sung for their phonetic sound rather than their meaning, of which they have none. It translates into a great ending to a great song here.

Funeral services? As in the celebration of a life rather than the mourning of a death? Makes sense to me.
The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 09:04
It looks like a Mayan or Aztec writing, similar to some I've seen in my studies of those cultures, but have no clue to their meaning.
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 10:48
Originally posted by Progosopher Progosopher wrote:

I have adopted the term 'vocable' for such passages. Vocals without real words, sung for their phonetic sound rather than their meaning, of which they have none. It translates into a great ending to a great song here.

Funeral services? As in the celebration of a life rather than the mourning of a death? Makes sense to me.

Don't doubt your part, be ready to be loved....


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 20:49
Originally posted by Manuel Manuel wrote:

It looks like a Mayan or Aztec writing, similar to some I've seen in my studies of those cultures, but have no clue to their meaning.
 

that makes sense as he sorta did that in The Ancient---or maybe he was just making up words again---Confused
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 23:41
Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

 

Update: Ah! Here's what I've found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsjk7A8snOM


 
Anyone know what is being sung at the end of the song that is not part of the official lyrics?
Reply
 · 
 
I did a little bit of research. Here is a quote directly from Jon Anderson:

 "It isn't words. It was never meant to be any kind of
mysterious thing. I did want a sound, like a lot of people
doing a little song, but I didn't want any words. It goes
"New som du lay sah du rah sah du lay tu sah rah, du sah du
lay, sah du rah, tey tu santeh." It can be interpreted any
way you want."
Show less
Reply
 · 
2
 
Thanks for the research. I feel better knowing that I'm not crazy.  :-)
Reply
 · 

Yeah, that's basically the definitive answer, and if you listen to the section it's exactly right. And I think vocables is the right word.
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 00:11
Kind of reminds me of the ceta ceia thing at the end of "don't kill the whale."

Anyway, "to be over" is great. It's one of my favorite YES songs. It's about not giving up in tough times.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 04:02
If Jon Anderson uses words for the sounds, and not for the actual meaning (and I got the impression that he does), I suppose there aren't any hidden messages in any made up language Ermm
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 06:30
Originally posted by Moogtron III Moogtron III wrote:

If Jon Anderson uses words for the sounds, and not for the actual meaning (and I got the impression that he does), I suppose there aren't any hidden messages in any made up language Ermm

If you play "To Be Over" backwards, it actually is a message advocating devil worship.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 07:04
Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Originally posted by Moogtron III Moogtron III wrote:

If Jon Anderson uses words for the sounds, and not for the actual meaning (and I got the impression that he does), I suppose there aren't any hidden messages in any made up language Ermm

If you play "To Be Over" backwards, it actually is a message advocating devil worship.

I know, and if you play "Gates Of Delirium" backwards, you are sober again.
It works better than coffee after some heavy drinking.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 07:40
Originally posted by Moogtron III Moogtron III wrote:

Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Originally posted by Moogtron III Moogtron III wrote:

If Jon Anderson uses words for the sounds, and not for the actual meaning (and I got the impression that he does), I suppose there aren't any hidden messages in any made up language Ermm

If you play "To Be Over" backwards, it actually is a message advocating devil worship.

I know, and if you play "Gates Of Delirium" backwards, you are sober again.
It works better than coffee after some heavy drinking.

i did not know about this until today and yet i am a HUGE yes fan. i thought it was some la la kind of singing, but i guess not. and what's up with this playing backwards playing a message that supports devil worship?! wtf that is not how you play music btw, its f**ked up. i mean, god. and i love this song myself; its one of my favorites!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 08:09
There’s some French in there. The sun, of course, and the last word is suspiciously resemblant to the French word for Cheers!
He say nothing is quite what it seems;
I say nothing is nothing
(Peter Hammill)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 08:34
Originally posted by Michael678 Michael678 wrote:

Originally posted by Moogtron III Moogtron III wrote:

Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Originally posted by Moogtron III Moogtron III wrote:

If Jon Anderson uses words for the sounds, and not for the actual meaning (and I got the impression that he does), I suppose there aren't any hidden messages in any made up language Ermm

If you play "To Be Over" backwards, it actually is a message advocating devil worship.

I know, and if you play "Gates Of Delirium" backwards, you are sober again.
It works better than coffee after some heavy drinking.

what's up with this playing backwards playing a message that supports devil worship?!

Just a joke inspired by the previous comment and the various bollocks "theories" on the Internet about the meaning of "Stairway To Heaven" when you play it backwards.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 22 2014 at 11:56
Great song (lovely ending) from a simply brilliant album!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2014 at 20:00
Best and most "Yes" song off that album, imo.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2014 at 21:32
One of my all-time favorite Yes tracks 
OBQM: www.soundcloud.com/onebigquestionmark (solo project)
nQuixote: www.soundcloud.com/n-quixote (ambient + various musical ideas)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 07 2014 at 10:38
Originally posted by coffeeintheface coffeeintheface wrote:

One of my all-time favorite Yes tracks 



CaffeineFace  what’s up with your avatar?  Look into that dudes eyes.  That’s one cruel callous individual.  Of course my perception could be off but the eyes don’t lie.

 

To Be Over is exquisite…


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