Yes - Richard Lyrics

There you are...
Take Camelot...

Is this a sequel to Harold Land? ;-)

LOVE THIS LOVE ALAN!

Another amazing underrated hidden gem of Yes! Incredible it was written by Alan, unusual composer... I love it! On which album can I find it?

This is really good. I prefer it to Jon Anderson's solo version.
sttgaegoaktd

Not that many of Jon's songs are ever really about any one thing, but this one seems a little more specific. Anyone know what the song is about? Who Richard is? Probably no one real - just a dream he had or something. But you never know....

Chords sound like D A G\Em G or something like that.

This song was not written just by Alan White. Fuse Head loves to claim Alan wrote all kinds of songs he didn't. This song appears on the IN A WORD box set and is credited to Anderson/Howe/Squire/Wakeman/White.

He wrote the vibes part.

I created the lyrics here: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/y/yes/richard.html. In the 3rd verse I can't make out a word in the 2nd line. Some people have said "If a *leader* has it in for you..." One of favorite songs! At the lyrics site start the discussion about some of the meanings in this song because parts of it are contradictory based on my current understanding

There's no room for a deceiver...in the universe...

Would have been better on Tormato than the abominable Circus of Heaven...

We can agree to disagree on that one. That said, Jon clearly held that song dearly - it's only one of two Tormato songs (the other being the vastly superior, if rather imperfect, Future Times - Rejoice) that were played on every date of the 1978 and 1979 In The Round tours.

Interesting, I would have thought 'Don't Kill the Whale' might have been played on every date. I saw three shows in 78 & 79. I know they did 'Arriving UFO' on only one of those dates.... and Silent Wings as well as Release-Release were performed but not every time, IF I recall correctly. I also love 'Future Times/Rejoice'.... so we have some agreement there! ;-)

I actually thought the same about Whale, but when I looked it turned out that the much-bootlegged Quebec City show was its last appearance on that tour. Release Release was dropped after the first 6 or so shows in 78 and Arriving UFO was played only on the last stretch of the 79 tour. And it looks like QC was also the last appearance of Silent Wings (which I love, except for the awful Wakeman solo at the end).

Future Times didn't translate as well to the stage as the other pieces; I think the arrangement on Tormato was too complicated to reproduce live.

Circus of Heaven is a wonderful song. It was pure magic on the original IN THE ROUND tour. Your comment is purely subjective personal taste, as is mine. I love Circus of Heaven. Great arrangement and such playful humorous lyrics. Get a sense of humor and stop taking yourself so seriously.

They played it well on the In The Round tour, that is true - Chris' bass parts came through well on that. We can agree to disagree on how good of a song it is - cheers.

Jon re did this, and it's even more etheric...

Jon Anderson - Richard ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj6AMsEfblQ

I've been a fan of Yes for many years. In 1980 my brother gave me an 8-track tape (remember those?) cartridge of an album by Yes called Tormato. I already had it on album, but I played the tape. I was listening to the 8-track and I heard music that I had never heard that was a hidden filler track. 8-track tapes work by looping over a tape that is about 10 minutes long, then changing "program" to another set of the 8 tracks. So you have 4 10 minute programs. The problem with this is not all the songs will evenly fill out 10 minute programs. So they sometimes extend the fade out in songs, and add extra bits of music to fill in the gaps. So I was hearing a song called 'Richard'. 
A couple years later, I was at Tower Records with my friend, I was going to buy the Asia album. He told me that there was an extra track on the cassette tape of the Tormato album. I saw that it was 'Richard'. I told him that I already had the track on 8-track. He said "No you don't, it's not on 8-track and I have the 8-track." I said "The original 8-track that my brother gave me has that track, but the one I bought at Woolworth's doesn't have that track." He eventually convinced me to re-buy the Tormato album on cassette just to get one track I didn't have although I already had Tormato twice on 8-track, once on vinyl. The version on the cassette was longer. The track is ok, but not over the top like most Yes music is. Now fast forward to 2006. I'm on an internet forum and we are talking about 'Richard'. People are saying that the song was recorded as part of the "Picasso Sessions" in 1979 which is after the time Tormato was released. I told them innocently, no it's on the Tormato sessions, and it was an extra track on the cassette. This opened a whole can of worms, because I had lost the cassette (a whole other story), and the 8-track of course is long gone, but people are telling me that 'Richard' was never released until a box set came out in 2003 or whenever. So I reconstructed my memory to vividly remember my friend telling me about this extra track on a cassette, and when I bought the box set I knew what 'Richard' sounded like before I even hear it? But there is a bootleg with two versions of 'Richard' on it, one is the shorter version that cuts out which is taken from the 8-track, and one is the whole track probably from the cassette. I have ordered an 8-track which I think might have this track on it. I remember that the cassette had the original LP song order, while newer cassettes shuffled the song order to fit the tape perfectly (just like the 8-track does but with 4 programs instead of two sides.) I still am arguing with so called Yes experts because they think that they know everything.

at least your profile image isn't a dumbass white letter on a one color

@Flannigan79 you are sounding pretty creepy.

Atta youtube!  Maybe we don't need to worry that much about the production, kind of a "praising life in all its forms" type thing, but I am stupid.  I guess I need to jump off a damn cliff for not being a studio producer/sound engineer, but how is this mix inferior?  Like what greatness needed to come out or be turned up.  I heard this (where they wouldn't specify when it was made) on the In A Word boxed set, and it's in the basic stream of gorgeous Yes numbers.  There are some worthless songs on the Tormato album.  How the hell am I gonna listen to "Arriving UFO", damn.  

On the "in a word" bixed set, which I tihnk is out of print. I put this in my "Yes studio playlist". Thanks for uploading -- I don't think that you can get this anymore.

Thank you for posting this! This version is much better than the one that Jon does in his solo show.

With the exception of Steve Howe's backing vocals, this song would have been amazing if they had made an album-quality version of it. Is it too late? Is Jon Anderson's voice never what it will be again? Oh well. Jon's vocals are clear enough so that maybe just the instruments should be re-recorded and added to Jon's parts. Sound engineers, is this sort of thing possible?

Yes it is. I wish they would do something like that. Believe it or not. It just needs to be remixed and mastered. Squires bass is incredible in this. Honestly it is amazing bass playing.

Yep, I agree. I saw them for the last time when they had Benoit singing and that was it for me. Saw one of Jons shows a few years back and it was quite weak. As you said, bad chords and everyone thinks it's ok. Actually gonna see him again in a couple weeks in Miami. Why do I torture myself?

Thanks for this. Interesting to hear a tune that was left off of the album. Looks like Jon won out on which tune to include. :)

I knew this reminded me of something, I saw The Tormato tour in '78 (in fact my wife and I dropped acid) in The Round and it seems like a millenium ago. Funny thing, we were hanging out after the show and we actually saw the band drive out in their limo. We were literally two feet away from them....

Well thanks for putting me in my place....Jon Andersons version sucks. As a matter of fact....his recent solo act of the last 8 years or so sucks. I walked out of the last show I saw in worcester ma 2011. His guitar playing was atrocious and elementary at best. He butchers Yes songs with the wrong chords and he thinks it is alright. Sad sad thing to not see him in Yes anymore

I have long maintained that I can sing every bit as well, if not better than Steve Howe...and my guitar playing skills easily rival Jon Anderson's!

Seriously, Jon is the absolute master of playing any Yes song with maybe two chords!

Alan White is not the sole composer. On the "In a Word" box, it's credited to all five members. Jon has also played this on one of his recent solo tours, so it's certainly as much his as anyone else's (and the lyrics are definitely his).

should have been on tormato instead of circus of heaven

I agree. I really love this song. Circus Of Heaven is pretty.... lame.