On a Methodology for
Interpreting Jon Anderson's "And You and I"
Alan Gullette
University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Spring 1975
English 2150: Colloquium for English Majors
Prof. Dr. Leggett
Criticism traditionally involves both
interpretation and evaluation, is therefore both description and
normative. Feeling that the normative
is to be avoided in all cases [why?], I regard the descriptive as being the
only legitimate function of criticism.
At any rate, interpretation is usually considered to be necessary in
criticism, and the methodology must be flexible enough to be applicable to any
literary work.
"And You And I" by Jon Anderson is
a song lyric, but, being printed at least on the album sleeve of the recording,
it is obviously important enough in itself to be considered apart from the song
of the same title.[1] An attempt to interpret the poem for meaning
following any traditional approaches would be vain. Only an eclectic approach, combining elements of the
"set" approaches or methods, yields any real results. This I intend to demonstrate: that only by
going outside the poem itself, by considering certain facts about the author,
his other works, and circumstances about the text of the poem, and by
formulating an idea of the philosophical interests or beliefs of the poet can
even a partial understanding of the poem be gained.
A critic might argue that any work requiring
this methodology for its interpretation is thereby shown to be inferior, but
this is unjust and absurd. If
interpretation is necessary for evaluation, then the critic should not flinch
at the difficulty of whatever methodology is necessary for just
interpretation. Only after the work is
interpreted can we begin to evaluate it.
No interpretations that I know of have been
made of "And You And I." A
cursory reading will show the difficulty in understanding the poem, even on the
literal level. Though the expression is
difficult, the thoughts expressed are actually simple enough. This simplicity makes the words very
beautiful -- if, at first, meaningless.
As a song, the poem really need have no meaning, since the sound of the
words would justify a lack of meaning.
The peculiar vocals of Anderson bring out the sounds wonderfully, but
such lines as
Sad preacher nailed upon the colour door of time
Insane teacher be there reminded of the rhyme,
They'll be no mutant enemy we shall certify,
Political lends as sad remains will die (ll. 26-29)
and
In the end we'll agree, we'll accept, we'll immortalise (l. 35)
have a clear singing quality about them even
when read.
Perhaps the first thing that need be taken
into consideration in dealing with our example is this: the text itself is
difficult to determine. Although the
words are given on the album sleeve, they are in holograph, so that it is difficult
to distinguish capitals and commas or periods.
The text provided in the appendix is a correlation of three versions:
the written version, the vocal version, and a second (live) vocal version.[2] The differences in the first vocal version I
consider to be revisions. Whenever two
or more versions agree, however, I have followed them, regardless of chronology
of version; the differences are given in the notes to the poem. As to capitalization and punctuation, I have
followed the written version. (Note that
"ocean" is not capitalized in l. 9 but is in ll. 23 and 40.)
Some obvious arguments against this
methodology are these: the poem is not
a poem but a lyric. If it is considered
as a poem, a work of literature, then only the written version can be used in
determining the text. If vocal versions
are accepted and differ, then the chronology is important, the last version
being considered as final. I contend: a
poem read aloud is a poem whether it exists in another form or not. (A speech is spoken or written; the written
text is only a record of the speech.)
As the lyric is given with the album, I think it is meant to be
considered separately from the song, although the song (as much) cannot be
fairly considered a complete work of art apart from the lyrics. (The same can be said about album design,
illustration, etc., in regard to the whole work.) In only one instance does the live version disagree with the
studio version (at l. 39, "As" is omitted -- see note), so that the
most recent version differs very little from the older; but, in the general
case of live performances, singers will often modify their songs slightly if
only in their own desire for variety.
It is said that the worst insult that can be
given an artist is that made by comparing his newest creation with his
old. This, I imagine, is greatly
variable among artists, and I can see the truth of this statement only in a
comparison of worth - i.e., in a process of evaluation. In interpretation, it is often necessary to
look at an artist's entire output when seeking to illuminate a single
work. This is so in the present
case. Justification of such
cross-references it found not only in the failure of the attempts at
interpretation, but also in the other works themselves. These references in the other works of Jon
Anderson and yes are often encouragements to seek meaning in the words:
Straight light moving and removing SHARPNESS of the colour
sun shine
Strong light searching all the meanings of the song[3]
and
Take what I say in a different way
And it's easy to say that this is all confusion.[4]
and
Think it over, time will heal your fear
Think it over, balance the thoughts that release within you[5]
encourage interpretation, while references
such as
Sent as we sing our music's total retain[6]
and
As we cross from side to side we hear the total mass retain[7]
further indicate the unity of the body of
works put out by Yes, if only on the point of discussing that unity and of
encouraging interpretation for meaning.
The nature of "And You And I" is
largely philosophic. In tone it is
existential; in imagery, mystical; in flavor, religious. Its subject, I hazard to say, is Life. If these statements are taken
hypothetically, and treated by our methodology, we will find them to be true.
The members of the group Yes, and Jon
Anderson in particular, are mystical.
By unofficial reports, they are vegetarians, sit around burning incense,
and read religious scriptures. This is
corroborated to some extent by a Coleridge-like account of how Tales from Topographic
Oceans (a double album released in 1973) was composed. The inspiration (we are told on the album's
liner notes) was Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, and Anderson and
Steve Howe (guitarist and co-composer) "at once began holding sessions by
candle light." Later, "things
had come together very clearly," and "during one six-hour
session" they "worked out the vocal, lyrical and instrumental
foundation" in "a magical experience that left us both exhilarated
for days."[8] Apart form such scarce biographical
information, there is plenty of "circumstantial" evidence for
mysticism in the group's other works.
Two citations will suffice:
Out tender outward lights of you
Shine over mountains make the view
The strength of you seeing lies with you[9]
which indicates the possibility of spiritual
awakening, and
A dewdrop can exalt us like the music of the Sun[10]
which indicates the mystical beauty of
awareness of even a dewdrop. The works
are also often existential:
The strength of the moment lies with you.[11]
Side one of Tales is subtitled "The
Revealing Science of God," in itself an indication of some religious
quality. But these points, as
hypotheses, are only incidental: Having, in part, qualified them as being true,
they serve as necessary premises for an important conclusion. These points were supported by evidence form
works other than the one being discussed, yet this fact (allowed by our
methodology) demonstrates the unity of the body of works by Anderson and
Yes. In the general case, it is
sometimes necessary to go beyond a single work, if only to establish the usual spirit
of an author or to ascertain his favorite subjects; but, as the present case
shows, such references can be mandatory in order to determine the exact meaning
of a word or phrase -- this owing to the complex and encompassing nature of
"And You And I," in our case.
The subject itself -- I said it was "Life" -- justifies this
in my mind; the results of such references should be further convincing.
In the very first line of our poem
A man conceived a moment's answers to the dream,
we have two key words -- moment and
dream. The former is found in nearly
every song by Yes and is a favorite word of existentialists. The moment is dimensionless in time, as the
point is in space; it is the only time in which there is consciousness of
existence. Spiritual awakening to our
existence, to Life, is an important theme in all mystical literature. From Yes,
Passed around a moment clothed in mornings faster than we see[12]
hints at the awesome awakenings, dawnings,
beginnings, etc., occurring every moment which are too many and too profound
for us to be totally cognizant of.
Dream is especially difficult.
In the traditional sense, it could mean "hopes,"
"aspirations," etc., but here it could mean "the dream of
life" so that the moment could have been an enlightenment. As well, the dream could be a combinations
of the two and mean "the aspiration of being totally aware," a cause
or effect of
Staying the flowers daily sensing all the themes (l. 2).
When a word-by-word approach is taken,
determining first the probable meaning of each work and second the meaning of a
phrase and so on, the certain coloration of meaning which one word may have
(which can be ascertained by seeing how that particular word is used elsewhere
in the poet's canon) can greatly influence an entire reading of the poem.
I have found that, in the present case, a
dictionary is most useful at first, due to the literalness of the use of words,
and only when necessary have I gone outside the poem.. The effectiveness of
this approach is amazing. For instance,
flowers,
(l. 2) are things that flower or bloom, then fade away and die or cease in
time. To stay them would be to create
a stay (rope, line, cord) between them and oneself, or to
develop a mystical relationship (cord; cf. "Cord of Life" -- the
subtitle of strophe I. -- as a moral, spiritual, or emotional bond) with the
flowers (or with that which flowers).
This sort of line drawn from the man to the flowers not only makes him
aware of his relationship to them, but also of his place in nature -- that of
an observer, blessed with consciousness.
(Imagining such mystical stays or lines is reminiscent of a technique of
Yaqui Indian don Juan in Carlos Castaneda's Tales of Power.) Flowers, of course, can be a symbol of natural life. In Webster's to stay is also "to fix on
as a foundation" or to use as a constant, and "to stop or delay the
proceeding or advance of."[13] By staying the flowers, the man fully
captures the moment by stopping time, and also captures the essence that is the
beauty of natural life. The word foundation,
in one definition of stay, is most important: compare
As a foundation life to create the spiral aim (l. 3)
and the Greek root of theme (l. 2) as
"something laid down." The
"spiral aim" implies a potential-realizing process of spiritual
growth, spiraling upward (cf., "Float your climb," l. 19), ascending
toward godhead, the essence, or what-have-you.
An archetypal approach would be helpful in
this case. Many of the images are
clearly archetypal, and this is in keeping with the simplicity of the poem in
terms of mere vocabulary. I would
suggest that the very simplicity of all of the words separately, the universal
meaning they have on their literal level, and the cosmic level of the
expression of the poem all add up to make each word as significant as any
archetype. Language, of course, is only
a (rational) aid to expression -- therefore, the simpler the language and the
more universal the meaning, the purer the expression. The natural images in the poem are: man, flowers, ocean, mother earth, sea, valley, sun, and
river. Situations of archetypal
importance are: foundation left to
create the spiral aim, movement, in the sight of seeds of life, morning,
evening, and night. Some of these are
liberally classified; some are themes, though the distinction between situation
and theme is not clear.
The earth and sun images have interplay in
the subtitle "Eclipse" of strophe II. This interplay implies the moon.
Archetypically, the sun is the conscious self; the moon, the
unconscious; the earth, the stage for all life and growth. As well, the sun is the symbol of the
mandala (Sanskrit, circle; a Jungian image of wholeness, unity, infinity), in turn
a Buddhist symbol of the universe; but, in Jungian terms, the sun represents
the individuated self -- the mergence of the persona and anima into a whole
being.
The river ("the flowing of time into
eternity" in Jungian terms[14],
indicating the cyclic nature of nature) flows into the sea and ocean. Water is the usual symbol of the collective
unconscious; the sea is specifically, with the ocean, the source of life. Here it is useful to know that Close to the
Edge -- the "concept album" containing "And You And
I" -- was written as an interpretation of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha,
wherein the river is a unifying theme and the symbol of cyclic time. After individuating the self -- realizing
the self, becoming a whole person, fully aware -- one passes back into the
existence beyond consciousness, abandons oneself to "the vast, mysterious
rhythm of Nature's eternal cycle,"[15]
and achieves immortality by losing consciousness of time and change. This is seen in l. 43:
And you and I reach over the sun for the river.
The line
Emotion revealed as the Ocean maid (l. 23)
is better understood, I think, when one has
read this quotation from Swami Sivananda's The Mysterious Mind: "Emotion is a motive power... It helps
you in your evolution... You must allow it to rise slowly and subside quietly
from the mind ocean." (Quoted in the popular Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by
Swami Vishnudevananda.)[16] The valley image is more difficult, but it
is similar to the unifying themes of the river valley in both Siddhartha and
Narcissus
and Goldmund by Hesse.
Though there are no direct references to a
female in the poem, the indication is that the "You" is a woman --
especially with
A clearer future, morning, evening, nights with you (l. 41).
But I think that the "You" is further
representative of all humanity -- in particular the readers of the poem (or
listeners to the song). When a man is
with a woman, he normally does not think of anyone else but her, and vice
versa, so that, in those moments, each would represent everyone else to the
other. This is close to saying that the
anima is projected on everyone; that "And You And I" might be an
expression of the persona (literally and psychologically) to the anima in their
journey of mergence. This is
reminiscent of the idea that the "you and I" of Eliot's "The
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" are the speaker's id and ego,
respectively. The ascription of gender
to "You" may also suggest a hazardous interpretation of
All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you (l. 5)
as meaning "everything seems to make
sense when we have intercourse," which is almost ludicrous. Still, it is interesting that the sex act is
considered by mystics (and by Jung) to be a lower form of the union of the
conscious and the unconscious, persona and anima, and even of the Self or
individual and the Divine or All. The
sex act is also a manifestation, it is thought, of the natural desire to being
about this higher union. Whatever, I
think the line to mean "everything seems to make sense when we get
together and contemplate the source of life," if the "You" is
considered a separate being. The title
track of Close
to the Edge contains these interesting lines:
All in all the journey takes you all the way...
Now that it's all over and done
Called to the seed, right to the sun
Now that you find, now that you're whole...[17]
Herein we again have the sun image,
wholeness, and the idea of life as a
journey leading to individuation and/or association with the infinite. "Called to the seed, right to the sun"
also indicates cognition of the source of our being -- the sun (this theme is
further developed in Tales from Topographic Oceans) -- and ties
in with "seeds of life" and the "cord of life" reaching
back through time. Man's contemplation
of his source is archetypal, as is the idea of a "foundation left to
create the spiral aim."
Of the other archetypal themes or situations,
the movement
is the only one needing further mention.
Next to "moment," "movement" seems to be Jon
Anderson's favorite word. The first
implication, for me, is a group of seekers whose spiritual advance is unified
by their trend of mystical or religious thought. When I asked Anderson what the "movement" was, however,
he said simply "life."[18] With this, and earlier references to contemplation
and observation in mind, we are prepared to understand the recurring, enigmatic
line
As a movement regained and regarded both the same (l. 4,24,39).
Simply put, it implies that by assuming the
role of observer one finds one's proper place in the whole movement of life
(and vice versa). (This brings to mind
the position of philosopher Merleau-Ponty and others that man is the
self-awareness of the universe, which is a blatantly mystical attitude.)
So it is seen, I hope, that the methodology
that I have suggested here "works" in slowly discovering the meaning
of the poem "And You And I" -- or at least one meaning. In actuality, my "methodology" is
little more than a common-sense approach which allows us to drop formalist
restrictions on criticism. A major
argument of the existentialists is this, there is no one meaning of a work;
there are only as many interpretations as there are readers. This is solved by itself: one is allowed to interpret the poem as one
likes. From the absurdist statement
that there is no meaning in existence per se, there follows the subjectivist
encouragement that the meaning you attach to life and to the things in life is
the only, the and greatest, meaning.
Still, one might argue that the poet had a specific meaning in mind, one
which he was trying to express. This I
feel: the words of these poem are not an end in themselves, but only a means
for the expression of the poet Jon Anderson.
In them, Anderson creates a beautiful world of imagery and takes us into
that world. He speaks to us of the most
important things: life, emotion and
expression, the world, growth: of existence moving toward essence. As a poet, a human being, he states his purpose
simply:
... I reach out for reasons to call (l.21).
[1] "And
You And I," lyrics by Jon Anderson, music by Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford,
Steve Howe and Chris Squire, arranged by the group Yes (Anderson, Bruford,
Howe, Squire and Rick Wakeman), from the album Close to the Edge (Atlantic,
1972). The text of the lyric appears in
the Appendix to this paper and references are by line.
[2] From the
live triple album Yessongs (Atlantic, 1972), volume 1.
[3] Jon Anderson, "Heart of the
Sunrise," Fragile (Atlantic, 1972).
[4] Chris Squire, "Disillusion,"
from "Starship Trooper (Suite)", by Anderson, Squire, and Howe, Yes Album (Atlantic,
1971).
[5] Anderson,
Howe, Squire, Alan White and Patrick Moraz, "To Be Over," Relayer (Atlantic,
1974).
[6] Anderson and Howe, "Ritual",
side 4 of Tales
from Topographic Oceans (Atlantic, 1973).
[7] Anderson
and Howe, "Close to the Edge" (strophe II. "Total Mass
Retain"), Close to the Edge (Atlantic, 1972).
[8] Anderson, prefatory note, Tales,
inside cover, ut supra
[9] "The Remembering," Tales,
u.s.
[10] "Close to the Edge" (strophe
I. "The Solid Time of Change"), u.s.
[11] Tales, u.s.
[12] Close, u.s.
[13] Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
(Springfield, Massachusetts: G. & C. Merriam Co.; eighth edition, 1974).
[14] Wilfred
Guerin, et al., A Handbook to Critical Approaches to Literature (New York:
Harper & Row, 1966), p. 119. The
chapter on "Mythological and Archetypal Approaches" was especially
useful here.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Swami Vishnudevananda, The Complete
Illustrated Book of Yoga (New York: Pocket Books, 1972), p. 291.
[17] Close, u.s.
[18] Personal communication with the author,
June 1975
And You And I
Jon Anderson
I. Cord of Life
1
A man conceived a moment's answers to the
dream
2
Staying the flower daily sensing all the
themes
3
As a foundation left to create the spiral
aim,
4
A movement regained and regarded both the
same,
5
All complete in the sight of seeds of
life with you.
6
Changed only for a sight the sound the
space agreed
7
Between the picture of time behind the
face of need.
8
Coming quickly to terms of all expression
laid
9
Emotion revealed as the ocean maid
10
All complete in the sight of seeds of life
with you.
11
Coins and crosses never Turn round tailor assaulting all
12
Know their fruitless worth The mornings of the interest shown
13
Cords are broken, locked Presenting one another to the
14
Inside the mother earth. Cord, all left dying, rediscovered
15
They won't hide hold Of the door, that turned around to close
16
They won't tell you, The cover, all the interest shown, to
17
Watching the world, Turn to one another, to the sign
18
Watching all of the world, at the time,
19
Watching us go by. Float your climb
20
And you and I climb over the sea to the
valley,
21
And you and I reach out for reasons to
call.
II. Eclipse
22
Coming quickly to terms of all expression
laid,
23
Emotion revealed as the ocean maid
24
As a movement regained and regarded both
the same,
25
All complete in the sight of seeds of
life with you.
III. The Preacher The Teacher
26
Sad preacher nailed upon the colour door
of time
27
Insane teacher be there reminded of the
rhyme,
28
They'll be no mutant enemy we shall
certify,
29
Political lends as sad remains will die,
30
Reach out as forward tastes begin to
enter you.
31
I listened hard but could not see
32
Life tempo change out and inside me.
33
The preacher trained in all to lose his
name,
34
The teach travels asking to be shown the
same.
35
In the end we'll agree, we'll accept,
we'll immortalise
36
That the truth of the man maturing in his
eyes
37
All complete in the sight of seeds of
life with you.
38
Coming quickly to terms of all expression
laid,
39
A movement regained and regarded both the
same,
40
Emotion revealed as the Ocean maid
41
A clearer future, morning, evening,
nights with you.
IV. Apocalypse
42
And you and I climb crossing the shapes
of the morning,
43
And you and I reach over the sun for the
river,
44
And you and I climb clearer towards the
movement,
45
And you and I called over valleys of
endless seas.
Line variations from other versions:
6 Changed
only for a sight of sound the space agreed
21 And
you and I reach out for the reasons to call.
24 A
movement regained and regarded both the same,
39 As
a movement regained and regarded both the same,
40 Emotion
revealed as the Ocean's maid
43 And
you and I climb over the sun for the river,
Professor's Comment: "Grade: A. This is a very interesting paper -- more as
a discussion of the methodology of interpretation than as an interpretation of
this poem (which never gets very far).
You argue your case well, and I agree with most of your
conclusions. It's true that you never
quite complete the interpretation, but I recognize that it would take a small
volume by your methodology (and by the nature of the poem)." (Dr. Bob
Leggett)
Web Links
Jon Anderson
Yes
Yesworld: the Yes Online
Service
Bob J. Leggett, Distinguished Professor of Humanities
University of Tennessee Dept. of English
http://web.utk.edu/~english/gf_leggett.php
Alan Gullette > Essays