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| artist = [[Yes (band)|Yes]]
| artist = [[Yes (band)|Yes]]
| album = [[Close to the Edge]]
| album = [[Close to the Edge]]
| released = {{Start date|1972}}
| released = 8 September 1972
| format =
| recorded =
| recorded =
| studio =
| studio =
| genre =*[[Progressive rock]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs_progressive_rock.html|title = 100 Greatest Progressive Rock Songs}}</ref>
| venue =
*[[funk rock]]<ref name="guitarworld.com">{{cite web |last1=Prato |first1=Greg |title=The 30 greatest rock guitar albums of 1972 |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/30-greatest-rock-guitar-albums-1972 |website=guitarworld |access-date=26 March 2023 |language=en |date=24 August 2022}}</ref>
| genre = [[Progressive rock]]
| length = {{Duration|m=8|s=55}}
| length = {{Duration|m=8|s=56}}
| label = [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]
| label = [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]
| lyricist = Jon Anderson
| writer =
| composer =
*[[Jon Anderson]]
*[[Jon Anderson]]
*[[Steve Howe (musician)|Steve Howe]]
*[[Steve Howe (musician)|Steve Howe]]
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#"[[And You and I]]"
#"[[And You and I]]"
#"'''Siberian Khatru'''"
#"'''Siberian Khatru'''"
⚫
}}
}}
}}
⚫
}}
⚫
"'''Siberian Khatru'''" ({{IPA|und|/saɪˈbɪəriən xaˈtruː/}})<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCZ2-b0FAMI|title=Jon Anderson Siberian Khatru (as you wish) Live @ The Shepherds Bush Empire Saturday July 22nd 2023|website=[[YouTube]]|date=28 July 2023|access-date=27 June 2024}}</ref> is the third song on the album ''[[Close to the Edge]]'' by English [[progressive rock]] band [[Yes (band)|Yes]]. Live versions of the song are included on the albums ''[[Yessongs]]'', ''[[Keys to Ascension]]'', ''[[Live at Montreux 2003]]'' and ''[[In the Present – Live from Lyon]]''. Multiple performances of the song are included on the 2015 boxed-set ''[[Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two]]'', which features seven complete consecutive concerts recorded on the band's late 1972 North American tour.


==Lyrics and music==
⚫
"'''Siberian Khatru'''" is the third song on the album ''[[Close to the Edge]]'' by English [[progressive rock]] band [[Yes (band)|Yes]]. Live versions of the song are included on the albums ''[[Yessongs]]'', ''[[Keys to Ascension]]'', ''[[Live at Montreux 2003]]'' and ''[[In the Present – Live from Lyon]]''. Multiple performances of the song are included on the 2015 boxed-set ''[[Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two]]'', which features seven complete consecutive concerts recorded on the band's late 1972 North American tour.
⚫
According to an interview with Yes vocalist [[Jon Anderson]], "''Khatru'' means 'as you wish' in the [[Yemeni Arabic|Yemeni dialect]] of Arabic. When we were working on it, I kept singing the word over and over again, even though I had no idea what it meant. I asked somebody to look it up for me, and when they told me the meaning, it worked for the song."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yesworld.com/2012/12/jon-anderson-talks-yes-close-to-the-edge-track-by-track/|author=Joe Bosso|title=Jon Anderson talks Yes' ''Close to the Edge'' track-by-track|date=2 December 2012|access-date=26 June 2017}}</ref> The lyrics discuss "unity among different cultures."<ref name=heavy>{{cite web|title=10 Heavy Yes Songs That Are Surprisingly Great|date=19 May 2022 |url=https://societyofrock.com/10-heavy-yes-songs-that-are-surprisingly-great/|accessdate=2022-05-23|publisher=Society of Rock}}</ref>


The band often used it as an opening number at concerts. "It has everything: riffs, themes, bridges and an unusual [[middle eight]], big [[Stravinsky]]-like orchestral stabs", guitarist [[Steve Howe]] later wrote. He played two solos: one after [[Rick Wakeman]]'s [[harpsichord]] solo in the middle on a Gibson BR-9 [[steel guitar]] he had just bought. The other, at the end, Howe purposely played without being able to hear what it sounded like, as an experiment. When the band listened to the playback, "we thought it was weird but suitably interesting." Howe has changed it on subsequent tours. "It became my most rejuvenated solo," he wrote in 2021, "as I've enjoyed exploring the infinite possibilities over the thematic two {{music|time|5|4}} bar structure."<ref>{{cite book|last=Howe|first=Steve|title=All My Yesterdays|year=2021|page=91|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=9781785581793}}</ref>
⚫
According to an interview with Yes vocalist [[Jon Anderson]], "''Khatru'' means 'as you wish' in the [[Yemeni Arabic|Yemeni dialect]] of Arabic. When we were working on it, I kept singing the word over and over again, even though I had no idea what it meant. I asked somebody to look it up for me, and when they told me the meaning, it worked for the song."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yesworld.com/2012/12/jon-anderson-talks-yes-close-to-the-edge-track-by-track/|author=Joe Bosso|title=Jon Anderson talks Yes' ''Close to the Edge'' track-by-track|accessdate=26 June 2017}}</ref>


Howe considered the song to be one of Yes' more collaborative compositions, stating "That song came together with the arranging skills of the band. Jon had the rough idea of the song, and Chris [Squire], Bill [Bruford], Rick and me would collaborate on getting the riffs together.”<ref name=heavy/>
==Structure==
{{original research|section|date=September 2016}}
"Siberian Khatru" is written in the key of [[G major]] and is typical of Yes' music of this period, featuring abstruse lyrics, complex time signatures and polyrhythms, and it is divided into multiple sections, with alternating vocal and instrumental passages. The album version begins with an introductory guitar riff, after which the main instrumental theme (played by the keyboards) is introduced. The structure of the main theme is a four-measure phrase consisting of three bars in common time (4/4) and the last bar in 3/4. This theme is repeated until the verse section begins. The lyrics start at about 1:05. The song progresses through various sections, featuring an electric sitar solo by [[Steve Howe (musician)]], a harpsichord solo by [[Rick Wakeman]], a steel guitar solo by Howe, and finally an electric guitar solo by Howe. There are several [[polymeter|polymetric]] sections featuring the guitar, playing in 7/8 meter with bass and drums playing in 4/4 meter. Before the final section there is a harmonized vocal section which features rhythmically precise vocal stabs and no actual words, sung with nonsense syllables. The coda section is similar to the introduction, returning to the main instrumental theme with a guitar solo on top of it, which fades out to the end of the track.{{cn|date=July 2015}}


==Reception==
In live performances of the period, when it was regularly used as the opening number, the final chord of the pre-recorded "walk-on" music (the closing passage of [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]]'s ''[[The Firebird]]'') was cross-faded into a bridging minor-key [[Mellotron]] passage, followed by the opening guitar riff, and was usually concluded with a reprise of opening riff. {{cn|date=July 2015}}
Paul Stump, in his 1997 ''History of Progressive Rock'', described the song as "a modal monster, chilled by [[Rick Wakeman|[Rick] Wakeman]]'s terrifying [[Mellotron]] strings, charging on in irregular tempo to a series of climactic barbarian chants interspersed with lightning twelve-string soloing from [[Steve Howe (musician)|[Steve] Howe]]."<ref>{{cite book |last=Stump |first=Paul |title=The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock |date=1997 |publisher=Quartet Books Limited |isbn=0-7043-8036-6 |page=106}}</ref>


''Ultimate Classic Rock'' critic Ryan Reed described the song as being Yes' 7th heaviest song saying that the opening guitar [[riff (music)|riff]] is "hostile enough to pierce through your speakers and slash your eardrums" and that the rest of the song "mostly maintains that momentum."<ref name=reed>{{cite web|title=The 10 Heaviest Yes Songs |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/heaviest-yes-songs/|publisher=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=May 18, 2022|accessdate=2022-05-18|author=Reed, Ryan}}</ref> Reed also praises the "vocal harmonies that reach choral complexity, Rick Wakeman’s left-field harpsichord, Howe’s electric [[sitar]] cameo," and [[Chris Squire]]'s [[bass guitar]] playing that Reed describes as being "somewhere between funk and metal."<ref name=reed/>
==Music inspired by "Siberian Khatru"==

⚫
[[John Frusciante]], the guitarist of [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]], has cited the guitar solo at the end of "Siberian Khatru" as an influence for his own guitar solo on the 1999 [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]] song "[[Get on Top]]": "I was thinking about [[Steve Howe (musician)|Steve Howe]]'s solo at the end of Yes' "Siberian Khatru". The band sound is really big — and they're playing fast — and then this clean guitar comes out over the top. It's really beautiful, like it's on its own sort of shelf. For "Get on Top", I wanted to play something that would create a contrast between the solo and the background."<ref>{{cite web
== Legacy ==
⚫
[[John Frusciante]], the guitarist of [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]], has cited the guitar solo at the end as an influence for his own guitar solo on the 1999 [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]] song "[[Get on Top]]": "I was thinking about [[Steve Howe (musician)|Steve Howe]]'s solo at the end of Yes' 'Siberian Khatru'. The band sound is really big — and they're playing fast — and then this clean guitar comes out over the top. It's really beautiful, like it's on its own sort of shelf. For 'Get on Top', I wanted to play something that would create a contrast between the solo and the background."<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://medlem.spray.se/frusciante/artiklar/rhcp1.htm
|url = http://medlem.spray.se/frusciante/artiklar/rhcp1.htm
|title = John Frusciante Interview
|title = John Frusciante Interview
|accessdate = 9 July 2012
|access-date = 9 July 2012
|url-status = dead
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://archive.is/20120717101559/http://medlem.spray.se/frusciante/artiklar/rhcp1.htm
|archive-url = https://archive.today/20120717101559/http://medlem.spray.se/frusciante/artiklar/rhcp1.htm
|archivedate = 17 July 2012
|archive-date = 17 July 2012
|df = dmy-all
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref>
}}</ref>

In the 2004 sitcom Catterick, written by and starring [[Reeves and Mortimer]], the name of the fictional pub is The Siberian Khatru.


== Personnel ==
== Personnel ==
Line 63: Line 68:


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{MetroLyrics song|yes|siberian-khatru}}<!-- Licensed lyrics provider -->


{{yesband}}
{{yesband}}

{{Authority control}}


[[Category:1972 songs]]
[[Category:1972 songs]]

Latest revision as of 17:58, 27 June 2024

"Siberian Khatru"
Song by Yes
from the album Close to the Edge
Released8 September 1972
Genre
Length8:56
LabelAtlantic
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)Jon Anderson
Producer(s)
Close to the Edge track listing
3 tracks
Side one
  1. "Close to the Edge"
Side two
  1. "And You and I"
  2. "Siberian Khatru"

"Siberian Khatru" (IPA: [/saɪˈbɪəriən xaˈtruː/])[3] is the third song on the album Close to the Edge by English progressive rock band Yes. Live versions of the song are included on the albums Yessongs, Keys to Ascension, Live at Montreux 2003 and In the Present – Live from Lyon. Multiple performances of the song are included on the 2015 boxed-set Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two, which features seven complete consecutive concerts recorded on the band's late 1972 North American tour.

Lyrics and music

[edit]

According to an interview with Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, "Khatru means 'as you wish' in the Yemeni dialect of Arabic. When we were working on it, I kept singing the word over and over again, even though I had no idea what it meant. I asked somebody to look it up for me, and when they told me the meaning, it worked for the song."[4] The lyrics discuss "unity among different cultures."[5]

The band often used it as an opening number at concerts. "It has everything: riffs, themes, bridges and an unusual middle eight, big Stravinsky-like orchestral stabs", guitarist Steve Howe later wrote. He played two solos: one after Rick Wakeman's harpsichord solo in the middle on a Gibson BR-9 steel guitar he had just bought. The other, at the end, Howe purposely played without being able to hear what it sounded like, as an experiment. When the band listened to the playback, "we thought it was weird but suitably interesting." Howe has changed it on subsequent tours. "It became my most rejuvenated solo," he wrote in 2021, "as I've enjoyed exploring the infinite possibilities over the thematic two 5
4 bar structure."[6]

Howe considered the song to be one of Yes' more collaborative compositions, stating "That song came together with the arranging skills of the band. Jon had the rough idea of the song, and Chris [Squire], Bill [Bruford], Rick and me would collaborate on getting the riffs together.”[5]

Reception

[edit]

Paul Stump, in his 1997 History of Progressive Rock, described the song as "a modal monster, chilled by [Rick] Wakeman's terrifying Mellotron strings, charging on in irregular tempo to a series of climactic barbarian chants interspersed with lightning twelve-string soloing from [Steve] Howe."[7]

Ultimate Classic Rock critic Ryan Reed described the song as being Yes' 7th heaviest song saying that the opening guitar riff is "hostile enough to pierce through your speakers and slash your eardrums" and that the rest of the song "mostly maintains that momentum."[8] Reed also praises the "vocal harmonies that reach choral complexity, Rick Wakeman’s left-field harpsichord, Howe’s electric sitar cameo," and Chris Squire's bass guitar playing that Reed describes as being "somewhere between funk and metal."[8]

Legacy

[edit]

John Frusciante, the guitarist of Red Hot Chili Peppers, has cited the guitar solo at the end as an influence for his own guitar solo on the 1999 Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Get on Top": "I was thinking about Steve Howe's solo at the end of Yes' 'Siberian Khatru'. The band sound is really big — and they're playing fast — and then this clean guitar comes out over the top. It's really beautiful, like it's on its own sort of shelf. For 'Get on Top', I wanted to play something that would create a contrast between the solo and the background."[9]

In the 2004 sitcom Catterick, written by and starring Reeves and Mortimer, the name of the fictional pub is The Siberian Khatru.

Personnel

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "100 Greatest Progressive Rock Songs".
  2. ^ Prato, Greg (24 August 2022). "The 30 greatest rock guitar albums of 1972". guitarworld. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Jon Anderson Siberian Khatru (as you wish) Live @ The Shepherds Bush Empire Saturday July 22nd 2023". YouTube. 28 July 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  4. ^ Joe Bosso (2 December 2012). "Jon Anderson talks Yes' Close to the Edge track-by-track". Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  5. ^ a b "10 Heavy Yes Songs That Are Surprisingly Great". Society of Rock. 19 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  6. ^ Howe, Steve (2021). All My Yesterdays. Omnibus Press. p. 91. ISBN 9781785581793.
  7. ^ Stump, Paul (1997). The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock. Quartet Books Limited. p. 106. ISBN 0-7043-8036-6.
  8. ^ a b Reed, Ryan (18 May 2022). "The 10 Heaviest Yes Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  9. ^ "John Frusciante Interview". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
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