Siberian Khatru
| "Siberian Khatru" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Yes | |
| from the album Close to the Edge | |
| Released | 1972 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 8:56 |
| Label | Atlantic |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Close to the Edge track listing | |
3 tracks | |
"Siberian Khatru" 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.
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."[2]
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, he 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." He 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."[3]
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."[4]
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'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."[5]
Personnel
- Jon Anderson – lead vocals
- Steve Howe – electric & acoustic guitars, backing vocals
- Chris Squire – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Rick Wakeman – Hammond organ, RMI 368 Electra-piano and harpsichord, Mellotron, Minimoog
- Bill Bruford – drums, percussion
References
- ^ "100 Greatest Progressive Rock Songs".
- ^ Joe Bosso (2 December 2012). "Jon Anderson talks Yes' Close to the Edge track-by-track". Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Howe, Steve (2021). All My Yesterdays. Omnibus Press. p. 91. ISBN 9781785581793.
- ^ Stump, Paul (1997). The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock. Quartet Books Limited. p. 106. ISBN 0 7043 8036 6.
- ^ "John Frusciante Interview". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
