History WMG / Yes

<<|{{WildMassGuessing}}|>>

* "Cans and Brahms", being an extract from a classical composition, represents the space travel as a reference to "[[TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey]]", in which classical music was used as the soundtrack for spaceflight scenes.

* "Machine Messiah": A deconstruction of their MagnumOpus "Close to the Edge". Thematically, they both deal with issues of faith, spirituality and making a new life for oneself, but while "Close to the Edge" portrays this as good, "Machine Messiah" has the singer's blind faith in the machine lead him into the figurative fire. Even the song structures are similar- multi-part epics that are the longest songs on their respective albums, but where "Close to the Edge" has elaborate section names ("The Seasons of Man", "Total Mass Retain", etc), "Machine Messiah" has...Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

* "White Car": About the RevolvingDoorBand nature of the band- in particular, about Rick Wakeman's constant entering then quitting the band, which he had already done twice by the time of ''Drama''. Notably, by this point in Yes, Geoff Downes was the band's ''fourth'' keyboardist (fifth if you count Wakeman's second period with the band)
* "Does it Really Happen": Remember the band's debut album, ''The Yes Album''? Wait, you mean there were two OldShame albums before that? Nope, they didn't really happen
* "Into the Lens": Roger Dean's famous album covers, and how they have become so iconic of the band. Notably, ''Drama'' marked the first time a Dean cover would return after a period of using someone else (''Union'' and ''Fly From Here'' did the same thing later). The references to "here by the waterside" in particular seem to me to be referring to the seascape of the ''Tales From Topographic Oceans'' cover

* "Into the Lens": Roger Dean's iconic album covers, and how they have become so iconic of the band. Notably, ''Drama'' marked the first time a Dean cover would return after a period of using someone else (''Union'' and ''Fly From Here'' did the same thing later). The references to "here by the waterside" in particular seem to me to be referring to the seascape of the ''Tales From Topographic Oceans'' cover

* "Into the Lens": Roger Dean's iconic album covers, and how they have become so iconic of the band. Notably, ''Drama'' marked the first time a Dean cover would return after a period of using someone else (''Union'' and ''Fly From Here'' did the same thing later)

Okay, so Trevor Horn comes into the band from Music/TheBuggles as an AscendedFanboy, and so in writing the lyrics for ''Drama'', decides to make it about Yes itself. So here's my analysis of ''Drama's'' lyrics song-by-song:

* "Into the Lens": Roger Dean's iconic album covers, and how they have become irreversibly associated with the band. Notably, ''Drama'' marked the first time a Dean cover would return after a period of using someone else (''Union'' and ''Fly From Here'' did the same thing later)
* "Run Through the Light": The over-ambition of "Tales From Topographic Oceans". Chasing the all-important light- what is the light representing? Well, the listener has [[ViewersAreGeniuses read their Eastern religious scripture]] so we don't need to explain it, right?
* "Tempus Fugit": The band's name itself. What are they answering Yes to? What was the actual question? Well, this song looks like it's going to address that with the trope most associated with Yes- WordSaladLyrics!

Okay, so Trevor Horn comes into the band from Music/TheBuggles as an AscendedFanboy, and so in writing the lyrics for ''Drama'', decides to make it about Yes itself (at least up to that point- unless Horn was actually a Time Lord, but that's a different WMG altogether). But here's my analysis of ''Drama'' song-by-song
* "Machine Messiah": A deconstruction of "Close to the Edge". Thematically, they both deal with issues of faith, spirituality and making a new life for oneself, but while "Close to the Edge" portrays this as good, "Machine Messiah" has the singer's blind faith in the machine lead him into the figurative fire. Even the song structures are similar- multi-part epics that are the longest songs on their respective albums, but where "Close to the Edge" has elaborate section names ("The Seasons of Man", "Total Mass Retain", etc), "Machine Messiah" has...Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
* "White Car": A poke at Rick Wakeman's constant entering then quitting the band, which he had already done twice by the time of ''Drama''. Notably, Geoff Downes was at this point the band's ''fourth'' keyboardist

* "Into the Lens": Roger Dean's iconic album covers, and how they have become irreversibly associated with the band. Notably, ''Drama'' marked the first (but definitely not the last) time a Dean cover would return after a period of using someone else (''Union'',''Fly From Here'' did the same thing)

* "Into the Lens": Roger Dean's iconic album covers, and how they have become irreversibly associated with the band. Notably, ''Drama'' marked the first (but definitely not the last) return of a Dean cover after a period of using someone else

* "Run Through the Light": The over-ambition of "Tales From Topographic Oceans". Chasing the all-important light- what is the light representing? Well, the listener has [[ViewersAreGeniusess read their Eastern religious scripture]] so we don't need to explain it, right?
* "Tempus Fugit": The band's name itself. What are they answering Yes to? What was the actual question? Well, this song looks like it's going to address that- with WordSaladLyrics!

* "Run Through the Light":
* "Tempus Fugit":

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* Finally, "Heart of the Sunrise"... This complex track tells about the doubts that come up in the colonists' minds later on. The lyrics could be explained as telling about the concerns coming up in an urban society ("Straight light moving and removing of the colour sun shine" could be about the natural light being blocked by the artificial), or about the fate of humanity in such a society that makes everything look mundane - nothing is left to discover. It also could be explained as a search for spirituality in such an urbanized world which once was unfamiliar and to be explored ("Love comes to you and then after \Dream on on to the Heart of the Sunrise", "I feel lost in the city"...)