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YES - Owner of a lonely heart

Owner of a Lonely Heart is a song by the English progressive rock band Yes. It is the first track and single from their eleventh studio album 90125, released in 1983. Written primarily by guitarist Trevor Rabin, lead singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire and producer Trevor Horn also share writing credits.

"Owner of a Lonely Heart" was released on 5 November 1983, as the album's first single. It was a commercial success in the United States, becoming the band's first and only single to reach number one on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song has been sampled by various artists including Michael Jackson, Frank Zappa and Max Graham, whose 2005 single reached the top 10 in the UK chart. The single was reissued various times throughout the 1980s and 1990s with different remix versions and B-sides.

A major legacy of the track is arguably the beginnings of ZTT Records and the electronic group The Art of Noise; as well as being a former member of Yes, Trevor Horn served the role of overall producer during the recording of 90125. His then-regular team included Gary Langan, J.J. Jeczalik and Anne Dudley, who worked as session players, keyboard programmers, engineers and arrangers on Horn's projects. Taking samples and loops directly from these Yes recording sessions (as well as work done on Malcolm McLaren's Horn-produced Duck Rock), the team subsequently formed the Art of Noise under the auspice of Trevor Horn, becoming the first signed act of his ZTT Records label. The orchestral 'stab' samples and thunderous drums of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" were reused in the Art of Noise's initial recordings. The Red & Blue Mix of "Owner of a Lonely Heart", included on the Yes remix cassette Twelve Inches on Tape, showcases the emerging Art of Noise sound very clearly.

According to Questlove, drummer in The Roots, "Owner of a Lonely Heart" contained the first use of a sample as a breakbeat (as opposed to a sound effect). Yes incorporated five seconds of the drum breakdown in Funk, Inc.'s "Kool Is Back" (1972), itself a cover of Kool & the Gang's "Kool Is Back".

The lyrics:

Move yourself

You always live your life

Never thinking of the future

Prove yourself

You are the move you make

Take your chances win or loser

See yourself

You are the steps you take

You and you - and that's the only way

Shake shake yourself

You're every move you make

So the story goes

Owner of a lonely heart

Owner of a lonely heart

Much better than - a

Owner of a broken heart

Owner of a lonely heart

Say you don't want to chance it

You've been hurt so before

Watch it now

The eagle in the sky

How he dancin' one and only

You lose yourself

No not for pity's sake

There's no real reason to be lonely

Be yourself

Give your free will a chance

You've got to want to succeed

Owner of a lonely heart

Owner of a lonely heart

Much better than - a

Owner of a broken heart

Owner of a lonely heart

Owner of a lonely heart

After my own decision

They confused me so (Owner of a lonely heart)

My love said never question your will at all

In the end you've got to go

Look before you leap (Owner of a lonely heart)

And don't you hesitate at all - no no

Owner of a lonely heart

Owner of a lonely heart

Much better than - a

Owner of a broken heart

Owner of a lonely heart

(repeat)

Owner of a lonely heart

Sooner or later each conclusion

Will decide the lonely heart (Owner of a lonely heart)

It will excite it will delight

It will give a better start (Owner of a lonely heart)

Don't deceive your free will at all

Don't deceive your free will at all (Owner of a lonely heart)

Don't deceive your free will at all

Just receive it, just receive it (Owner of a lonely heart)