‘I’ve Seen All Good People’: The Anti-War Anthem by Yes

‘200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs Vol. 2’ Book Excerpt

Frank Mastropolo

Elektra Catalog Group

“I’ve Seen All Good People” appeared on 1971’s The Yes Album. The song is in two parts. It opens with “Your Move,” released as a single in 1971 that reached №40. It closes with “All Good People.” The combination, “I’ve Seen All Good People,” was written and sung by Jon Anderson.

The song opens with the lyrics, “I’ve seen all good people / Turn their heads each day / So satisfied I’m on my way.” Anderson explained its meaning in Songfacts.

“I’ve Seen All Good People” appeared on 1971’s The Yes Album. The song is in two parts. It opens with “Your Move,” released as a single in 1971 that reached №40. It closes with “All Good People.” The combination, “I’ve Seen All Good People,” was written and sung by Jon Anderson.

The song opens with the lyrics, “I’ve seen all good people / Turn their heads each day / So satisfied I’m on my way.” Anderson explained its meaning in Songfacts.

“We go out there as a band and when we perform, we make people very happy. At that time, we were becoming pretty well known in England.

“The song is about initiation of yourself into the idea that there is more to life than war and fighting within religions and things like that. So when we were singing ‘see all good people,’ it’s like, ‘we can see you all in the audience because you’re good people no matter what, and when you’re with music you’re enlightened, you’re good, you’re happy, you’re excited.’

“And music is the kingpin of it all. It’s not just Yes, it’s music that brings people together like no other energy on such a level.

“Music over the years has sustained the human experience. Look at Stevie Wonder’s songs when he came out with his first couple of albums. ‘Superstition’ and songs like that were so captivating and brought people together who might not really understand each other but love to dance together to the music.

“‘All these good people’ in a sense is like what a minstrel would say in the mid-15th century. They were storytellers but they were telling news, and that’s basically what musicians have always done: telling the news. Like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Stones. They were always telling stories that we all wanted to hear and they made us feel very connected.”

Frank Mastropolo is the author of 200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs Vol. 2, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.