10

The origins of a cover tune which kicks off our list of the Top 10 Yes Songs of the '70s were fairly organic, as Chris Squire recalled. “Both Jon Anderson and myself were big fans of Simon & Garfunkel, and we liked the song a lot. So, we just took it and decided to 'Yes-isize' it," Squire told us. "Of course, that was also around the time when Steve Howe was still fairly new in the band. He was bringing in his slightly country style of guitar that he uses on that track. That was also at the point where Rick Wakeman had just come into the band and if I recall, the Mellotron on ‘America’ was actually played by Bill Bruford. Rick had just joined and he threw a few overdubs on the end of the sessions and that was that, really. But it turned out to be really good."