"Starship Trooper" is a song written by British musicians

Jon Anderson John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...

Steve Howe Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to l ...

and

Chris Squire Christopher Russell Edward Squire (4March 1948 – 27June 2015) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes. He was the longest-serving original memb ...

, which first appeared on

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...

' 1971 album ''

The Yes Album ''The Yes Album'' is the third studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 19 February 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was the band's first album to feature guitarist Steve Howe, who replaced Peter Banks in 1970, as well as t ...

''. The song is in three parts, "Life Seeker", "Disillusion" and "Würm". "Life Seeker" was released as a single on the B-side of the UK release of "

Your Move ''Your Move'' is the eleventh studio album by American folk rock duo America, released by Capitol Records on June 3, 1983. History In 1982, America experienced renewed commercial success with the hit album ''View From The Ground''. Two of th ...

Lyrics and music

Anderson was aware of the title of ''

Starship Troopers ''Starship Troopers'' is a military science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Written in a few weeks in reaction to the US suspending nuclear tests, the story was first published as a two-part serial in ''The Magazine of F ...

'', the 1959 novel by

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

, and from that got the idea of a "Starship Trooper being another guardian angel and Mother Earth". "Starship Trooper" was constructed from pieces of music written separately by Anderson, Howe and Squire. Anderson was the primary author of "Life Seeker". Squire wrote most of the "Disillusion" section; this section had earlier been used with slightly different lyrics as the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

for the song "For Everyone", with Squire providing the lead vocals. Howe had written the instrumental "Würm" section while he was in an earlier band (

Bodast Bodast (also known as Canto) were a late 1960s rock group from London, England. Its most notable member was Steve Howe, later to join the progressive rock band Yes. Members were Clive Skinner on guitar and vocals, Dave Curtiss on bass and Bobb ...

). The song was heavily constructed in the recording studio, and as a result the band were never able to play it live quite the way it was recorded. The song changes mood, rhythm, tempo and style continually, but according to Yes biographer

Chris Welch Chris Welch (born 12 November 1941) is an English music journalist, critic, and author who is best known for his work from the late 1960s as a reporter for ''Melody Maker'', ''Musicians Only'', and ''Kerrang!''. He is the author of over 40 mu ...

, it still manages to "hang together". Authors Pete Prown and Lisa Sharken describe the "Würm" section as "a

Bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

-paced chord sequence that builds into an explosive solo". They note that Howe's solo incorporates

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

elements rather than on

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

-based music with

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

as is typical for these types of solos. A theme of "Life Seeker" is the search for God. Anderson has stated that the lyrics: refer to "the point within yourself that knows you," which we call "God." The lyrics accept the fact that "no matter how much you want to get clearer visions of what you're up to, you're only going to get a certain amount." The song uses

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

imagery. Other themes that have been inferred for the song include

new age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

ideas and environmentalism.

Critical reception

described "Starship Trooper" as "one fthe most astonishing pieces" in Yes' repertoire. He particularly praised the "Würm" section for its "grinding intensity." ''

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' critic Ernesto Lechner described the song as being "ethereal."

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

considered "Howe's slow, spacey guitar build at the end" of the song to be "one of the great Yes moments." Paul Stump, in his ''History of Progressive Rock'', elaborated that this guitar solo "smothered the repetitive three-chord patterns of the finale in gloriously unorthodox fashion, employing multinational voicings in a non-

solo pattern. This was no burglarizing of different constituents from different genres but a methodical honing-down of those constituents into quite a separate style of music which defied any pigeon-holing."

Other appearances

"Starship Trooper" has appeared on many of Yes' live albums and DVDs, including ''

Yessongs ''Yessongs'' is the first live album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released as a triple album in May 1973 on Atlantic Records. After completing their Close to the Edge Tour in April 1973, the band selected live recordings between ...

'', '' Live in Philadelphia'', '' 9012Live'', ''

Keys to Ascension ''Keys to Ascension'' is the fourth live and fifteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released as a double album in October 1996 on Essential Records. In 1995, guitarist Trevor Rabin and keyboardist Tony Kaye left the group ...

'', ''

Symphonic Live ''Symphonic Live'' is a video and live album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released on DVD and a single CD on 18 June 2002 by Eagle Vision and subsequently on two CDs and on Blu-ray by Eagle Records. The album documents the group's ...

'', ''

Songs from Tsongas ''Songs from Tsongas: 35th Anniversary Concert'' is a live video and album by the English rock band Yes, released on DVD in 2005 and CD and Blu-ray in 2014 by Image Entertainment. It was recorded at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts on ...

'', '' Like It Is: Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome'', '' Topographic Drama - Live Across America'', '' Yes 50 Live, and '' The Royal Affair Tour: Live from Las Vegas.

Personnel

Band *

lead vocals *

bass guitar, backing vocals *

electric & acoustic guitars * Tony Kaye

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, Moog *

Bill Bruford William Scott Bruford (born 17 May 1949) is an English former drummer and percussionist who first gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock band Yes. After leaving Yes in 1972, Bruford spent the rest of the 1970s recording ...

drums, percussion

References

{{Yesband Yes (band) songs 1971 songs Song recordings produced by Eddy Offord Songs written by Jon Anderson Songs written by Chris Squire Songs written by Steve Howe (musician) 1971 singles