Yes: And Asimov And I?

Someone should send a link of this thread to Jon Anderson (or his agent), and we might hear the truth.

Mark W. Tiedemann, a science fiction author answers to one of his readers (source).

"He goes on, then, to say he's pleased I'm an admirer of classic progressive rock, particularly ELP and Yes.  "Jon Anderson," he says, "must have written 'And You And I' with Asimov's 'Foundation' in mind..."
     I must confess I never put the two together.  What an idea.  I'm going to relisten to that and see how it fits.  I always regarded "And You And I" as an essentially religious song.
     But as to my taste in music, I have threatened to do a long piece on my appreciation of these bands and that music.  It will probably take more than one of these, but an opening salvo would be--
     ELP and Yes are, to my mind, science fictional in that they are very much future-feeling endeavors.  Emerson, Lake & Palmer blatantly so.  "Karnevil 9" is nothing less than a mini science fiction opera.  So, too, is Yes's "Relayer", which is ostensibly about war, but has such a depth of Orwellian darkness and the possibility of Armageddon leading to a bright future at the end. "

There is a connection between the Foundation series and You and I? One of my favourite pieces of literature, and one of my favourite tracks? This must be investigated immediately! 

Snow Dog wrote: I don't think he read my first post properly, it happens all the time here.

i did - i was trying to come up with a way to agree with you. as i first said, it's a bit of a stretch... ;)

I think you have it there snow dog. That's why I suggested earlier that Anderson may have been reading or read the series when the song was penned.

as foundation left to create the spiral aim... where else would this come from.


Edited by cobb

Snow Dog wrote: Thank Seldon

well, maybe - strikes me as a bit of a stretch. 

 

since the title is 'and you and i', is this just the perspective of a couple of folks somewhere midstream in the plan?

 

why then the focus on preacher/teacher? preacher could be seldon, but the line mentioning 'nailed' seems to refer elsewhere... so is teacher seldon? doesn't seem to fit. it's been a while since i've read them all, but except for the seldon, the mule, and daneel, there isn't a whole lot of personal continuity and the latter is unknown until the very end.

 

the volume of the lyrics seem to be in another direction, so it'd be a passive reference, but anderson probably read asimov at some point in his life.... who knows?

Snow Dog wrote: Here you go....   1  Pebble In The Sky      1950   3  The Stars, Like Dust--     1951   4  Foundation      1951   5  David Starr, Space Ranger     1952   6  Foundation and Empire      1952   7  The Currents of Space       1952   9  Second Foundation    1953   Although all three Foundation books are earlier short stories collected. Except for the first part, where Hari Seldon comes to Trantor.

there are 2 more foundation books. "Foundation's Edge" (1982) and "Foundation and Earth" (1986)

Thank Seldon that you replied to my thread anyway, thanks!

Do you think there'll be any more takers?

Edited by Snow Dog

It was the first Science Fiction I ever read!

Here you go....

  1  Pebble In The Sky      1950
  3  The Stars, Like Dust--     1951
  4  Foundation      1951
  5  David Starr, Space Ranger     1952
  6  Foundation and Empire      1952
  7  The Currents of Space       1952
  9  Second Foundation    1953

 

Although all three Foundation books are earlier short stories collected. Except for the first part, where Hari Seldon comes to Trantor.

Edited by Snow Dog