Changes

The first time Changes was played live, the band had already gone through years of internal and sonic changes. Trevor Rabin had arrived with a guitar that sounded like the future, but the song wasn’t born with the album 90125: he brought it with him before joining Yes. Jon Anderson and Alan White gave it its final shape, adding that minimalist rhythm that marks the intro and the chorus with the wordplay "one word from you, one word from me." The result is a song that progresses in cycles, as if each section turns on itself before unleashing the next twist.

Recorded in 1983 in the United States, the track was released on November 7 alongside the rest of the album. It lasted 6:20, enough time for producer Trevor Horn and engineer Gary Langan to shape its sound with layers of synthesizers and guitars that intertwine without ever losing the pulse. In 1984, it reached number 6 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart, a success that helped 90125 go on to become triple platinum. Rabin would later perform it live decades afterward, when he reunited with Anderson and Rick Wakeman in 2016, though by then it had already fallen out of the band’s usual setlist after his departure.