Borrowed Time

[SuiteMadameBlue]

I'm listening to my Cornerstone cd. I really like "Borrowed Time". It peaked at #64 on the Billboard charts.

Do you think if that
"Yes! No!
Yes! No!
No! Yes!
No! Yes!"

part in the song was not included it would have charted higher? There was talk on another board about this, I can't remember which one.

I personally don't like that part of the song. What do you all think?

[kiddo]

I adore this song! <VBG>

I don't know if the meaning of the song would be the same for me without the dreamer in a dream land's "conscience" pulling the impressionable lad both left and right.

Believe me, in the 60's those were some loud voices we were hearing!

kiddo

[bugsymalone]

Every aspect of this song, as with most of the great lyrics Dennis wrote, is essential. The "yes/no" part, to me, is a meaningful part of the whole.

Once you have listened to the song, you can't imagine it without that section. And, of course, on stage, they would pair up and use the lighting to emphasize that bit.

And, yes, it is a really great song, IMO, classic Classic Styx.

Bugsy

[froy]

Every aspect of this song, as with most of the great lyrics Dennis wrote, is essential. The "yes/no" part, to me, is a meaningful part of the whole.

Once you have listened to the song, you can't imagine it without that section. And, of course, on stage, they would pair up and use the lighting to emphasize that bit.

And, yes, it is a really great song, IMO, classic Classic Styx.

Bugsy

Im sure JY will pipe in and say he wrote the YES No parts

[Andrew]

Hey Froy,
Give the negativity a rest please.

[froy]

Hey Froy,
Give the negativity a rest please.

Thanks For Stopping By Andrew
Lets close this board down as well.

[classicstyxfan]

Back to the topic at hand.......I'd prefer the song without the Yes/No portion of the bridge.

I always thought it was distracting, and cheapened ths song a little. I also wondered if it's sole purpose was to get it radio play
if it was releases as a single....appealing to the youngest of Styx fan base.

I also thought the chant at the beginning of "I'm OK" was unneccasary too, and detracted from the song.

[LordofDaRing]

Anybody ever consider the long keyboard opening (altough brilliant IMO) might have actually hurt this song as far as air play went. In the singles market, they never seem to want to include the long beginnings: Van Halen's cover of pretty woman, Eye in the Sky by Alan Parson, Cheap Trick's version of Aint that a shame. What a shame actually, could you ever listen to Yes doing Roundabout without that great Steve Howe acoustic opening??

[DeeJaySTYX]

I actually like the Yes/No bridge...

Borrowed Time is one of the two political songs on Cornerstone( the second being Eddie)..The Yes/No bridge reffers to the campaign parties of an upcoming election... The liberal left says "YES" and the conservative right says"NO"...


Lord, I agree with you but I notice quite a bit of song editing on the radio these days...For example, Night Ranger's "Sister Christian" without the guitar solo on some AC channels...One classic rock station here in Rockford plays Van Halen's "Pretty Woman" without the long opening...

I can't imagine Roundabout without the Classic acoustic opening..I heard it just rescently on the radio unedited..One of my favorite songs growing up....


DeeJay...

[thebook]

I'm listening to my Cornerstone cd. I really like "Borrowed Time". It peaked at #64 on the Billboard charts.

Do you think if that
"Yes! No!
Yes! No!
No! Yes!
No! Yes!"

part in the song was not included it would have charted higher? There was talk on another board about this, I can't remember which one.

I personally don't like that part of the song. What do you all think?

For me, the weakest song on a very good album (I don't skip it though). The yes/no doesn't make much of a difference for me. I am not a big fan of the vocals on this one.
First Time or Lights would have been stronger singles I think.

[Abitaman]

I took out the yes no part of the song a year or so ago when i burned myself a Deyoung best of cd. It works. Gives the song more of a harder feel to it.-ABITAMAN

[jimmy19029]

I wasn't a big fan of the Yes/No bridge. I thought it would've been better without it.

[PsychoSy]

I took out the yes no part of the song a year or so ago when i burned myself a Deyoung best of cd. It works. Gives the song more of a harder feel to it.-ABITAMAN

You give me an idear ... and I did it myself for the past hour!

I probably went a little farther than you did though. I ... uh ... cut the majority of the intro out so that the song starts out with Chuck's single note pluck on the bass. From there, the little bit "Deedle-Dee-Deedle-Dee" keyboard work Dennis does before the riff kicks in is meticulously (and I mean meticulously) panned back and forth between channels, effectively giving it a "Rick Wakeman" type flavor. Lastly, I went to the 2:08 mark and chopped from there .... aaaaaallll the way to the 2:32:50 ish mark and tossed it. That's the "Yes/No" part. So now, when the first chorus is ending with John's rapid raps on the snare, it kicks right into the solo ever so seamlessly.

Before, it simply rocked ...

Now ... it's BLARE WORTHY!!

[ek88]

While we're talking about this song . . . I always thought the verses and chorus of Borrowed Time sounded disjointed, almost like they belonged to different songs. Anyone else think so, or is it just me? Personally, I think the verses and guitar solo blow the chorus away (although there are some pretty awesome harmony vocals). Oh, and for what it's worth, I really get a kick out of the yes/no stuff and think it fits in with the lyrical content very nicely!

[Abitaman]

they are 2 different songs. In a interview with Dennis 1980, he made the remark that both him and Tommy had a song that they couldn't get right, so the put the two songs together and made a few adjustments and came up with Borrowed time-ABITAMA(eric)

[Abitaman]

that sould be abitaman not abitama, so it's eric for now on

[ek88]

Eric:

Thanks for the info. I'd never heard that bit of trivia before, but it sure makes sense.

[SuiteMadameBlue]

I change my mind (LOL) After watching this video, the live version of "Borrowed Time", I like the yes & no parts. I also enjoyed the live version at the HOB concert.

I hope to hear this song live soon again!!

Dennis & Chuck on one side, Tommy and JY on the other.

[yogi]

AWESOME song!!! My favorite song off of Cornerstone though is Love In The Midnight.

The yes/no part does sound a little cheesy and now dated, but it is necessary for the songs point to be made.

Years ago I purchased a Borrowed Time advertisement that was selling on E-bay. It is pretty cool. It said something like in these days of economic turmoil the only sure bet is Styx having a hit with their new single Borrowed Time. It is an awesome full page ad. As with most of my music collection I have no clue where this is.

Back to Love In The Midnight, has Styx EVER sung this classic live???? Damn its a GREAT tune!!

[SuiteMadameBlue]

Yogi says:

Has Styx EVER sung Love In The Midnight live???? Damn its a GREAT tune!!

I don't think I have it on any boots and I didn't see it on any set lists. I'll see if I can find anything

I love the Cornerstone album!!

[Zan]

AWESOME song!!! My favorite song off of Cornerstone though is Love In The Midnight.

Yogi, now, more than ever...

[bugsymalone]

Wow, Suite. You rolled this one up from awhile back!

I think we were talking about Cornerstone in another thread as well. It truly is, except for "First Time" and "Eddie", a great album. That's what skip buttons are for.

I LOVE "Love in the Midnight". What a great instrumental break in that song. "Borrowed Time" is a classic in my book and I love "Lights" and "Boat on the River" too. Hell, "Why Me" and "Never Say Never" are good ones, too.

And, as I recall, some little love song/birthday present did fairly well off of that album.

Bugsy

[BlackWall]

It always surprised me that this song wasn't a bigger hit. After hits like "Blue Collar Man" and "Renegade", you'd think that they would have maybe released "Borrowed Time" first, rather than "Babe". I do think the song could have been arranged a little better, or something; it's a fun song, with insightful lyrics, but it seems to fall a little short of previous rockers.

[sadie65]

Hearing the song at HOB with a slightly altered style ( a blues shuffle ) was very cool. While I often think of myself as preferring originals, I do like when artists experiment with their songs. In that case, on that night, I truly enjoyed it.

It might not have been as strong as their previous rockers, but I do think it would have clicked with the masses.