Owner of a Lonely Heart

This song describes the paradox of loneliness. Once you've been hurt, loneliness is better than a broken heart.

This is the first single from 90125, and was the group's one and only #1 charting hit. The album was a drastic departure from Yes' progressive sound in the '70s, containing distorted guitar and synthesizers that were popular at the time. With help from MTV, Yes suddenly found a new audience, who were sometimes shocked to learn that much of their back catalog consisted of complex pieces that would often run well over 10 minutes.

Those familiar with the Yes catalog were shocked to hear this tightly packaged concoction from the band that once released a double album containing just four songs (Tales from Topographic Oceans). This was a different variation of the band, however, and they weren't opposed to chasing a hit. "It was already deemed to be a hit record," Jon Anderson said in a Songfacts interview. "The record company had invested a lot of money in making a record. They brought me in to make it Yes. They said, 'This is going to be a hit, and we're going to make sure.' They promoted it like crazy and did a good video - MTV had just started up. So everything just sort of happened at the same time." The driving force at Yes' label, Atlantic Records, was Ahmet Ertegun, who insisted that this song be a hit. Ertegun held considerable sway, having guided the careers of Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, and many other major acts.