'The Gates of Delirium' is a song by the English progressive rock band Yes, recorded for their seventh studio album, Relayer. At almost 22 minutes in length, the song is loosely based on the 1869 novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy which originated from a musical idea that frontman Jon Anderson had that depicted a battle. It was then developed and arranged into a complete track by Anderson and the rest of the band, namely bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, and keyboardist Patrick Moraz. Musically, the song represents an introductory vocal section followed by an instrumental that represents the battle. The final section, entitled 'Soon', is a gentle, soothing prayer for peace and hope.

The song was originally released in November 1974 as side one of Relayer.

A loud crashing sound heard in the middle of the song is caused by a set of old automobile parts mounted on a rack being pushed over. The band decided to keep it in instead of doing another take. Alan White explains in the liner notes of the 2003 remaster of the album.

"The percussion on that song is pretty unusual," he says. "Jon and I used to travel together to Chris' home studio, where we recorded the album. We would stop at a junkyard along the way and pick up parts of cars. We'd just go there and bang on things. There were springs and pieces of metal, brake, and clutch plates. We'd buy them and bring them back to the studio. We built a rack and hung all these things off it, and we'd bang on them. During the recording I pushed the whole thing over. That crash is what you hear on the album."

You can read a whole lot more about Yes on Wikipedia, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gates_of_Delirium

Personnel:

• Jon Anderson – lead vocals, acoustic guitars, piccolo, percussion
• Steve Howe – acoustic and electric guitars, pedal steel, electric sitar, backing vocals
• Chris Squire – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Patrick Moraz – piano, electric piano, Hammond organ, Minimoog, Mellotron
• Alan White – drums, percussion

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