Recorded 1983 Label Atco | Length 4:14 | |
B-side "Leave It" (a cappella version) Released 7th November 1983
February 1984 (single) Writer(s) Trevor Rabin, Chris Squire, Trevor Horn | ||
"Leave It" is a song by English rock band Yes. It appears on their 1983 album, 90125.
Contents
There were repeated single issues, most backed with remixes of the song or an a cappella version. The original version was occasionally placed as the B-side of "Owner of a Lonely Heart", and on another instance, the original version was found on a 12-inch single with another A-side track, "City of Love". The song has the distinction of being the only track from 90125 virtually unaltered from the version recorded by Squire, Rabin, White and Kaye before Jon Anderson rejoined.
The song peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the Top Album Rock Tracks chart.
The song is the second track on the album's second side, with the song "Cinema" serving as a form of introduction.
Music video
A music video was made for the song, directed by Godley and Creme. It was shot upside-down and was one of the first music videos to utilize computer-generated imagery. Eighteen different variations of the video were made (the first one, for instance, simply had the band upside-down, but motionless for the whole song), with the eleventh one chosen as the "standard" version, and has remained the "official" video. A half-hour documentary on the making of the video was broadcast on MTV in 1984. Also, a marathon showing all eighteen videos one after the other was also shown on MTV.
In the live setting
"Leave It" appeared in a similar manner on the 9012Live tour as it had on the album; it was the second song performed each night, with "Cinema" serving as the intro. The song was performed on all 113 shows of the 9012Live tour, but has never been performed by the band since.
Remixes
Several remixes of the song exist, two of which can be found on a tape issued in 1984, known as Twelve Inches on Tape (Atco 7-90156-4-A). The cover of the tape displays the cover of a 12" A-side single issue of "Leave It" backed with "Owner of a Lonely Heart" as its B-side. This 12" single, however, may not actually exist, with this cover being only created for the tape. The tape track list is "Leave It (Remix)", "Owner of a Lonely Heart (Red and Blue Mix)", "Leave It (Hello, Goodbye Mix)", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", the last of which is the same as the 90125 album version. All four tracks appear on both sides of the tape. These remixes can also be found on other singles. While this tape is a rarity, "Leave It (Hello, Goodbye Mix)" was re-released on the ZTT Records compilation The Art of the 12" Volume Three in February 2014 with a runtime of 9:29.
Furthermore, an a cappella version was issued, which appeared as the B-side to other versions of the single.
The 2004 remastered CD version of 90125 includes the a cappella and single remix versions of the song.