The Making of the "Leave It" Video (tv show aired on Mtv on 4-15-84; 11:00 to 11:25 pm)

I had some unwanted companions during this tv show:  my mother and my younger brother.  First off, I had asked for use of the only tv in the house that was color and had cable at the dinner table:

Me:  Can I watch a program tonight on cable tv?"
Father:  Sure.
Mother (suspiciously):  What are you going to watch?
Me:  Yes.
Mother:  I KNOW you're going to watch the program but what are you going to watch?
Me:  I said Yes.
Mother:  What?
Me:  Yes - it's a group.
Mother:  What group?
Me:  Yes.
Mother:  I KNOW that but what's the name of the group?
Me:  I TOLD you that.
Mother:  What?
Me:  Yes - it's a group.  It's a band, mom.  They play music.  Can't you understand that?
Mother:  Oh.

That simple little 'Oh' tells me she still does not understand what I'm talking about but is going to shut up anyways so as not to complicate things any more. My mother looks at me puzzled. Here we go again.  This conversation went on for a good 15 MINUTES before it finally dawned on my mother that the name of the group was called Yes.  She'd never heard of such a thing!  Who names themselves THAT?  "Oh," she finally answers after  understanding the concept.

SERIOUSLY.

 Of all the 50 MILLION names Yes could've picked to name themselves, they had to pick to call themselves Yes.  I do, however; thank the GOOD LORD that Yes had the good sense not to have called themselves 'WHAT.  Or otherwise I'd be deaf by now. 

 JESUS.

It came time for my program and in troops my mother and younger brother who decide for God-knows-what to join me in for this special.  I look at both of them incredulously.  "Why do you want to watch this?" I ask.  My mother answers, "I have nothing else to do", rooting herself directly in front of the tv waiting to see what this group with the 'strange' name was all about.  Oh God, it's "bonding" time.  My younger brother dumps himself beside me on the couch.  What the HECK is HE doing here?  Isn't it TIME for his bedtime?  IT IS after 11.

Three speculations I have about why my mother decided to watch this with me:
a.  She had nothing to do.  Of course I was more than willing to help her come up with things to do but one look at her stern face told me to shut up.

b.  She had to find out what this group with the 'strange' name was all about. (Yes, she finally accepted there was a group that called themselves Yes. A very hard concept for her but she's making progress.)

c.  Because she lost first dibs on the only color tv in the house with cable and now she's sore about it.  Well, I asked for it first.

Three speculations I have about why my brother decided to watch this with me:
a.  He had nothing better to do.  Of course I was more than willing to help him come up with things to do but of course, he didn't care.

b.  He wanted to annoy the hell out of me.  (Nothing new here!)

c.  He lost first dibs on the only color tv in the house with cable and now he's sore about it.  Well, I asked for it first.

SO I got stuck with two unwanted guests who were to put it mildly 'pissed off' that I got the tv and not them.

Of course, the most famous version of the "Leave It" video had all the Yes members upside-down on the screen.  The reason for this was best described by ex-Rabbitt, Trevor Rabin, who speaks in a somewhat soft British-sounding accent, "The idea is to turn people's heads or turn their tvs upside-down."

"Huh!" my mother exclaims, arms akimbo at her chest, "You won't turn my head upside-down!"  Oh dear Lord, Yes is going to have to come up with something better to get my mother to stand on her head.  She just won't do that sort of thing for just anything.

Lol Creme (ex-10cc and one of the directors of the video) explains, "We wanted something different.  Yes is a serious group."  One look at my mother's face during this show - I really don't think Lol would think to say that statement in front of her. Yes is not a serious group in her book!

"We're supposed to seem bored," Trevor shrugges.  And serious, bored and upside-down it is.

"Why am I watching this?" my mother asks annoyed.  I don't know, WHY ARE YOU watching this?  Come to think of it - WHY was I born into this family?  Did I do something BAD in a past life?  That does it, I'm not being reincarnated again.  I might end up with something WORSE the next time.

"We had wanted to hang them upside-down but Trevor had just recently had his spleen operated on.  He had 4 of them," Lol explains as to why it's all done with cameras.

Off the set, between takes, we get a shot of the other people involved in the video besides directors, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley (also ex-10cc).  Incidentally Kevin Godley happens to wear a black glove on his left hand - and ONLY his left hand.  This observation was especially noticed by my mother, "I wonder why he wears a black glove on his left hand?"  Oh God, here we go again.

"Maybe he's trying to copy Michael Jackson," my brother answers staring intently at the screen.

I think there comes a time in everyone's life when they just want to kill a relative.  Just want to grab him and shake the living daylights out of him.  This was my day.  And he was sitting right next to me.  The temptation was just so great.  But I couldn't on account of my mother wouldn't let me.  And I wasn't about to mess with her during this show.

After each version of the video is completed, Lol marks it off with a marker on a bulletin board with what looks to be 18 sheets of paper on it.  "Oh God, how many more do we have to go?" Lol jokes with a lit cigarette in his left hand.

"How are you going to do that?" Lol asks Trevor who stands well over him in height.  I had never realized how tall Trevor was until this video.  According to my brother, he heard he was picked because of his height and NOT just his voice.  "Isn't that stupid?" he asks.  Well I guess so.  I guess I would never get picked - I'm SHORT. Who cares? "I can feel", Trevor sings to Lol's question.  "Good," says Lol.

"I want you to wear a different tie in this one," Lol says holding up a red tie to Tony Kaye who is dressed in a pure white suit.  "Ok", Tony answers.  No temper tantrums from this one!

There is a shot of Trevor jumping around the set like a kangaroo.  BIG MISTAKE.  I could just see out of the corner of my eye my mother staring at him like he was some kind of a nut.  Oh God please.  Please don't let her say anything.  I just want to get through this.  I could feel myself cringing.  I took a peak over in her direction.  Luckily she just stared at him.  Yes really lost their credibility with this one!  Oh well, what does my mother know about art?

To cap it off, Mtv shows excerpts of the many different versions that were made of the video, "Leave It."  If I'm correct, there were 18 different versions  - all of which were later shown during the week in full at different times on the channel.  Here are some of the versions:

*Yes has their backs turned to the cameras.
*Jon Anderson disappears and reappears.
*The band's instruments are shown.
*Other people are used to mime the lyrics.  (Hey!  Isn't that the guy from the "Karate Kid" there miming?)
*Group members in various lineups.
*Trevor Rabin sports a mustache.

The show's over and my mother gets up, "I can't believe I wasted all that time watching THAT!"  Neither can I.  It was pure torture - for me that is. Later on, I got myself my own color tv with cable.  Now I can watch whatever I want in PEACE.