The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)

Side one of Tales from Topographic Oceans is built on the shruti, the scriptures held to be revealed. Anderson's sleeve note described it as an ever-opening flower in which simple truths emerge, and he later said the title should simply have been The Revealing. It opens with layered voices that came from his listening to Gregorian chant, and he drew on the Vietnam War for the lyrics.

As first written it ran about 28 minutes, and roughly six were cut to fit the LP side. It was recorded at Morgan Studios in Willesden between July and September 1973. In America, radio played this side of the album more than the others, often at night.

Live

The 1973 to 1974 tour played Tales complete, including five sold-out nights at the Rainbow in London. The 1970s line-up revived the piece at San Luis Obispo in March 1996 for Keys to Ascension, and between 1997 and 2004 either it or Ritual was in the set. On the 2016 to 2018 tours Yes played sides one and four, and a February 2017 performance is on Topographic Drama. setlist.fm logs 248 performances and Forgotten Yesterdays 226. The upload in the hypersongs web is the 2003 remaster, which restores a two-minute introduction left off the original LP and runs about 22:23.