Origins and demo version The song originated in 1979 from South African musician, singer-songwriter, and producer
Trevor Rabin; while going to the toilet, he wrote "the whole thing, from beginning to end". Rabin then put down his ideas onto tape using his home equipment which included a
4-track tape machine. One of the recordings consisted of the main verse and chorus riff played on an acoustic guitar with some vocals. A developed version with drums, keyboards, and a complete set of lyrics was completed in 1980. Both recordings were released on Rabin's demo compilation album
90124, in 2003. For the full version, Rabin used the first and second tracks to record the instruments and vocals before mixing the song onto the third. He added: "You would be making decisions based on what was coming, and sometimes those decisions would be wrong – but you couldn't undo them. One of the things, a happy accident, was that all of the brass stabs and those weird things that happen on the record – they were just a product of what happened with the demo". After relocating to Los Angeles in 1981, Rabin added the song to his collection of demos that he wished to develop for a fourth solo album. Among the record labels that Rabin pitched his work to was
Arista Records, but he recalled owner
Clive Davis rejecting them on the basis of the songs sounding "too strange, and would not be a hit", and suggesting that Rabin "write stuff more like
Foreigner and then come back. I never did". Rabin then landed a development deal with
Geffen Records who introduced Rabin to musicians with the intention of forming
Asia, but Rabin declined due to the lack of chemistry and his preference for making a solo album. Rabin's deal with Geffen ended in 1982, but an offer from A&R man
Ron Fair of
RCA Records was the first time Rabin's songs were recognised as potential hits. Rabin said Fair called "Owner of a Lonely Heart" "a game changer" and offered him an album deal on the strength of it. However, Rabin turned it down when he agreed to form a new band with bassist
Chris Squire and drummer
Alan White of the
progressive rock band
Yes and make an album, initially under the name
Cinema, for
Atco Records. The arpeggiated guitar part on the verses, according to Horn, was played on a 12-string Rickenbacker, though this has been disputed. Chris Squire's bass guitar parts were played on his custom-built
Electra MPC Outlaw - making use of two of its plug-in features (the octave box and the phaser) In April 1983, former Yes singer
Jon Anderson joined the group (which resulted in Cinema changing their name to Yes). Anderson recorded his vocals to the songs while changing some of the musical and lyrical content. Horn remembered Anderson disliking the song's new lyrics and his comment: "Well, it's not like '
Send in the Clowns' anyway". Consequently, Anderson rewrote Horn's lyrics for the second verse, including the line "Watch it now, the eagle in the sky". As a cheeky riposte, Horn and Langan added a gunshot sound effect immediately following that verse, thereby "shooting down" the eagle. Trevor Rabin has stated that Trevor Horn did not like some of Anderson's lyrics, and had Rabin redo the words sounding like Anderson; "If you go back and listen to it I'm sure you can find them." The final song was credited to Rabin, Anderson, Squire and Horn. Rabin recently clarified his view on the breakdown of credit and royalties: "Jon did add to my lyrics in the verses and deserved what he got, as did Chris. One can hear my development of the song on
90124; sound doesn't lie. Trevor Horn being allotted a percentage was a thank you for introducing me to the Synclavier, which is one of the keyboards I used on the song and I had not used before. Also, for the fun we had making it". ==Reception==