What is Yes - Roundabout?

It's the shorthand name for a video edit meme that freezes a clip on an embarrassing moment, overlays a yellow 'To Be Continued' arrow, and cues the bass intro of the 1971 Yes song 'Roundabout'.

Where did Yes - Roundabout come from?

The pairing comes from the 2012 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure anime, which played 'Roundabout' over a 'To Be Continued' freeze-frame at the end of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency arc episodes.

What does Yes - Roundabout mean?

In meme form it means an anticlimactic cliffhanger, the editor framing a pratfall or minor failure as if it were the dramatic end of an anime episode.

Is Yes - Roundabout still popular?

The format is a classic edit template from the Vine era, with the earliest known viral remix in January 2016 reaching over two million loops before the gag migrated to YouTube and later video platforms.

Yes - Roundabout

Q: How do you use Yes - Roundabout?

Cut a clip to a freeze-frame on the key moment, add the yellow 'To Be Continued' arrow pointing to the lower right, and drop in the opening bass riff of 'Roundabout' as the loop ends.

2016viral videoclassic

Published October 8, 2026

A 1971 prog rock song by the British band Yes became an internet staple after it played over the credits of the 2012 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure anime, pairing with a stylized 'To Be Continued' freeze-frame. Vine edits starting in January 2016 turned the ending into one of the most recognizable video punchline formats of the late 2010s.

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Overview

Yes - Roundabout, also known as 'To Be Continued,' is a video edit format that freezes the action on the final beat of a clip, slaps a yellow arrow 'To Be Continued' logo across the screen, and cues the bass intro of the 1971 Yes song 'Roundabout'1. The joke lands because the pairing was lifted wholesale from the ending credits of the 2012 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure anime, where the same freeze and song closed out dramatic episodes2.

Editors apply the format to clips of someone falling, getting hit, or doing something stupid, so the deflating anticlimax gets the full anime-cliffhanger treatment3. Part of why the gag works is the mismatch of tone, Yes' lush prog bassline treating a Vine pratfall like a season finale. The arrow graphic and the opening notes of 'Roundabout' are instantly recognizable even to viewers who have never watched Jojo2.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure anime (source) / Vine (viral spread)

Creator

Unknown

Date

2016

British prog rock band Yes released 'Roundabout' in January 1972 as the lead single from their fourth studio album Fragile, and it reached number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 1001. The song gained a second life four decades later when the 2012 TV adaptation of Hirohiko Araki's manga Jojo's Bizarre Adventure used it as the closing theme for the Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency arcs, pairing it with the manga's trademark yellow 'To Be Continued' arrow graphic2. The song was swapped out for The Bangles' 'Walk Like an Egyptian' when the show moved into the Stardust Crusaders arc3.

The earliest known meme use of the pairing is a Vine remix by the account Danksmash, posted on January 27, 2016, that stuck the Jojo freeze-frame and 'Roundabout' bassline onto a looping Squidward dab clip3.

How It Spread

After the Jojo anime aired in 2012, fans on Tumblr and YouTube began clipping the Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency credits sequences and remixing them against unrelated video endings2. The format did not go fully mainstream until Vine's six-second loop format gave it a punchline shape that suited the freeze-frame payoff3.

Danksmash's January 2016 Squidward dab remix is cited as the earliest viral use of the format and racked up more than two million loops on Vine, which pushed other Viners toward the template3. Follow-up edits layered the Yes bassline over other popular Vines of the era, including the Marge Krumping and Spoons Rattling loops, cementing 'To Be Continued' as a reliable comedy capper3.

The format outlived Vine and migrated to YouTube compilations, Reddit video threads, and later TikTok, where editors still use the arrow graphic and bass intro to end any clip that resolves with a fall or a face-plant3.

Timeline

1972-01

Yes releases 'Roundabout' as a single from the album Fragile; it later peaks at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

2012

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure anime adaptation debuts and uses 'Roundabout' with the 'To Be Continued' arrow at the end of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency arc episodes.

2016-01-27

Vine user Danksmash posts a Squidward dab remix with the 'To Be Continued' freeze and 'Roundabout' bassline, the earliest known meme edit of the format.

2016

Vine derivatives based on Marge Krumping and Spoons Rattling adopt the same 'Roundabout' cutoff format.

How to Use This Meme

The template is simple: cut a short clip right before something goes wrong, freeze the frame at the moment of impact, overlay a yellow 'To Be Continued' arrow pointing to the lower right, and drop the opening bass riff of 'Roundabout' on the cut2. Common subjects include wipeouts, failed stunts, surprise punches, and awkward social moments where the freeze turns a small embarrassment into a dramatic cliffhanger3.