"Living in the Past" is a song by British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

group Jethro Tull. It is one of the band's best-known songs, and it is notable for being written in the unusual time signature, though it is properly felt as a very distinct +

syncopated In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...

rhythm. The time signature is quickly noted from the beginning rhythmic

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pattern.

Composition and recording

According to the composer,

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...

, he wrote the tune in approximately one hour in his room at a Holiday Inn 'on the banks of the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, on 12 February 1969. He and his manager, Terry Ellis, were checking in 'a day off here before the show,' ahead of a three-day residency 13 – 15 February 1969 at the Boston Tea Party rock club. When he handed it to Ellis later, he replied, 'Wow! I'll book a studio next week, when we we’re in the New York area.' At the end of the East Coast leg of their US tour, the backing tracks were recorded at Vantone Sound Studio, West Orange, New Jersey on 3 March 1969 (described by Anderson as a "cheap studio in New Jersey.") Apparently, much of the recording was of "a small local ensemble of session musicians – the cheapest we could find," and later overdubbed by band members. Anderson described overdubbing his vocals in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

during mid-March; but conflicting reports identify 18 March at United Western Recorders, Los Angeles, California, as correct. It was also the date "Driving Song" was recorded, released as the b-side of Jethro Tull's fourth single, "Living in the Past", on 2 May 1969 to UK audiences. Meanwhile, the band returned to London in mid-April to begin work on their second album, ''

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''. After reaching number 3 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, it was released in several other countries, but only promotionally in the United States in July 1969. It was not until October 1972 that it was commercially released in the US, as the lead single and title track of ''Living in the Past'', a double compilation LP of the band's UK-only releases and outtakes recorded from 1968 to 1971. It became the band's first Top 20 hit in the US, peaking at #11. The 1972 version was remixed, replacing a flute overdub with an organ part. In 2001, it was included as a "bonus track" for the CD reissue of ''Stand Up''. A Steven Wilson remix "sympathetic to both the original and later mixes" was included on the 2016 "Elevated Edition" reissue, alongside flat transfers of the original 1969 mono and (promo) stereo mixes. "Living in the Past" was ranked the fifth best Jethro Tull song by Rock – Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check. Anderson has described the song as a critical reflection of the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

lifestyle and a general naivete of the era:

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

*Single: "Living in the Past" / "Driving Song" (Island WIP 6056, 2 May 1969) *Single: "Living in the Past" / "Christmas Song" (USA) (Chrysalis 2006 10 October 1972) *Single: "Living in the Past" / "Requiem" (Chrysalis CHS 2081, 16 January 1976) *Single: "Living in the Past" / "Hard Liner" (Chrysalis CHS 3970, 1993) *Single: "Living in the Past" / "Witch's Promise" / "Teacher" / "Life is a Long Song" (April 2013, limited edition vinyl)

Personnel

Jethro Tull

–

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* Glenn Cornick –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Martin Barre –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Clive Bunker –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Additional personnel

* Lou Toby – arranged and conducted strings

Cover versions

The song was first

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as an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

by CCS in 1970. Other cover versions include: * Billie Davis (1970) *

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...

(1971) *

Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...

(1985) *

Cud (band) Cud are an English indie rock band formed in Leeds in 1987. The original line-up included vocalist Carl Puttnam, guitarist/keyboardist Mike Dunphy, bassist William Potter and drummer Steve Goodwin. In June 1987, they recorded a Peel Session ...

(1989 - As a B side to "Only (a Prawn in Whitby)" and later on their "Rich & Strange: Anthology" album) *

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

(1993) * The Connells (1994) * Francis Dunnery (1994 – with entirely rewritten lyrics) *

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He became ...

(1996 – in the tribute album ''To Cry You A Song – A collection of Tull Tales'')

References

External links

JETHRO TULL 7" SINGLES ARCHIVE - 1970 to 1972
{{authority control 1969 singles Jethro Tull (band) songs Songs written by Ian Anderson Song recordings produced by Ian Anderson 1969 songs Island Records singles Reprise Records singles Chrysalis Records singles