Living In The Past

Album: Living In The Past (1969)
Charted: 3 11
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  • Happy and I'm smiling
    Walk a mile to drink your water
    You know I'd love to love you
    And above you there's no other

    We'll go walking out
    While others shout of war's disaster
    Oh, we won't give in
    Let's go living in the past

    Once I used to join in
    Every boy and girl was my friend
    Now there's revolution, but they don't know
    What they're fighting

    Let us close our eyes
    Outside their lives go on much faster
    Oh, we won't give in
    We'll keep living in the past

    Oh, we won't give in
    Let's go living in the past

    Oh no, no we won't give in
    Let's go living in the past Writer/s: Ian Anderson
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 3

  • Niels from NetherlandsThe Connells in my view did a nice cover of this on their ‘Ring’ album (1993)
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn the day in 1969 {June 25th} "Living In The Past" by Jethro Tull peaked at #3 {for 1 week} on the United Kingdom's Official Top 50 Singles* chart...
    "Living In The Past" reached #11 on Billboard's Top 100 chart in the U.S.A.
    Between 1968 and 1993 the Blackpool, England band had eleven records on the U.K. Singles chart, three made the Top 10 with the above "Living In The Past" being their biggest hit...
    Besides "Living In The Past", their other two Top 10 records were "Sweet Dream" {#7 for one week in November of 1969} and "The Witch's Promise" {#4 for one week in February of 1970}...
    They just missed having a fourth Top 10 record when their "Life Is A Long Song" peaked at #11 for two weeks in October of 1971...
    The band's lead singer Ian Scott Anderson will celebrate his 74th birthday in two months on August 10th, 2021...
    * And from the 'For What It's Worth' department, the U.K. Singles' Top 10 on June 25th, 1969:
    At #1. "The Ballad of John and Yoko" by the Beatles
    #2. "Oh Happy Day" by the Edwin Hawkin Singers
    #3. the above "Living In The Past"
    #4. "Time Is Tight" by Booker T & the MGs
    #5. "In The Ghetto" by Elvis Presley
    #6. "Dizzy" by Tommy Roe
    #7. "Something In The Air" by Thunderclap Newman
    #8. "Break Away" by the Beach Boys
    #9. "Proud Mary" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
    #10. 'The Tracks Of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
  • Mickster from Texas, TxI'm curious as to what the REAL lyrics are, for the "hook" of this song. The dozens of typical lyrics-sites have 2 or 3 variations and after listening to it for over 20 years, I'm not sure myself. It sounds like at the end of the 1st verse he sings either "Oh, keep on giving ... let's go living in the past" or "Oh, be forgiving ... ". I think that even though they both make lyrical sense, that he says the former. The way it is sung in the 2nd verse, it sounds even more like the former and the "we'll keep living in the past" end makes almost no sense lyrically with the latter. I don't know if Ian has ever published the actual lyrics anywhere, as he supposedly detested the song for years (Kerrang).
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