And You and I
| "And You and I" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"And You and I" is the second track from progressive rock band Yes's album Close to the Edge. The song is over ten minutes in length and consists of four sections.
I. Cord of Life
The song opens with a few notes, mostly natural harmonics, played around what will become the central melody, using a 12-string Acoustic guitar which quickly forms into a simple but beautiful chord progression over distant organ chords. Then, the Moog comes, sounding like a child's instrument, for a simple solo, which presents us the main theme of the next part, but in a completely different arrangement. After that, the vocals begin at about 1:40. The line "All Complete in the sight of seeds of life with you" is first spoken, which is repeated throughout the song. At about 2:50, there's an utter change. Anderson sings a sharper melody, accompanied by a second vocal track by Anderson harmonizing with himself, plus Chris Squire and Steve Howe providing a counter-melody and alternate lyrics, with their voices fed through a Leslie Speaker.
II. Eclipse
"Eclipse" is the slowest part of the song. It is led by Rick Wakeman's epic Mellotron and Minimoog synthesizer. The lyrics are all from the first stanza of "The Cord of Life", but are sung in a different melody, which is also epic and slightly sad. Finally ending with the 12-string acoustic guitar leading into "The Preacher, The Teacher".
III. The Preacher The Teacher
The melody and lyrical structure is very similar (for the most part) to that of "The Cord of Life", with some variations. The exception is that "The Preacher, The Teacher" has a fast synthesizer solo by Rick Wakeman at one point during the song. The last stanza again consists of lines from "The Cord of Life", now sung in a different order and a completely different mood.
IV. Apocalypse
"Apocalypse" is the shortest piece of the song, only about 40 seconds long, it consists only of four lines:
And you and I climb, crossing the shapes of the morning.
And you and I reach over the sun for the river.
And you and I climb, clearer, towards the movement.
And you and I called over valleys of endless seas.
Lyrics
The lyrics are somewhat unusual (for Yes), dealing with love and equality. And You and I has a much simpler concept than what would be seen on songs from Yes' following albums, Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer.
The lyric, "As the Foundation left to create the spiral aim", is a slight reference to Issac Asimov's Foundation Series.
Trivia
Joss Whedon - TV Producer, and creator of such programs as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, allegedly named his production company Mutant Enemy Productions after the line in this song.