Song 107 ( Jethro Tull - We Used To Know )

On my second Sunday of Jethro Tull eras, I am choosing this one. We Used To Know is from their second album and in my mind their second era, which in my opinion is comprised of the albums Stand Up and Benefit. With the departure of Mick Abrahams (Guitar) and the addition of Martin Barre (Guitar) on this album and later John Evans (Keyboard) on the third album the band began a Progressive feel to their music further away from Blues. The song itself is actually an autobiography of the early days of the band. It was about Ian Anderson and Glenn Cornick living day to day as struggling professional musicians and not even knowing if they would make it. I think that most people who have played in bands have experienced quite a bit of what is mentioned in the lyrics.
An interesting side note about this song is that the chord progression and a few other aspects of the song were borrowed by Don Henley of the Eagles and used on the song Hotel California. From what I understand Don Henley was in a band opening for Tull and liked the song a lot.

Here is the studio version on YouTube.
Here is a live performance from '70; the song starts at about the 3:00 mark on YouTube.

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