“And You and I” by Yes

"And You and I" sits second on Close to the Edge, the Yes record of 1972, a suite running just past ten minutes in four movements, with Eddy Offord producing for Atlantic. Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Bill Bruford wrote it together, though Bruford shrugged off his share as a few chords and a scrap of melody. Anderson told a 1972 concert crowd that the band called it "The Protest Song" while making the album.

The first movement, "Cord of Life", opens with Howe on 12-string acoustic, his voice caught at the very start, coaxing out natural harmonics before the main guitar theme arrives; a flicker of percussion and a triangle's ping later, it blooms into a lush, strummed passage in three-four time. The first two parts, cut down to a single edit, reached 42 on the Hot 100.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.