In the latter months of 1967, four shaggy wannabe's
congregated in the Southern UK town of Luton, Bedfordshire.
From the debris of the disillusioned and disintegrated John
Evan Band and McGregor's Engine, the naïve, untutored
talents of Ian Anderson, Mick Abrahams, Glenn Cornick and
Clive Bunker tentatively coalesced to form the original
Jethro Tull line-up.
After fulfilling a few remaining dates under the John Evan
banner, the group established themselves as Jethro Tull,
new resident band at London's famous Marquee club, albeit
after a few false start identities ("Navy Blue", "Ian
Henderson's Bag 'o Blues", Jethro Toe" and the certainly
suicidal "Candy Coloured Rain").
By March 1968, they had built a following as the new face
of the blues-based British More...
Review about Jethro Tull My Interpretation | Reviewer: Daniel Sail
------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull
I'm thinking it's a little bit different from the previous interpretations. I don't believe it has anything to do with a drug overdose as much as a lyrical glimpse of "The End". Between the periods of time when the Old Testament and the New Testament were written, much Jewish literature centered around how the world would end. Then in the Book of Revelation, a post-Jewish account is given.
In the first verse the all-time loser refers to Satan. Ultimately, in the Book of Revelation, Satan, who has deluded the world since the Book of Genesis, see his demise coming and it cannot be stopped. The reference to Old Charlie could be either Charles Darwin or to Satan himself, but the handle is an obvious reference to the control throttle on a steam locomotive; without the handle, nothing changes on the train's speed.
In the second verse his children are jumping off, referring to his minions (demons) seeing their fate too and decided to abandon ship whenever they can. Woman and best friend discuss the total breakdown of morality, whereupon a woman is seen sleeping with anyone (best friend is either a literal friend or a dog). Crawling in the corridor is the act of one realizing his impending fate and being reduced to begging (forgiveness or leniency).
Third verse brings finality in that the all-time winner (God) has him (Satan) by the balls. The meaning of Gideon's Bible at Page One refers to the part where Satan started it all, causing the fall of Man. In the third verse, it turns out that God was the one who stole the handle, not Satan himself. All this time, Satan believed HE had control, by stealing the handle, but in fact it was God in control the whole time.
Yes, there are religious undertones in a lot of Rock music and this one takes a little time to figure out.
Carved into Immortal Rock | Reviewer: mani
------ About the song Thick As A Brick performed by Jethro Tull
Among all their wonderful compositions - and there are so many, from the Stabd Up/Benefit/Living in the Past ballads to the War Child/Heavy Horses heavies to the Stormwatch and Passion Play melodies - surely, Thick as a Brick stands out like an epic stands out from mere novels. The complex yet so catchy beats, the strange yet evocative lyrics, the vast range of haunting chords and arrangements and riffs and what have yous for every instrument (Good ol' Ian of course in the thick of it all!) make this album Jethro Tull's best ever. It will endure in the Halls of Immortal Rock when all else fades into the low audio frequency babble of yester-centuries...
My Interpretation | Reviewer: NuJTFan
------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull
It’s a story of a man’s suicide ending in an observation about God. In the first stanza, Charlie is huffing and puffing as he gasps his last breaths during a suicide by drug overdose. He knows that in his heart and soul, he's always thought himself a loser. The piston is his heart straining to beat as the overdose using some sort of Speed is kicking in. The steam on his brow are the last cold sweats you get while your body kicks into overdrive trying to keep you alive but it's still dying and you feel cold as you blood slows to your extremities. The handle Charlie stole is the overdose that he can't reverse. The train that won't stop is the last spiral into death. No way to slow down because he's alone in the place he has chosen to kill himself.
The answer as to what led him to this point is in the second stanza.
His kids are growing into adulthood and moving on in their lives. He finds himself at that point in life he always looked forward to, when it would just be he and his wife, who is the love of his life, alone together again. However, his children jumping off one by one means he’s finding out that they don't care to keep touch with him. He learns what they really think about him as a father; he was a failure as one in their eyes. He then finds his wife in bed with his best friend, learning that the two people he trusted the most have betrayed him. As he thinks about it, he probably realizes signs that the affair has been going on for a while. He now learns that he's been a failure as a husband too. He’s too cowardly to face them, and is now crawling down the corridor as he suffers a severe stress and anxiety attack. (Those feel like serious heart attacks when they hit just right.) As he's thinking all these things, he comes to a new realization. Although he tried to live his life as one in which he would have no regrets of things missed, he didn’t see himself turn it into a self-centered, selfish life. In this stanza, Charlie's lifestyle (the handle he stole) is what set off the chain of events that have now led to a life that is crumbling around him (the train that won't stop or slow down).
In the last stanza, he's at death door. Just beyond is Hell's gate. The silence howling would be the winds of the fires of hell blowing, carrying the sounds of the suffering therein. We know it refers to Hell because that is where fallen angels are doomed to go for eternity as per the Bible. The all time winner in this song is not referring to God but Satan. God doesn’t grab you by the balls, that's painful. Satan however is the all-time winner in any life not centered around God. It is a life of sin and every time another person dies without God in his heart, it's another soul earned or won by Satan away from God. We know Charlie has picked a motel to carry out his suicide due to the Gideons Bible on the nightstand next to his death bed.
In the last several lines, Charlie picks up the Bible which is open to page one, the beginning, the Creation. The singer then says in exclamation, "I think God! He stole the handle… The singer is stating that God started an irreversible chain of events with His allowance of free will to man since the Creation in Genesis. Man’s free will has put us in a downward spiral towards the end of times ever since that first disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden. The exclamation strikes me as an accusation of fault against God. I think those last lines may be reflective Ian Anderson’s religious beliefs.
A Passion Play | Reviewer: Anonymous
------ About the song A Passion Play performed by Jethro Tull
Thanks for the lyrics; I just printed them out for my son. I was fortunate enough to have watched "A Passion Play" performed live in El Paso in 1973. The band was fantastic and, of course, Ian Anderson was impeccable and breath-taking. Thanks again.
Jim Hash
Introspective social commentary from Tull | Reviewer: Wittgenstein Polka
------ About the song Living In The Past performed by Jethro Tull
This jazzy rocker from the two disc 1972 release of the same title (consisting of once discarded odds 'n sods) became an unexpected hit for the band. A shotgun marriage of Roland Kirk and the famous Dave Brubeck/ Paul Desmond "Take Five" groove loans this tune it's unique synergy.
Like fellow conservative rockers Ted Nugent, Frank Zappa, Pete Townsend and Mark Farner, Ian Anderson was wisely on guard against the frequently absurd teleological prognastications of the flower-power cult. In this song, Ian takes a well aimed swipe at the agrarian pretensions of certian factions of the hippie sect. He knows all too well that unearned priveledge cannot long masquerade as smug, self-important rectitude. Good thinking there, Ian!
It's Deeper Than What The Lyrics Read. | Reviewer: Ryan
------ About the song Hymn 43 performed by Jethro Tull
Hymn 43 is a slight of Christianity and organized Christian religion. Not for what Christianity believes it is, more for wht it has become. Read the lyrics again. Christians believe Jesus is the savior but have a look at how things have gone. The end of the song is the state of Christianity now. "It's cross is rather bloody and it can barely move it's stone".
Tull - A Life-long love affair | Reviewer: Todd
------ About artist/band Jethro Tull
For more than 3 decades, Jethro Tull has brought the World rich, complex music filled with insight and often biting social commentary (Not to mention a brilliant stage show). My grateful thanks to Ian and the band for a lifetime filled with great music!
Who is Jethro Tull | Reviewer: Anonymous
------ About artist/band Jethro Tull
I really appreciate the service 365 provides, all the helpful information about bands (groups), performers and their biography's, and such. One thing I really find interesting is how musical groups determine the name by which they call themselves. When I first heard of this band, Jethro Tull, in the 70's, I automatically assumed Jethro was a name of the originator or lead singer. A few other examples for instance could be Lynard Skynard. I don't know of anyone at any time belonging to this band named Lydard Skynard. The name Fleetwood Mac would be close but the only Fleetwood in this band is Mic. And as for the Rossington Collins band, well..., the same thing. The names of some groups don't leave a whole lot to inquire about, like Boston, or Kansas, and Van Halen. But then there are groups who's names are not only very uncommon at all, but also what the name of the band means is not obvious either.
Hymn 43 you're everything to me | Reviewer: dhastings
------ About the song Hymn 43 performed by Jethro Tull
Ian has written timeless and poetic lyrics with music that drives the point home. It is this type of song that defines Tull as a band.
Truly a Great One | Reviewer: Kaz
------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull
A lot of today's songs whine about how the someone lost control of their life and it's gone downhill - and I do mean Whine. What an awesome song Locomotive Breath is, if for no other reason than that it tells the story without making you want to reach out and smack some idiot. Of course, pair that up with the perfect melody and make the whole thing sound like the train on its trip to oblivion...
Oh, Ian. Please pass some talent on to today's crybabies.
fisher | Reviewer: Vernon
------ About the song No Lullaby performed by Jethro Tull
I want to believe my little orange cat, Tito, put up a good fight when he was taken by a fisher.
I lament not taking more extreme measures to prevent Tito from enjoying his liberties at night.
Having listened to Mr. Andersons song many years ago, I recalled his lyrics by rote.
I'm so sorry Tito, I wish you were here, (Pink Floyd)
If any of today's song writers could write songs only half as good as Ian's they would be platinum everytime. But alas there are none today who can come close.
one of the greatest bands of all time | Reviewer: Gabby
------ About artist/band Jethro Tull
I am a HUGE fan of Jethro Tull, and i have been for all 15 years of my life. They are they only band that could make the flute hardcore, and I worship them for it. They are a group of extremely talented musicians and deserve more credit in the world of rock and metal.
In My Opinion...... | Reviewer: Mark S.
------ About the album Songs from the Wood performed by Jethro Tull
This is Ian Anderson's best work. Lets people know that JETHRO TULL is more than just Aqualung!
Classic Rock at it's finest | Reviewer: Anonymous
------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull
Locomotive Breath is what so many of today's disconnected, what-the-hell-was-that song writers aspire to produce. The lyrics are loosely connected to one another and beautifully supported by the underlying melody. Do the lyrics, when viewed written out, make sense? Not really. Then again I don't think that was the intent; yet, somehow, in the midst of it all, it all coalesces to sensibility in some cosmic sort of way.
Great tunes from one of rock's greatest singer-songwriters, Ian Anderson.
This is a tentative thought at best... | Reviewer: Karn
------ About the song Broadford Bazaar performed by Jethro Tull
Ian Anderson's lyrics are often so obscure and symbolic that it's really difficult to grasp a meaning to his songs, and it's made harder by the fact that there are often many meanings to his songs. In my own specific opinion, this song is about how avarice and the need to own and buy useless junk and how ownership, rather than compassion, is the name of the game in the world.
Well, It's gotta ...kind of a beat...and you can't really dance ..er maybe a waltz? | Reviewer: Anonymous
------ About the song Sossity: You're A Woman performed by Jethro Tull
Vintage 1970 Tull. Ian Anderson at his enigmatic best...odd accent makes lyrics difficult to understand...but the flow is so superb you don't care. The tone of the song is melancholic, yet beautiful. Essential Jethro Tull.
Underappreciated Geniuses | Reviewer: Dave in America
------ About artist/band Jethro Tull
Never understood why the critics largely turned on this group and then largely ignored them (when not scorning them) in the following decades. You would think praise would come to an artist that has always displayed an adventurous desire to make music that was not being made by everyone else, along with unquestioned technical skill and a generally unfailing melodic ear. While the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts artists who had a couple of good songs and a couple of records of uneven quality, Jethro Tull has had hundreds of good songs and about twenty really good albums/CDs. Even the ones that were a bit "over the top" in either a lyrical or musical sense were interesting, which is far more than can be said for the vast majority of popular music. Well, we all know that popular does not equal good and that sometimes, as in the case of Jethro Tull, the great can labor without widespread appreciation. Thanks to Ian Anderson and all the talented members of Jethro Tull for over 30 years of wonderful music.
One of the best. | Reviewer: Anonymous
------ About the song Flying Colours performed by Jethro Tull
Nothing constructive to say here. This is an excellent song from arguably one of Tull's best album ever
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