01	Aqualung						06:37
	02	Cross-Eyed Mary						04:09
	03	Cheap Day Return						01:23
	04	Mother Goose						03:53
	05	Wond'ring Aloud						01:55
	06	Up to Me						03:14
	07	My God						07:12
	08	Hymn 43						03:19
	09	SlipStream						01:13
	10	Locomotive Breath						04:26
	11	Wind Up						06:07
	12	Lick Your Fingers Clean						02:46
	13	Wind Up (Quad Version)						05:23
	14	Ian Anderson interview						13:58
	15	Song for Jeffrey						02:51
	16	Fat Man						02:56
	17	Bouree						04:00

AQUALUNG
Released: March 30, 1971
Produced by: Ian Anderson and Terry Ellis
Engineered by: John Burns
Label: Reprise MS-2035


Jethro Tull
Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
Martin Barre - electric guitar, descant recorder
Clive Bunker - a thousand drums and percussion
John Evan - piano, organ, mellotron
Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond - bass guitar, alto recorder, odd voices


AQUALUNG
Aqualung {Jennie Anderson/Ian Anderson} (6:31)
Cross-Eyed Mary {Ian Anderson} (4:09)
Cheap Day Return {Ian Anderson} (1:23)
Mother Goose {Ian Anderson} (3:52)
Wond'ring Aloud {Ian Anderson} (1:56)
Up To Me {Ian Anderson} (3:18)

MY GOD
My God {Ian Anderson} (7:10)
Hymn 43 {Ian Anderson} (3:18)
Slipstream {Ian Anderson} (1:13)
Locomotive Breath {Ian Anderson} (4:25)
Wind-Up {Ian Anderson} (5:42)
Total playing time 42:59


AQUALUNG
'T` n the beginning Man created God;
| and in the image of Man
,|, created he him.

2 And Man gave unto God a multitude of
names,that he might be Lord of all
the earth when it was suited to Man.

3 And on the seven millionth
day Man rested and did lean
heavily on his God and saw that
it was good.

4 And Man formed Aqualung of
the dust of the ground, and a
host of others likened unto his kind.

5 And these lesser men were cast into the
void; And some were burned, and some were
put apart from their kind.

6 And Man became the God that he had
created and with his miracles did
rule over all the earth.

7 But as all these things
came to pass, the Spirit that did
cause man to create his God
lived on within all men: even
within Aqualung.

8 And man saw it not.

9 But for Christ's sake he'd
better start looking.


~ Aqualung ~


An introduction to "Aqualung"

Jethro Tull's fourth album, released in March 1971, would become one of their most important ones, both lyrically and musically: 'Aqualung'. The sales have exceeded five million to date. It consists of eleven powerful songs, containing a lot of criticism on various aspects of society, that certainly didn't lose their expressiveness over the years. "My goodness, now Ian Anderson wants us to think!" headlined 'Disc and Music Echo', one of the music magazines in those days. Judson Caswell has pointed out, that there are three major components of the album. First, there is the social commentary of the lyrics on God, religion, and poverty. Second, the popularity of his acoustic pieces is reaffirmed with "Wond'ring Aloud," "Slipstream," and "Cheap Day Return". Finally there is an increasing vulgarity in his lyrics.

The lyrics affirm his criticism regarding organized religion, especially Christianity e.g. Church Of England. In David Rees' book 'Minstrels in the gallery, a history of Jethro Tull' (1998) Ian is quoted: "They are not, as some perceived, an attack on God, but more on organised religion, the hypocrisy of organised Christianity. I don't mean to sound as heavy as it might, and I have no arguments with anyone's personal religious beliefs. I'm sure there is a God, but nobody can possibly know what form he or it might take" (p. 43).

The lyrics are pretty clear, often referred to as "blatant" or "naive" by critics. More interesting is the vulgar portrayal of the lower class in songs such as "Aqualung" and "Cross-Eyed Mary": "Laughing on the playground, get's no kicks from little boys / would rather make it with a leching grey" is a good example of Ian's dealing with lower-class sexuality in "Cross-Eyed Mary." And he certainly can't be accused of valorizing poverty with lines like "Sitting on a park bench / eyeing little girls with bad intent / snot running down his nose / greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes" from 'Aqualung'.
These, in light of the emphasis placed on the acoustic pieces on this album, seem to draw an ever-widening chasm in the music: from the raucous to the serene, from the gentle to the the uncompromisingly hard. Ian's expressive vocals go perfectly along with the type of songs on the album: the acoustic songs are sung in a clear and warm timbre, while on the rock songs his singing is raw, angry, bitter perhaps.


So we see the growth of the acoustic/electric dichotomy. There are six songs which prominently feature heavy electric guitar while the remaining five are mostly acoustic. Even in a few of the more raucous songs, acoustic and electric instruments are pitted against one another: "My God", "Wind Up" and the title track "Aqualung". This dichotomy parallels the almost irreconcilable (in the minds of the fans) differences between the lyrical and musical content of the songs and the stage presence that performs them. What began as a "penchant for a tatty overcoat and manic stage presence" (in the words of Phil Hardy), became something Lewis described as the "hopping, grimacing, twitching, gasping, lurching, rolling, paradiddling, gnawing and gibbering" Jethro Tull. Much ado is made about Ian's "low humor" (Hardy). Countless fans report memories of Ian's phallic flute waving, his ranting, cavorting, acting like a man "possessed."
The increasing suggestiveness of his lyrics on Aqualung parallels the increasing vulgarity of his stage act. Ian explains this in interviews: "There came a point for me when I started doing it [the antics] for myself, and it gradually evolved into being, for me, at any rate, a true physical expression of the music we play" (Lewis).

John Benninghouse argues, that the album does not only show us Ian's views on the less valorous aspects of human nature as seen through the lower classes, but also as seen through the upper class as well: "I interpret the album as being (perhaps unintentionally) about - at its core - human nature or at least one aspect of it: the songs portray people as egoistic and self-serving. The songs critiquing religion also critique the upper classes.

"... don't call on Him to save you / from your social graces..."
"Oh Father high in heaven / smile down upon your son / who's busy with his money games...."
"Well the lush separation enfolds you / and the products of wealth ..."
"In your pomp and all your glory you\rquote re a poorer man than me...."
If Anderson uses organized religion as a pretext for criticism of the upper classes, then he is all too direct when criticizing the lower classes. There are no paeans to those less fortunate. Instead we find Aqualung, a dirty, old bum who eyes "little girls with bad intent" and Cross-eyed Mary, a poor school girl who sexually services poor men and steals from those who have little, like herself, rather than from those who are wealthy. The rich abandon the substance of religious tradition and use the empty shell of liturgy to suit their own needs. The poor are no better. They prey on each other for their own gain".

Aqualung proved to be a popular album in America. During this time the band were featured in Rolling Stone magazine with Ian on the cover. Of relevence here is a quote from the article refering to America: "Everybody is sort of grabbing at something, out for themselves. Particularly on the East Coast....You get the feeling that you're in the midst of some incredible game....everybody is rude, pushy, grabby". (We should bear this in mind when Thick As A Brick, War Child a.o. are discussed).

We have seen Ian's dissatisfaction with "stolen" Black American blues. We have seen aspects of his disapproval of contemporary culture, particularly American culture. We have seen his first original compositions as acoustic-oriented music, and the possibility of his themes deriving meaning from historical context. At this point he is both entertainer and critic - both insightful and tastelessly vulgar. And he claims that his stage presence is his physical manifestation of all of this. Is it possible to link all aspects of his music? As with Roland Kirk, is it possible to place all aspects of performance and composition into one framework that will reconcile the contradictions? And can a framework be found to place the music in a historical context? We will try to find an answer to these questions when the next album 'Warchild' is portrayed.

The 'Aqualung' album was and is often considered as a concept album - both by fans and critics as well - though Ian stated several times it was not. The first six songs are mostly about the sordid side of life of 'the man in the street', while the last five contain Ian's criticism on organized religion. However, in each song he takes a different perspective to the subject, as I will try to point out below.
* Jan Voorbij; Judson C. Caswell (Minstrel in the gallery, history in the music of Jethro Tull - 1993); John Benninghouse (Songs from the wood, the music and lyrics of Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull - 1994)



Annotations

In an article, originally published in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971, are some relevant passages, all quotes by Ian: "All songs on Side Two somehow deal with the concept of God, from a personal standpoint".

Aqualung

"'Aqualung': It's about a rather pathetic character, someone socially degraded. There's something marvellous about that situation. I would like to see the concept of God put into that situation."
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971.

The title song portrays an old and homeless, asthmatic man, who wanders the streets in a big city. Ian drew his inspiration from a project his first wife Jennie was working on. See:
She had been photographing homeless people, living their harsh lives in the streets of London near Thames river. From an interview with Ian in 'Guitar World' magazine, November 1996:
"I was very briefly married at the time, and when we got married, neither she nor I wanted her to play the role of the faithful housewife, but thought she should study something or do something. She'd had an uncle who was a professional, fairly well-known portrait photographer in London, and she decided she wanted to take up and study photography. So she went off to college to do that. One of the first assignments she had was to record images of homeless people - living in cardboard boxes in a certain part of London. And she came back with some photographs that she'd taken and developed. I think she had scribbled a few lines on the back of one of the prints, or on an accompanying piece of paper, with lines describing this guy. I hadn't seen the person; I had only seen the photograph. In trying to encompass something that was just a black-and-white image - just a grainy, Kodak Tri-X student photographer image - there was a certain degree of detachment that led me to romanticize the character, and add to her few words. It just developed into a song - the first verse, 'Sun streaking cold, an old man wondering lonely," blah blah blah, is the bit that I think was my first wife's contribution. But the introductory heavy-riff bit almost certainly is a musical idea of mine with a lyric that ties in. Start looking a little bit, a little bit deeper, and I think the nice thing about writing is to be able to write on more than one level at once, you know, to write songs that have an apparently simple and direct meaning but, but, you know, have another layer of meaning underneath that that people may or may not gravitate to if they wish".

Since we know of Ian's disapproval of contemporary culture, especcially its greed and egoism, it might be very well possible that he criticizes the way our society treats her dropouts - people who somehow cannot cope with society.

The first verse describes Aqualung's lamentable condition. His bad health, being asthmatic and probably suffering from rheumatism or gout, his filthiness, his loss of values ("eyeing little girls with bad intent"/ "watching as the frilly panties run") and his dependence on institutions like the Salvation Army for his meals. So he is really down and out. Then, in the second verse ("Sun streaking cold, an old man wandering lonely") the song changes from electric to acoustic and we hear how the narrator expresses his compassion with Aqualung, pitying the condition he is in. Being isolated from other people and chased away as a nuisance time after time, he became distrustful towards anyone who approaches him: "Aqualung my friend, don't you start away uneasy, you poor old sod you see it's only me". In the last verse first we see how Aqualung's life comes to an end, in "agony" with "rattling last breaths". And life goes on as if nothing has happened "....and the flowers bloom like madness in the spring".
* Jan Voorbij

"the army 's up the road, salvation a la mode and a cup of tea"
Probably a reference to the Salvation Army handing out free meals to the homeless during winter. One interpretation of the expression 'a la mode' in this phrase (though not necessarily the one Ian intended!) might be to imply the indifference and impatience of society towards the homeless. Everyone knows the Salvation Army help the homeless (i.e. it's the prevalent, or 'fashionable' attitude. Just because it's fashionable doesn't mean it's justifiable!), so a common public attitude might be "Don't come to me asking for money; it's not my problem, can't you go to the Salvation Army? Get out of my way!"
* Neil R. Thomason

"Aqualung"
An Aqualung is a Scuba diving equipment, in fact an underwater breathing apparatus. Scuba is an acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. But there is another story behind the name Ian chose for this character. First of all, our tramp is suffering from asthma, making all these wheezing sounds when breathing: "and you snatch your rattling last breaths with deep-sea-diver sounds". It is less known that there was a problem with Tull specifically using the word 'Aqualung': 'Aqualung' is (was?) a fully copyrighted tradename of the 'Aqualung Corporation Of North America'. The company wasn't happy about the unauthorised use of their tradename and sued. Ian had a specific image in mind when naming 'Aqualung' - he was reffering to the asthmatic wheezing accompanying the underwater scenes of 'Mike Nelson', the diver character in the US TV series, 'Seahunt'. BTW, the lyric sheet insert for the vinyl also gives this credit: "Aqua-LungR is used in the United States with permission of U.S. Divers, Santa Ana,California", though, curiously, no later releases bothered to give such credit!
* Neil R. Thomason, Jan Voorbij

"He goes down to the bog to warm his feet"
The bog is English slang for toilet and in England public toilets are often below ground. Urinating on your feet to warm them up is the "standard" way of warming feet when there is no other option.
* Matthew Korn

Cross-Eyed Mary

"'Cross-Eyed Mary' is a song about another form of low life, but more humorous. It's about a schoolgirl prostitute but not in such coarse terms. She goes with dirty old men because she's doing them a favour, giving people what they want because it makes them happy. It's a fun kind of song."
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971.
The song is about a poor schoolgirl/prostitute, who sexually services poor men and steals from those who have little, like herself, rather than from those who are wealthy. The first four lines of the song suggest she would not, if she wasn't that poor: "Who would be a poor man, a beggar man a thief, if he had a rich man in his hand...". In spite of her 'work' she stays poor, dining "on expense accounted gruel", finding "it hard to get along". However, to the poor men who can afford her services, she is a most welcome distraction from everydays' misery: "she's the Robin Hood of Highgate, helps the poor man get along". The line "The jack-knife barber ", who dropped her off at school, suggests she just had an abortion, since barbers were the original surgeons. Being precocious she feels she doesn't belong among her peers and is attracted to men instead of boys: "Laughing in the playground, gets no kicks from little boys, would rather make it with a lethcing grey...". Having not much choice, she's not too particular when it comes to choosing her 'customers'.
* Jan Voorbij.


Cheap Day Return

"'Cheap Day Return' is about a day I went to visit my father in hospital in Blackpool. I caught a train at nine, spent four hours travelling, four hours with my father, and four hours to get back again. It was a long song mainly concerned with the railway journey, but the section on the record is about visiting my father. It's a true song."
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971.
A 'cheap day return' is a type of rail ticket. Ian explained this in various interviews. He was living in London, but travelled to Blackpool for the day, to visit his father, very ill in hospital: "... does the nurse treat your old man the way she should ...". He returned by train. The rail route from Blackpool to London isn't direct; there's a local train from Blackpool to Preston, where one can join the intercity Glasgow - London train.Whilst waiting for the connecting train, Ian expressed his slight melancholia by writing a song. Apparently, he didn't have to wait long, which is why the song is so short (I think he was joking...). Once you know the background, the lyrics make sense - it's a straight narrative. The song "Nursie" was also inspired by this trip to his father.
* Neil R. Thomason, Jan Voorbij


Mother Goose

"'Mother Goose' is completely untrue, it's nonsense. It's the same sort of abstract idea as 'Cross-Eyed Mary', imagery of 100 schoolgirls all crying; it's full of surrealism. It's amusing."
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971.
In The Complete Lyrics Book Ian states that 'Mother Goose' is about various images that he saw as he wandered around Hampstead Heath. Really not tied together through any coherent theme, just images.
* Matt Willis


Wond'ring Aloud

Right in the middle of his cynical description of various scenes of 'lower class life in the street', Ian places one his most beautiful acoustic songs. The song is full of love, harmony, happiness and breathes a laid-back atmoshere; the lyrics speak for themselves. Since Ian leaves nothing to chance, I suspect he wants to make clear that there is more to life than the misery and cruelty we see happen in the streets and that we should value relations of friendship and love and the moments we share with our loved ones. In songs like 'Aqualung', 'Cross-Eyed Mary' and 'Up To Me' we see how people experience life as full of struggle, finding it hard to cope and try to take advantage of eachother in order to survive. In 'Wond'ring Aloud' however, we see how 'giving' affects us and how we benefit from it. Here is beautifully phrased - both lyrically and musically - how love, one of the best things life can offer us, is experienced.
It's interesting to compare this song to 'Wond'ring Again' from the 'Living In The Past' album from which it was derived. In the first one "taking" is the keyword, in the second one "giving".
* Jan Voorbij
"'Wond'ring Aloud' is a bit of personal nonsense, it's a love song. It's difficult to write love songs if you write songs a lot; love is a separate, personal thing. But this is the most satisfying thing I've made a record of. It's well played and sung quite well. It's a pretty song".
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971.



Up To Me

"'Up to Me' is another nonsense one, a song about selfishness".
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971.
The song depicts another aspect of lower class life. 'Up to me' seems to be about "me" (for lack of a better name since I do not know if this is autobiographical) telling his daily tale of woe to a weary bartender or patron. The opening verse sounds like a date gone bad after "me" tried to put the moves on too fast and he ends up ditching her at a restaurant.
"Take you to the cinema
and leave you in a Wimpy Bar
you tell me that you've gone too far
come running up to me."
The second verse sounds like a fight or brawl that has taken place at Cousin Jack's after having a few too many drinks, where "me" ended up punching Jack in the face: "that's one up to me":
"Make the scene at Cousin Jack's
leave him to put the bottles back
mends his glasses that I cracked
well that's one up to me."
The third verse seems to follow the same theme as 'Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll' would five years later. Except now "me" has chosen to live the high, trendy life:
"By a silver cloud to ride
pack the tennis club inside
trouser cuffs hung far too wide
well it was up to me."
A chance encounter with someone he'd just assume avoid. Perhaps (Cross-eyed) Mary?
"Tyres down on your bicycle
your nose feels like an icicle --
the yellow fingered smoky girl
is looking up to me."
The chorus lines are the lines that make it seem like he is telling someone about his poor self. He just a regular guy, with half a glass of beer and a sarnie. And he's willing to pay, even if he doesn't have the money, to have you listen to his story.
"Well I'm a common working man
with half a bitter -- bread and jam
and if it pleases me I'll put one on you man
when the copper fades away."
Finally it's time to go home. The first line here is similar in theme to "Another Harry's Bar," perhaps Ian was influenced by Hemingway early on? I take the day-glo pirate to be the setting sun as "me" laughs about the start of a new day and a host of new situations. But they are all choice "up to 'me'!"
"The rainy season comes to pass
the day-glo pirate sinks at last
and if I laughed a bit too fast.
Well, it was up to me."
* Matt Willis

"A Wimpy Bar" is mentioned. It was (still is, but less popular nowadays) a chain of fast food restaurants, in the same vein as McDonalds, but where the food was usually eaten in the restaurant, with knife & fork - eating with the hands wasn't really acceptable in public in 1970!
* Neil R. Thomason


In an article, originally pubished in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971, are some relevant passages, all quotes by Ian: "All songs on Side Two somehow deal with the concept of God, from a personal standpoint".



My God

Ian: "'My God', the first track, isn't a song against God, or against the idea of God, but it is against Gods and the hypocritical church of the Establishment; it's a criticism of the God they choose to worship. It's very dissatisfying to me that children are brought up to follow the same God as their parents. God is the abstract idea Man chooses to worship; he [He] doesn't have to be worshipped. I say he [He] only has to be acknowledged. Children are brought up to be Jewish, Catholic or Protestant just by an accident of birth. I think that's a presumptuous and immoral thing to do. Religion makes a dividing line between human beings and that's wrong. I think it's very wrong that we are brain-washed at school with a set of religious ideas. It should be up to you to think and makes your own decision". ".... 'My God': This is a blues for God, in the way of a lament. So many religions operate as a social service instead of a spiritual one".
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971

The song criticizes organized religion. I think the narrator criticizes especcially the fixed, monopolised concept of God as presented by the churches in the lines "... locked Him in his golden cage, made him bend to your religion, him resurrected from the grave". As this dogmatical concept is imposed on the believers by the church itself, it doesn't serve them much, for if that's all they can see "He is the God of nothing". Is Ian saying here, that this would be different if one is willing to make the effort of developing one's own concept of God, based on personal experiences, creativity and responsibility: "You are the God of everything, he's inside you and me", instead of showing docility in religious matters?
Something alike happens in the third verse, where the image of Jesus is concerned. This image, imposed by the church is so definite, that it leaves no room for the search for and the development of a more personal concept of Jesus: "And the graven image you know who, with his plastic crucifix, he's got him fixed". Both the concepts of God and Jesus are so definite and full of dogmatics, that the narrator is confused as he cannot relate to them, perhaps since they are miles away from his personal experiences.
I suspect, that the tenor of this song is: this minimized, limited God will not help you out. It's no use to pray and to confess: you'd better take responsibility for your own life: "... don't call on Him to save you, you from your social graces, oh and the sins you used to waive" and "You'll be praying 'til next Thursday to all the Gods that you can count".
The verselines:
"The bloody Church of England
in chains of history
requests your earthly presence at
the vicarage for tea."
were not the original ones. The song was written before the 'Benefit' album and was performed live for the first time in april 1970. During the Carnegie Hall Concert in New York (November 4th 1970), parts of which were recorded on "Living In The Past" and on the "25th Anniversary Box Set", 'My God' was played and recorded before it was actually recorded for the Aqualung album. The original verse reads as follows:
"The Jewish Christian Moslim
is waiting to be free.
Each claiming just a part of Him,
also a part of me".
I take it that Ian observed the sames processes as described above in other religions. What his reason was to change this verse I do not see. Maybe he did not want to be too offensive, or maybe he wanted to point all of his criticism to the situation in the UK.

Another point of interest about this song is, that Ian originally planned to entitle the album "My God" instead of "Aqualung". However, several 1970 concerts were bootlegged, and because one of them was released as a bootleg LP under the title "My God", Ian saw no other option than to chose a different title!

The song was recorded for the first time in June 1970, but that proved to be a failure. A retry in December 1970 was very successfull.
* Jan Voorbij

A crucial part of the lyric --- all the faiths are claiming a little piece of God (the piece they fashion according to their own creed) as opposed to the Whole. "Also a part of me" reinforces the idea that God is in Man, therefore any claim on God is a claim on the human spirit also.
* Andy Jackson



Hymn 43

".... is a blues for Jesus, about the gory, glory seekers who use his name as an excuse for a lot of unsavoury things. You know, 'Hey dad, it's not my fault - the missionaries lied.' "
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971
I always thought Hymn 43 was like the Nietzsche "God is Dead"-bit, where he was only symbolically speaking of religious figures, and was literally speaking about the religion itself (when Nietzsche said that God was dead, he meant that the idea of God - religion, is dead, and meaningless); how it's been corrupted over the years in ways that have been said time and time again. "If Jesus saves, then he'd better save himself, from the gory glory-seekers, who would use his name in death" ... This is not ridiculing Jesus, is it? I think, generally, that Ian is using Jesus as a symbol to describe Christianity; and that's why he's in such bad shape in the last verse; so is modern Christianity, in Ian's eyes... nothing wrong with the religion, but everything wrong with how it's being used and abused. That symbolism extends to the first verse, as well: "Smile down upon your son", Christianity, "who's busy with his money games", etc.. (isn't Christianity as much God's son as Jesus is?) Ian has said time and time again that he has no objections to religion, but does object to some of the organized religion which exists today. This song is attacking just that; not Christianity, not the real Jesus, but evangelists and the like. The Jesus he talks about is the one they mention on the religious channels: "I have a message for you. Jesus loves you".
* Alex Lozupone

Though I do agree with most of what Alex points out here, I think there is more to say about this song. First of all it is striking how raucous and angry the vocals are, supported by Martin's heavy electrical guitar playing. It is important to bear in mind that every verse that contains criticism on this album has this feature. When it comes to the lyrics, I want to point out, that the first and the second verse show us the hypocrisy and ambiguity of people praying to God and Jesus as well, while in the meantime they commit all kind of crimes and vices: "... his money games, his women and his gun", "... killed an Indian or three".
The second verse and - more explicit - the third verse attack the violent way in which people in The America's and Africa were christianized by the Europeans, especially in the 17th and 18th century: "the gory glory seekers, who use his name in death". My interpretation of the image of Jesus in the last verse differs from Alex's: "His cross was rather bloody, he could hardly roll his stone". Here we see Jesus depicted as a tortured man, worn out and exhausted by the hypocrisy and crimes that were committed in his name.
* Jan Voorbij



Slipstream

"..... is a song about dying. It doesn't mean it's the end of the world, but it hints at a life hereafter. There's a line in it, 'And you paddle right out of the mess'. It's brief and to the point, lyrically and musically."
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971

In the line of Ian's critique in "Hymn 43" he portrays in short the average human life: You are born ("Well the lush separation unfolds you") and soon after that you start an empty life depending upon material things ("and the products of wealth push you along on the bow wave of their spiritless undying selves"). You leave everything behind when you die: "And you press on God's waiter your last dime as he hands you the bill". God's waiter is St. Peter. You're overseeing your past life and spin in your memories: "And you spin in the slipstream - tideless - (...nothing is pulling you...) unreasoning - (taking things for what they are worth) paddle right out of the mess". (by the time you die you at last realize you don't need material things to be happy ).
* Phil Vaughn



Locomotive Breath

"'Locomotive Breath' is another song about dying, but it's not so serious as 'Slipstream'. It's an analogy of the unending train journey of life; you can't stop, you've got to stagger on. But it's not that serious. All of the songs have an element of humour, and sometimes pure silliness".
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971
This song is about modern man ("the all-time loser"), who can hardly keep up with the pace of life in our society ("locomotive breath"). He suffers from all kinds of desillusions, alienation and solitude, cannot get hold of his own life and in the end resorts to religion: "he picks up Gideons Bible, open at page one", in the hope to find a solution. The verseline "The train won't stop going, no way to slow down" symbolizes his/our life that goes on and on without a pause until we inevitably die. At this place in the bible one will find the book of Genesis in which is described how the universe, the world and all living beings on it were created. Roland Tarmo points out that "old Charlie" is a reference to Charles Darwin and his evolution theory, that offered a scientific alternative for the unconditional belief in creation as worded in Genesis, thus questioning the self-evidentness of this belief. In other words: he "stole the handle", that for centuries had defined men's position. I assume that "the all-time winner" refers to God.
"Gideon" is the organisation that aims at spreading the Bible by having it placed in public buildings like hotels.
* Jan Voorbij



Wind Up

The title 'Wind Up' has several meanings in British slang. As Ian explained in a US radio interview ( 'In The Studio - Aqualung', 19/11/90), he had three meanings in mind: 1. It's the last song on the album, 'winding' it up i.e. drawing it to a conclusion. 2. A 'wind up' is a con, a trick; so Ian uses the phrase to mean you don't have to trick God by attending church on Sunday then ignore Him for the rest of the week. 3. God isn't a clockwork toy, which needs winding-up once each week to keep Him working! Incidentally, in the same song, the line "in your pomp and all your glory..." might be a sideways reference to England's unofficial anthem, Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 in D, Op. 39 ', commonly known as 'Land Of Hope & Glory'.
* Neil R. Thomason
The inspiration for this song was drawn from Ians forced childhood church attendance. It deals with his disagreement that children have to follow the religious beliefs of their parents. Children rather should use their own minds to come to their own religious conclusions.
* Greg Russo



I've always seen a strong link between William Blake and Tull. Compare the following:

[plate 11] "The ancient Poets animated all sensible objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged & numerous senses could perceive. And particularly they studied the genius of each city & country, placing it under its mental deity. Till a system was formed, which some took advantage of & enslav'd the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects; thus began Priesthood. Choosing forms of worship from poetic tales. And at length they pronounced that the Gods had ordered such things. Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast."
(from: "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell").

Compare this to the creed on the back cover of Aqualung:

"1. In the beginning Man created God; and in the image of man created he him.
2. And Man gave unto God a multitude of names, that he might be Lord over all the earth when it was suited to Man.
7. But as these things did come to pass, the Spirit that did cause Man to create his God lived on within all Men: even within Aqualung.
8. And Man saw it not.
9. But for Christ's sake he'd better start looking".
* Andy Jackson




http://www.cupofwonder.com/aqua3.html


Jethro Tull - "Aqualung" (1971) Wonderful band. They were also the first flute-dominated band I heard, and since then I've always think flute is one of the most wonderful instruments on earth. "Aqualung" was the 4th Tull album and their first concept-album. The first side of the album seemed to be about poor people, while the second side was about organised religion, and that was something that Mr. Anderson apparently didn't like at all! The title-track is one of the group's best songs ever, with its distinctive riff and melodic mid-section. But it's also one of the VERY few Tull-tracks the wasn't penned by Anderson (but by his wife!) and with no flute. "Cross Eyed Mary" is a quite catchy rocker, but the rest of the first side is quite acoustic and relaxed with nice songs like "Wond'ring Aloud" and "Mother Goose". The second side starts with "My God" and next to the title-track this is the most progressive track of the album, with a great flute/choir part in the middle. "Locomotive Breath" and "Wind Up" are other Tull-classics. It's not so much more to say and most of you probably already have this album.




Aqualung


" Aqualung," to many, is Tull's masterpiece. The title track and "Locomotive Breath," with their catchy riffs, would be joined by "My God," "Cross-Eyed Mary," and "Hymn 43" as classic rock staples. There's no arguing with it's commercial success, having sold more than seven million copies and continuing to outsell anything in the back catalog.

Yet, "Aqualung" is arguably Tull's most misunderstood album. Critics dubbed it a concept album, particularly for Anderson's critical, skeptical views of organized religion on mostly on side B ("My God"). Anderson has disputed, almost resented, the assessment seeing the record as "just a bunch of songs." The labeling lead the band to really give the critics a concept album with the following studio release "Thick as a Brick."

"Aqualung" has a dominate theme but is certainly more, much more, than a concept album hindging on a solitary subject. Anderson explores the struggles of the less fortunate in our society (e.g., "Aqualung," "Cross-Eyed Mary," "Up to Me"), teenage angst and formal education difficulties ( e.g., "Wind Up," "Mother Goose"), and returns to his parental themes with "Cheap Day Return, a tune encompassing Anderson's feelings while traveling to visit his sick father.

"Aqualung" also cemented the exaggerated image, especially to those only casually acquainted with the band, that Tull was a "heavy rock" group. Years later, a Grammy for best heavy metal album (viz., "Crest of a Knave") would officially sanction the misconceived stereotype. Yet, "Aqualung" is where Anderson really begins to develop his personal style for acoustical guitar songs with "Cheap Day Return," "Mother Goose," and "Slipstream."

"Aqualung" did establish one of the most notable features of Tull's music: songs varying with intensity, mixing medium to heavy electrical sounds with lighter acoustical passages (e.g., "Aqualung," and "My God"). Indeed, every album up to "Under Wraps" (1984) would have at least one such styled number.

At the end of a brief U.S. tour, drummer Clive Bunker left to get married and form a band called "Jude" with Robin Trower. Anderson recruited Barriemore Barlow. Barlow remained drummer for the next eight years.

Released: 1971
Remastered special edition (extra tracks), 1996; DCC Gold Disc 1997

Charts: 4 (U.K.), 7 (U.S.)


Aqualung
Cross-Eyed Mary
Cheap Day Return
Mother Goose
Wond'ring Aloud
Up To Me
My God
Hymn 43
Slipstream
Locomotive Breath
Wind-Up
Lick Your Fingers Clean*
Wind-Up (quad version)*
Excerpts from Ian interview
Songs for Jeffrey*
Fat Man*
Bouree*

* tracks added for the 25th Anniversary remastered release in 1996 and not available on the original album.

The first two verses of "Aqualung" were cowritten with Anderson's first wife.

"Hymn 43" became the first Tull single released in the U.S.

"Aqualung," the song, got its name from the gurgling sound of underwater diving gear which Anderson felt described the wheezing of the song's character. Anderson did not know that "Aqualung" was a trademark and not a generic phrase (the issue was settled quite amicably).

The cover, with "Aqualung" bearing an all too close likeness of Anderson, is one of Ian's least favorites. Yet, it set a precedent for future Tull characters being pictured as "Ian-like" including Ray Lomas from "Too Old to Rock and Roll" and the cover of "Songs from the Wood."

What is a "Cheap Day Return" ?
A special fare class of BritRail related to particular travel times.

Ian Anderson - flute, acoustic guitar, vocals
Martin Barre - electric guitar and descant recorder
Clive Bunker - percussion
John Evan - piano, organ, mellotron
Jeffrey Hammond - bass guitar, alto recorder, and odd voices

The limited "25th Anniversary Special Edition Aqualung" features 20-bit remastered sound, five additional tracks (including "Lick Your Fingers Clean," the famed quad version of "Wind Up," and excerpts from an Anderson interview. The current release has the same tracks.

There's also a "gold" edition with just the original tracks.



Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Released: 1971 / 1992
Label: Chrysalis / Capitol
Cat. No.: CHR 1044 / 21044
Total Time: 43:06


Reviewed by: Tom Karr, May 2004
If art is what artists do, then progressive rock must be what progressive bands play, right? Well, Jethro Tull has, over the course of their thirty five years in the business, had one foot in and one foot out of the progressive rock genre for a lot of their time together as a unit. Other than a few albums, Jethro Tull has usually hovered at the fringes of progressive rock, and Ian Anderson would be the first to say that Tull was NOT a progressive rock band. Almost by default though, their work is put in that category, as no other genre is broad and generous enough to contain them, and their evolving work.

Aqualung was yet another instance of the constant self-reinvention that Ian Anderson and Tull went through in the early years and early albums of their career. The first three Tull albums showed a band evolving from a fairly traditional blues band, albeit one where the guitarist and the flutist battled for control, to a lyrically brilliant folk rock group graced with both volumes of instrumental abilities and the best songs since Lennon and McCartney parted ways. Now, with Aqualung, they were a band of visionaries with their Marshalls cranked to ten.

For the first time since the early departure of Mick Abrahams, there were personnel changes in the band. Bassist Glen Cornick was gone, replaced by the musically staid but personally flamboyant Jeffery Hammond, and John Evan was no longer a guest, but a full member of the group, though he had already recorded and toured with the band for 1970's Benefit tour. The songs on this new release were just a bit less intricately composed and arranged as those of its predecessor, but everything, and more, that it lacked in subtlety, it made up in sheer swagger. This was a hard rocking, hard hitting Tull, both musically and lyrically. Where Anderson had previously been an ironic and slightly sad observer of life, he now unleashed some of his most biting and dead on shots at society and its treatment of its have-nots, and the established (and establishment) religion's hypocrisy and its failure to inspire its followers. This album also featured an unchained Clive Bunker turning in a red hot performance on this, his last release with Tull, and the most guitar heavy sound ever from the band. Martin Barre dominates this release with his ballsy, distorted guitar and many of these tunes have their foundation in Barre's crunching power chords and chunky rhythms. Anderson's ethereal acoustic guitar playing fills in most of the gaps, and his flute work on this release was the most highly regarded of his career. John Evan's piano is heard prominently on some of the bets known cuts on this release, and the listener will hear the group's first use of the Mellotron on "Cross-Eyed Mary," but for the most part, his playing is understated and supportive. Jeffery Hammond's performance on this album sticks to the basics and he lacks some of Glen Cornick's melodic sensibility.

The songs on this release are virtually all timeless classics. The title track, Aqualung, features the most memorable riff since Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," and Jimmy Page himself called Barre's guitar solo one of the greatest ever recorded. The contrast between the songs ultra heavy riffs and the center sections acoustic melody are stark, as is the lyrics description of its wheezing, trash can picking, street corner protagonist. The title track, as well as "Cross-Eyed Mary," the lyrically stinging "Hymn 43," and "Wind Up", and the arena rocking "Locomotive Breath" are all instantly familiar, and all have become staples of classic rock radio. The albums longest track, "My God," is a masterpiece, with a moving acoustic intro, bone shaking riffs from Martin Barre's guitar in the verses, and a dark gothic chant that accompanies Anderson's flute solo in the lengthy center section.

The folky, often acoustic sound of Tull's previous album, Benefit, was not completely forgotten, and the band performs some of their finest work with the beautiful and thoughtful "Wond'ring Aloud," as well as "Mother Goose," one of Anderson's best and most typically English sounding of his compositions for this release. One of the great joys of many progressive rock releases of the seventies, the cover, or album art, is not forgotten here either, and Burton Silverman's paintings of the band, in the character of the street creatures described in Anderson's lyrics, are among the best album art of the era.

While lacking some of the most basic elements of progressive rock composition, these songs clearly dwell in the realm of progressive rock, and fill the gap between the more gentle folky sound of the early albums and the full on symphonic sound of Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play. These songs and these lyrics have had an enduring impact on the rock music world and are among the most popular works ever to arise from the progressive rock movement. Even though there is a great deal of 4/4 time played on this album, even though there is little in the way of contrapuntal melody, this release is chock full of well constructed and quite thoughtful work, and the albums lyrics are well worth the time spent in considering them, and are probably the most intelligent and meaningful work that one will ever hear on the radio dial.

Rating: 5/5

More about Aqualung:

Track Listing: Aqualung (6:31) / Cross-Eyed Mary (4:06) / Cheap Day Return (1:21) / Mother Goose (3:51) / Wond-ring Aloud (1:53) / Up To Me (3 :14) / My God (7:08) / Hymn 43 (3:15) / Slipstream (1:12) / Locomotive Breath (4:23) / Wind Up (6:01)

Musicians:
Ian Anderson - Flute, Acoustic Guitar, Voice
Clive Bunker - Drums, Percussion
Martin Barre - Electric Guitar, Descant Recorder
John Evan - Piano, Organ, Mellotron
Jeffery Hammond - Bass Guitar, Alto Recorder, Odd Voices
David Palmer - Orchestral Arrangements

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