A brilliant recording, "My God" being one of the best lyrical compositions ever. Aqualung began a period of amazing albums followed by Thick As A Brick, Passion Play, Minstrel In The Gallery and Songs From The Woods. Ian Anderson is at his best when he writes in the "accusatory" pointing out hypocrisy and the facades of the upper class and venerated institutions. I was Ian's/Tull's publicist during this period and it was a distinct honor to work with such a literary and musical genius.
Has nobody ever noticed that Martin Barr's guitar solo on Aqualung is probably the most well constructed and melodious minor pentatonic solo ever, made remarkable by the fact that while it uses the exact same scale as a million other solos before and ever since, it does not use a single one of the cliches universally associated with that scale?
Yes I have. It's brilliant and for me it's an earworm. Once that solo and his breaks between episodes of the song starts playing in my head I can't get rid of it for days. It's SO GOOD. I've long wondered whether Martin came up with it or Ian.
“I was a huge success as a flute player, playing it entirely wrongly,” Anderson tells Ken Bruce, laughing heartily. “I discovered, when my daughter was learning to play flute at school, that she was using different fingering for some of the notes. I told her: ‘This is wrong; it should be like this.’ She said: ‘No, it’s not; look, it says so in the book!’ I had to come to the unnerving conclusion that she was right, the books were right, and I was most embarrassingly wrong.”
One wonders (I don't play the flute): if he did play notes that fitted the rest of the music, it wasn't musically wrong. He only didn't use the standard fingerings for it. Probably there are good reasons to start learning flute with these fingerings (like I did with guitar), but that doesn't make other fingerings wrong by definition ;-)
In the same interview he also said that, as he discovered that, he started learning again how to play with the correct fingering. So kudos for an artist who has still the will of learning after years of work and success.
As a young teen I attended my second Pink Floyd concert, and as their opening act a new ( to me) band from UK came on as Jethro Tull. It was so good, I hung on every lyric, and the music was awe inspiring. I was a Floyd fan, but kept replaying the unexpected JT performance on the ride home. I bought their album the next day, and the subsequent albums. I was expecting the usual second rate opening act, but was duly impressed with Ian Anderson's musical ballet presence. We were fans from that first tour in Canada. I am still huge fans of both UK bands. My only regret today is that we will not likely see these bands live now in 2022. Cheers, I enjoy your channel. My date that night and then my husband to be is a very gifted musician.
It's a shame that people only ever seem to play Aqualung and Thick As a Brick. I wish my favourite Tull album, "Stand Up" got more love. So great and so under-appreciated.
Their first two albums were great works. "With You There To Help Me" is a favorite, as is "The Teacher", and many others. These are what you get when real talent is pursued and made into skill. It is an act of volition, not a lottery win as the envious claim. It is an act of devotion and failth. It takes a lot of courage to pin one's future on an uncertainty. That is what defines the enterpreneur anc visionary. I have nothing but the deepest respect and admiration for all who pursue their lives in this manner and make good.
I have a fondness for "Song For Jeffery" because the first time I heard it was on Rolling Stones Circus, and the guitar player that inspired me to start playing, Tony Iommi, was playing guitar.
I am a theory nerd, and love the commentary :) Not only is the opening Aqualung riff bluesy, but I love how including the opening d-flat introduces a tri-tone, the so-called "Devil's tone." A harmonic revelation of the two ways in which people see Aqualung himself: deserving of pity, or the devil himself :) I saw Jethro Tull live at every opportunity: five times between 1972-75 alone. Truly electrifying. Sorry that you don't care for the acoustic parts of the title song. I feel strongly that this is where we get the compassionate view of Aqualung: "Aqualung my friend, Don't just start away uneasy. You poor old sod, you see it's only me." Other see the snot, while one alone (acoustic) calls him friend. Thanks, Doug!
Martin Barre's great lead guitar work sounds pretty Rock to me. That great lead solo in Aqualung, the riffing and fills in Locomotive Breath, and the great leads in Wind-Up are prime examples of a great Rock guitarist. Tull had moved away from the Blues when Martin joined on the 2nd album and it shows in the guitar content.
Only Anderson could perform Locomotive breath the way it was meant to be played. Professional flautists are blown away, bearing in mind he was self taught
@@stevemd6488 it was to them i was referring, specifically 'Locomotive Breath (Live)' His technique defied classical rules and thus he was able to surpass even some orchestral flautists.
Only in the late 1990's, Anderson realized that he was playing the flute wrong. His fingerings were incorrect, but he re-dedicated himself to learn the correct fingerings, and felt that he was much improved. Also, the baby finger on his right hand is deformed (or broken badly), which inhibits his playing to some extent.
Ian has said he was inspired by Robert Burns "To A Mouse" when he wrote the line "don't you start away uneasy". Burns wrote "Thou need na start awa sae hasty,". And indeed the plight of the homeless man is like the plight of the mouse who Burns has made homeless with his plow on a cold winter day. Burns of course is Anderson's countryman and fellow bard.
The liner notes on the album give a huge insight to the themes of this masterwork: 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. 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 Man did 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 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.
Doug! The words you've been kind enough to share with us outside of the music, I hear and respect and love what you're saying and your sentiments on religion, and your views of it. I can't thank you enough for how honest you've been with us since the beginning of your channel. I'm so taken back right now, by your continued respect and decency!💜💜💜 You've really developed a loving and supportive community! Everyone should try to be so decent and fourth coming!🙏🙏🙏 "We can ALL be heroes!"- My youtube professor!
Aqualung is and was the song that introduced me to Jethro Tull. And I have been a fan to this day. Owning every record, seen them seven times and still listening today at 63. It’s not the kind you have to Wind Up on Sundays. The entire album is a play.
I only gave this a look today because of Aqualung. I was there when it came out and gave me a great appreciation for a whole different kind of rock. I love it. It was part of me for a long time.
Ian Anderson is a brilliant lyricist. "Wind Up" has to be one of the greatest satires of religion ever written. You should also listen to "My God" and "Hymn 43" from this album - very much the same territory
Without swearing a single time ,it is one of the most vicious and attacking diatribes to religion I’ve read in a lyrics’ song . And yes “My God “and “Hymn 43”goes the same way .
It's not religion as a general concept that he's railing against - it's unchanging, cult-like, organized religion specifically. He's found his own way to talk to God, and doesn't need their Church or their Bible or their ceremonies.
Ian Anderson's father was a minister in the church, so he was brought up in a religious environment. The line "don't tell me I'm my fathers son..." I think is personal to him, about his own upbringing. Once you realise this, the whole song makes a lot more sense, he is singing about his own childhood. Had the pleasure of seeing Tull in Manchester, in 1976. One of the best concerts I have ever been to. They were absolutely brilliant, and of course, so was Anderson. What a stage presence! Martin Barre is celebrating 50 years of Aqualung by playing the full album live on tour, and it just so happens that he is playing it in my home town of Grimsby, Lincolnshire on my birthday, in September. Can't wait!!
Anderson's father a minister in the church? Please direct me to where you can find that information, as the only credited occupation of his father on the net is that he ran the RSA Boiler Fluid Company in East Port, Dunfermline before the family moved to Blackpool.
This was one of the albums that got me into Rock music as a kid. And no, the 6 year old me had no idea what he was talking about but it still stuck with me. NOW - if there is ANY other song from this album you must do, it's My God. Musically and Lyrically it may be the best thing they've ever done.
You say that Wind-up "is Brilliant!" Imagine us (UK) public school pupils hearing this for the first time way back then!! Talk about hitting a nerve! Genius!
I loved your exposition at the end. I was raised as a Catholic. Having that experience, I found "Wind Up" spoke volumes to me. It very much summed up how I felt about God and some of the problem I had with what I had been taught. It said exactly what I wanted to say, in that I felt God was a wonderful presence for me and I wanted to scream at some people, "No! He isn't some sort of wind-up doll! Quit trying to make him LESS by confining him to your walled-in version of what he is." Anyway, thank you and _ I mean this in whatever way it means something nice to you - God bless :-)
I agree with you about Wind Up. I love the lyrics. He's not the kind you wind up on Sunday. And he carries their God under his arm on the way to school. I don't believe you can limit God to an ancient book.
I still remember the first time I heard "Wind up" - my mind racing with all the multi-layered meanings, but most of all being blown away by the complex nature of the title itself. The title references so many things all in just two words: -It is the last song of the album, so it "winds up". -"He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays" can be interpreted as saying you don't have to treat church or God as a wind-up toy - something to be done each week simply because it won't work otherwise. But also this could refer to a lot of people just going to church on Sunday as their single shallow religious activity without actually applying Christian belief to their actual lives. Ian seems to be accusing these people of winding God up - lying to Him. -The song has a strong message of individuality - socially as well as religiously - Ian calls it an "accident of birth". He is releasing himself from his parentage and saying that his beliefs are his own - he has "wound up" where he is, there was no plan to that, and that is for the best. The song showcases Ian's mastery with words, and the power of verse. It is truly one for the ages.
As a teenager, Wind Up gave me strength and inspiration to go on finding my own belief. Even though I quickly settled for an atheistic view, this song still makes tears in my eyes.
Aqualung, the song, is such a well constructed song; it opens with the heavy riff with lyrics that reflect what one usually feels when confronted by a homeless person; then it goes to just guitar when the lyrics describe the pathetic man he is; it picks up again and the lyrics tell what he has to do to live each day. It ends with the lyrics of "disgust" with the heavy riff. Lastly one of the great guitar solos I've ever heard. I was there when this album came out. Consider the album "Benefit" in the future if you would. Thanks for doing this Doug, enjoyable.
I had the great fortune of seeing Jethro Tull LIVE! 7 (seven) times, back in the `70's ... always an unforgettable performance ... not simply just masterful musicianship, but absolutely extraordinary showmanship! They put on a SHOW to remember in each and every play of their passion. An Historic Treasure of Progressive Rock, et al.
Thanks for telling your story, Doug. I thought it would be rude to ask, but I'm glad to hear it! I was raised Catholic, but have only been in a church for weddings since I left home at 19. Most of my family is still religious (and Republican!), however. Definitely I've loved the lyrics for this album, especially "My God" and "Wind Up", since I first heard the album. They just seem so...reasonible, to me!
The album isn't only about religion and our place in society. The other major theme was of the plight of the outsider (the homeless, etc). The other thing in the album was the contrast between the heavy, dark and brooding vibes of most of the album with the lighter and less intense ditties in between. Ian said this was a difficult album to record and that he still wasn't perfectly happy with it after lots of attempts.
I understand why this album is the best seller, but it is probably my third or fourth favorite Jethro Tull album. Interestingly, the one I go back to the most often is Songs From the Wood.
My no. 1 would have to be The Broadsword & The Beast. No, it’s Minstrel In The Gallery. No, it’s Crest Of A Knave or maybe Thick As A Brick…….. help me out here guys, help me out….!!!! 🤣
It's so great to see someone get "Wind Up". Such an awesome song. It was the last song of their early seventies concerts. Really cool...so many memories.
My fave Tull song is "Life Is a Long Song". I had always enjoyed it, then on the day I received the call that my dad had died something told me to put it on the turntable and lie back. It was the most cathartic experience I had ever had in my life to that point. Dad's final illness wasn't that long, but we all had known what the end result would be, and when it happened I had all of these emotions to let out, and Ian and the guys gave voice to it for me.
When i was in college in 1974 I played Wind Up in church. When I tell (told, really; haven’t mentioned it in years) people in the know that, they are amazed-until I elaborate that it was in a Unitarian Universalist church. I wouldn't have dared played it in a Catholic Church, where I was raised and went to grade school. No point in preaching to a choir that is incapable of listening. A year later I took an elective course at university in classical guitar. The classroom was on the top of the school’s bell tower, and the professor’s name was John Lennon. On day 1 he whipped out a copy of Bach’s “Bourree” (well known to any Tull fan) and announced that my first assignment was to learn it. Just more of the famous Tull coincident synchronicity. My God is the song of the Aqualung album, not to be overlooked. There’s more passion and variation in its flute solo than anywhere in the Tull catalog.
LOVED YOUR ANALYSIS OF THIS THOUGHT PROVOKING CLASSIC - AS A LAPSED CATHOLIC WHO WAS ONCE a NALTAR BOY -I GOT THE IDEA THAT IT'S ALOT MORE ABOUT LOVING , PEOPLE , ANIMALS AND things in NATURE ,,,AND LESS ABOUT ALL THOSE DOGMATIC RULES and unconscious prayers THAT MAKE US THINK THAT IT IS 'US AGAINST THEM'',,,, [AND THAT OUR PARTICULAR RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND HAS ALL THE ANSWER S . but that THAT IF WE CAN CONNECT WITH OUR TRUE SOULS -WE ARE GOD , AND WE CAN BE AS LOVING AS JESUS WAS ,,,THANX, MAESTRO DOUG ,,I LOVE YOUR SHOWS !
Three songs, so I gave three comments :) Wind Up: I grew up in a religious home. This was a favorite album of mine in 1971 (I was 14 years old). When my father heard Wind Up for the first time on a Sunday (I was singing along in my room: "you can excommunicate me..." as he listened on the other side of the door) he freaked out, and made me turn off my turntable. It was only many years later when we could talk about it calmly that I explained that I, too, was not interested in a God one had to "wind up" on Sundays. Jethro TUll was MY voice at that age. I am a mystic, so my view of divinity is quite different. You are one of the very few reactors who really get it ;) Thanks!
Hi Doug - great review. I always thought the lines in Wind Up about "How do you dare tell me that I'm my father's son because that is just an accident of birth" was also a comment on the English (UK) class system and private (misnamed Public in the UK) school system where a lot is/was rooted in inherited position and privilege (ie you will be successful and behave in a certain way because you are "you're father's son") and in the song it sounds like its the Headmaster telling him this. This is why he goes on to say a better measure of his worth is composing a better song (ie rather than his inherited position). I think it is partially about the private school system because of the way he says he leaves it with "their God tucked under his arm" - it sounds to me like he's running away from a boarding school (he also says when he was young "they packed me off to school" and being "groomed for success" right at the beginning). I agree it is provocative and thought provoking (the whole album is).
Hey Doug, your comments at the end, and your discussion about where your belief lies and your approach to the bible was one of the more beautiful things I've seen on RUclips for a while. When I first heard "Wind-Up" back in the early 90s, it was like a lightning bolt for me, too, and helped me to settle some of my own struggles with the dogmatic side of religious institutions, the nature of belief, and one's human responsibilities versus the abdication of that personal responsibility to a ritualized institution. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your personal experiences, and for doing it in such a beautiful and respectful way.
I hate those posts that ask you to name the artist, album, or songs that meant the most to you growing up - but, for me, Jethro Tull just might be that artist, Aqualung just might be that album, and the songs just might be Aqualung, Locomotive Breath, and Wind-Up. I saw the band live several times, as well. I never clicked a video so fast. You're awesome, Doug. Loved the thoughtful and eloquent commentary.
Excellent Doug. The human experience is so rich. When I first listen to Aqualung, I could not grasp every word, but with subsequent listenings I realised what Ian was talking about, and it really hit my heart. Then in Wind Up, it feels like what I felt trying to interpret some of the bible, that I was told to read. The human experience.... so diverse in many places of the world, crossing times and spaces, in the middle-east, the east, extreme east, the ocident... the human struggle to understand what it is to be a good person. Today, since a couple of centuries, we have developed our ways to investigate what is best to do, how to organise thought, how to optimise our well being, many of us are still trapped in tradition so they refuse to dip their toes in other waters. We still have much to learn. Let us allow ourselves to be humble enough and see each other as human beings, and learn from each other, and from those who studied more than us about a subject. Like I am learning a lot from you, even though I have listened to those songs a lot in the past. Thank you!
I never get tired of Jethro Tull. No matter how many times I have listened to that music. I love how the music and tempo of locomotive breath evokes the train and engine. I reminds me of a train ride down in Mexico that I would find frightening now as an adult but as a kid I enjoyed the heck out of it. The train rocked so much I wondered if we were going to fall into the canyon below us. Going through mountains. wild
To go along with your discussion of Ian Anderson's view on religion the vinyl album (I'm not sure if the CD had these) liner notes included these lines that seem to express his view nicely: 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. 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 Man did 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 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. Rather interesting stuff.
My 'God' is my passion, MUSIC... I cant help writing and have the ability to record and now release to the world. I have written since the 3rd grade but it wasnt until 50 years ago that I really felt the urge, the pull to really write poems, prose, verse, songs... and it became my passion. I have always asked my co-workers what their passion is.. and have been surprised by the number of people who dont have any passion at all. It drives me. My father was an incredible musician and vocalist. He was a tenor and sang in choirs for decades because of his love of singing. Boeing Stratosingers was a group he sang with for the longest. But he also did barber shop and church music having been a catholic the first 55 years of his life... just keeping it as real as I can... Mark Q. Warren
One of thee coolest things about the 70's... Everyone was trying to use songs and song (Lyrics) to make you think about more then, holding hands, or your girl friend, or being glad all over, and BS like that. All of a sudden everybody wanted to be like Bob Dylan with his intellectual lyrics. The Beatles and Stones both switched off the pop songs and started using lyrics as stories or messages or even lyrical weapons. Ian Anderson, like John Lennon, Ray Davies, John Prine, Paul Simon, Jim Croce, and many more, was a master at making you listen closely to what he had to say.. Geezer Butler wrote some amazing lyrics, but because it was "Black Sabbath", he was under rated, because it must be devil music. So many groups and singer/songwriters from the 70's & 80's to mention. Jethro Tull is ALWAYS my go to nostalgia music, even over Steely Dan. P.S. God is NOT religious, what so ever ! God is A CREATOR WITH A PLAN !
Great Video Doug. Thanks! In an interview one time, Ian Anderson said "Aqualung" was actually a poem his wife wrote about common misconceptions people have about the homeless. He was so impacted by it, he wrote the music to make it a song. "Wind Up" was one of three songs on this classic album where Ian blasts the National Church of England and their schools for trying to teach about man's version of God - different than the God that Ian understood. The other two songs are "My God" and "Hymn 43" (based loosely on Psalm 43). Around the same time, Emerson, Lake & Palmer recorded the song "Jerusalem" (based on an old Hymn) on the album Brain Salad Surgery, that describes the same concerns Ian had. ALL of these songs are REALLY great songs, whether or not you like the messages!
I`m just a simple german musician... born in 1961... growing up as a Tull/Genesis/a.m.o. --- still love to play my classic-rock guitar every day & since today: love your channel & comments !!! ---
I've enjoyed listening to music for a very long time, and know many of the tunes you have reviewed. What I'm loving from watching your videos is how you help me understand why I like the songs I do as much as I do. Your understanding of how the music is designed to express various emotions and actions and feelings is incredible. I've passed a vid on to a few friends, who are musicians, and they too are amazed. I'm also enjoying hearing songs from my youth (born 1958 - I'm OLD -lol) that I actually knew of but never heard. Perhaps it's allowing me to enjoy a second youth, but whatever, I'm so glad to discover your broadcast - looking forward to many more Doug. Oh, BTW, like your choice of personal mind entertainment with the Pink Floyd songs you do rather than drinks. Many of the other songs are well appreciated with the green herb - just saying!
1971, went to a friend's house who had a stereo with Altech Lansing voice of the theater speakers. Aqualung, Abbey road, Cosmos factory. It was paradise 🙂
Love your reaction to Wind Up. “Brilliant” is the only way to describe that song. “I’d rather look around me, cause that’s the honest measure of my worth” is how I get through life. I measure my worth by the friends I’ve made and the lives I’ve touched, not by the laws of some made up god. Through this song, Ian let me know that I wasn’t alone.
This 70's era is full of truly iconic passages in which they depart from the common musical construction. They also bring us a reflection on an ancestral social inequality reflected in our era in which the change of various work technologies was too fast to accommodate an equitable adaptation to the income that this work provides. The musical excerpts represent and they thus reflect an image of the sudden changes and extinctions of certain skills for certain jobs that the machines of the industrial revolution and those of computer technologies have brought to a society that does not adapt so easily to the unhappiness of many poor unfortunates who thus are remembered and exposed to the world by these excellent musicians. I think that these 70's came to show us that all human behavior should be rethought and changed in order to soften all unnecessary social upheavals, especially economic poverty. Nowadays only bread and circuses no longer works. People specialized more than that. This is pure humanity.
3 very important songs to me. I sing karaoke every weekend as my way of blowing off steam and reliving my days on stage. The songs I'm best known for singing are my go-to songs; Comfortably Numb, Aqualung and Locomotive Breath. I've been looking for a karaoke version of Wind Up for years, but to no avail. Would love to sing that as well. Tull used to use a shortened version of Wind Up as the into to Locomotive Breath live. Truly an under appreciated gem of a song and a brilliant way to sum up the underlying theme of the album. Rich the Ancient Metal Beast
If you're ever in Portland, Oregon, I've got probably the biggest collection of Jethro Tull karaoke tracks globally. They're homemade tracks so the quality isn't the best but for Tull addicts, they do the trick. I've got Wind Up, My God, the first side of Thick as a Brick, To Cry You A Song, Dun Ringill, Black Sunday, just to name a few.
Thanks for being so honest (about your theological views) Doug and I'm happy that Jethro Tull was the act that provoked. The lyrics are always very sincere.
I was 13 in '71 & so ready for this album & lyrical content. Fortunately I only had to endure one year of parochial school but boy was it informative, yeesh. The good part, after growing up from the get go with all kinds of popular music from Gershwin & Ravel to the Beatles, Stones, Jazz & Motown, I came upon an 8-track tape of Aqualung and that was the blow mind gateway prog experience I was ready for, that thing that sets you off...music is the real spiritual intelligence, the common language, what the universe is in play for.
I loved your confiding your spiritual worldview in us, Doug. And I’m delighted that “ Wind Up” struck such a chord. My favourite JT track, and gave review of yours
It's so nice to hear someone praise "Wind Up"', it's a song that's really resonated with me ever since I first heard it as a teenager. I had the same experience as Ian - being packed off to "Sunday School" and feeling like I was being indoctrinated into a cult, not being taught about God. Anyway, most people who listen to songs off of Aqualung never react to this one, and a lot of those that do the content just goes right over their heads - so thank you, sincerely, for your thoughtful take on it.
Tull. ..,... Was.., is. My favorite concert was tull . Even though I was escorted out after the concert was over. A friend of mine , " tony " " started yelling out cross eyed Mary . The one song he was there to hear above all others . They didn't and he loudly proclaimed his hurt feelings . Funny then , funny now . Longliverock !!!!
Glad you liked it. Smart, witty, poignant writer, Ian Anderson is. One of the best bands of the 70's. Have you done a long listen to either "Thick As a Brick", or "A Passion Play"? Would love to see your reactions to those. Cheers!
I always felt that Locomotive Breath was about drug use and the fact that there is no "Slowing down" but rather just quitting. " In the shuffling madness Of the locomotive breath" - Just the madness of life in general turns a lot of folks towards drugs.. "Runs the all time loser" - Mankind. "Headlong to his death" - As does most drug use. "he feels the pistons screaming" - Accelerated heartbeat. "old Charlie stole the handle" - Darwin? Satan euphemism? "He sees his children jumpin' off , At stations one by one" - Gods children dying one by one. "His woman and his best friend , In bed and having fun" - The uninhibited promiscuity that comes often with drug use and users. 'So he's crawling down the corridor , On his hands and knees" - At the end of his rope watching his life crumble. "And the all time winner , Has got him by the balls" - No where to go but death now. "Oh, he picks up Gideon's Bible , Open at page one" - Gideons bible was usually in hotel rooms where many people go to use drugs/prostitution etc. "I thank God, he stole the handle' - Either being grateful that it was God at the helm or maybe him poking fun as in "thanks God, for setting us up" etc etc. I may have read too much into it back in the day hahaha Still an amazing song ang really loved hearing you react and listen! Thanks!
I really love your channel!!! Was very fortunate to have found you... Is very interesting to see how you analyze every song... Man!!! Congratulations by a huge Dream theater fan.
Nice rant (ish) at the end Doug good words and sentiment. Music is a religion and there are zealots and haters there too. And no one knows the answer we have to be open and accepting.
50 years on, ... I had caught most of the lyrics, and I had thought of it as another step in waking from mass hypgnosis by established religions; glad to hear your clear "this was bold" (or however you put it). Your musical technical language is like trying to follow spanish after 1 semester 9 years ago. A few morphemes here and there. But emotional, non-"understood" content feels as strong as ever. thanks for this.
Great final commentary, Doug. I was born a catholic as most brazilians are (or at least were, though the Catholic religion is still somewhat predominant in Brazil, the gap from other religions has been closing) and as time went by I have changed a lot in terms of how I see religion and the bible. Though I've changed to another religion, my current point of view is very similar to yours.
My pet peeve of many 70s songs were the great instrumental intros that were cut off in the single versions for radio play, I have always loved the piano intro to Locomotive Breath!
I have loved this album since 1971. I've really enjoyed watching you enjoy it. If you listen to the lyrics from most of the pieces on Aqualung, the whole album is a social commentary, with emphasis on the Church of England.
When I saw this tour in concert the pianist riffed on classical pieces before Locomotive breath. I can almost recall the pieces... 🙄 How forceful is Martin Barre solo in shaping the direction of the piece! Where do they get the great sound at "oh God, he stole the handle..."? As a PK born and raised in the Anglican tradition, your delight in the message is precious. Oddly this i what my people were teaching me all along, against the blind teaching of the church. We DO have a responsibility. a gratitude, an appreciation, to our parents but we DO have to "look around us and compose a better song." I didn't expect it to end in the Marvel Universe LOL!
Steven Wilson did such an amazing job of reviving an album that was always so tin sounding despite the great songs. He brought the strings to the fore, and gave bass and drums a fuller sound. I started listening to it almost as a new album. Doug will have a field day if he ever gets to Passion Play.
FYI, Jethro Tull was an Englishman who in 1701 revolutionized the agriculture of England by inventing the horse-drawn "seed-drill", allowing huge tracts of land to be economically planted and farmed. RockOn,, Doug.
It was the rock and roll flutes of Jethro Tull and the Moody Blues that grabbed my attention and formed my love for the lovely instrument. As a kid just learning to play the flute I experimented with all kinds of different sounds. The band teacher wasn't impressed with my antics, but I knew what's up!
Thanks Doug. Your analysis of Wind Up exactly matched my own, got me to thinking about my personal spirituality and family history of church involvement, and led eventually to my embrace of apostasy. Your career choice also was similar to mine. I worked for a church-related newspaper for several years, but not for the reason many chose to believe.
Interesting take on Locomotive Breath. I remember having a big discussion about the lyrics of this song with my AP English teacher back in high school and we came to the conclusion that the song is about science and religion and the increasing tension between the two ideologies. Our reasons for the interpretation was 'Charlie has the handle and the train it won't slow down ' and the bit about 'gideon's bible, open at page 1' which would be Charles Darwin and Genesis respectively. I think the 'woman and his best friend' line I interpret as being Truth and Reason, or maybe Society and Reason, and how the church was used to being involved in both spheres but was increasingly cut out of that relationship. I have no idea if it's what was intended but it hangs together pretty well, I think
@@midnightmoses580 my misremembered lyrics doesn't change the interpretation. Religion was THE source for both Reason and Truth before the scientific method. After science became established suddenly the two things closest to Religion 'his woman' and 'his best friend' had cut Religion out of the picture. Also, if you read my answer again, the was referencing the line, not its contents, hence the quote AFTER the word 'the'. Finally, it is exactly a betrayal, that's literally what I described, a relationship of three concepts with one of them being cut out of the triangle by a new relationship between the other two. It's just anthropomorphized to give the metaphor emotional weight
@@frankshailes3205 sure it is, or at least the belief that science is a valid way to seek 'capital T' Truth. The idea that successive iteration, experimentation, and peer review can reveal the truths of the universe more than religious revelations or intuitions can. This is what most religious people get wrong when they accuse people of 'having faith in science'. They are meaning we need faith to believe the discoveries are truth: evolution, big bang, climate change, etc. But in truth, my faith is not in the results but the methodology, and the fact that it is a better, more reliable way to gather understanding than faith in a book or faith in the words of a person.
@@jasonGamesMaster Only in the archaic sense that it meant "The science of ideas; the study of their origin and nature. ‘It was this discipline that he described as ideology - literally, the science of ideas.’" If scientific method failed to come to any correct conclusions, rational people would abandon it as they abandoned religion, and look for another method to find out facts.
"You snatch your rattling last breath with deep sea diver sounds..." Hence the name Aqualung. That's definitely not the same version of Wind Up as on the original album. I don't think I've ever heard that one before. It has a slower tempo for one thing. It almost sounds like a live version. I brought this album home at 14 when it first came out. My devoutly religious parents heard it, hit the ceiling and I had to fight valiantly to save it from the trash can. Lol..I still have it to this day and it plays as good as new. Martin Barre was one of the most underrated drummers ever, IMO. Anderson just overshadowed everyone else in that band, no matter that they were all great.
When he sings "I don't believe you you have the whole damn thing all wrong..." for 50 years I can only imagine the curtain opening and the Radio City Rocketts doing their thing.
Aqualung presents two views of the homeless. The first a derogatory judgmental observation and the second a more compassionate empathetic take on Aqualung's situation.
@@hairywelder5188 I think he said he didn't intend to make a concept album, but there is a common theme through the whole thing. Subtle distinction between saying he didn't intend too make it one and it not being one.
@@hairywelder5188 Aqualung is mentioned a couple of times through the album, so guess that can make it kind of conceptual. And it sort of have thread through out.
I read that Thick As A Brick was a direct comment on people who constantly asked if Aqualung was a concept album , I'm sure even on the remix album notes he denies it is
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A brilliant recording, "My God" being one of the best lyrical compositions ever. Aqualung began a period of amazing albums followed by Thick As A Brick, Passion Play, Minstrel In The Gallery and Songs From The Woods. Ian Anderson is at his best when he writes in the "accusatory" pointing out hypocrisy and the facades of the upper class and venerated institutions. I was Ian's/Tull's publicist during this period and it was a distinct honor to work with such a literary and musical genius.
This. I always skip back and listen to this at least one more time.
Lucky you, He's him.
Has nobody ever noticed that Martin Barr's guitar solo on Aqualung is probably the most well constructed and melodious minor pentatonic solo ever, made remarkable by the fact that while it uses the exact same scale as a million other solos before and ever since, it does not use a single one of the cliches universally associated with that scale?
Wow. I just re-listened to that solo. Amazing! Thanks for the comment
At least get his name right. It's not Barr.
Yes I have. It's brilliant and for me it's an earworm. Once that solo and his breaks between episodes of the song starts playing in my head I can't get rid of it for days. It's SO GOOD. I've long wondered whether Martin came up with it or Ian.
@@PhillipLandmeierExcellent question. Now that you mention it, the note choices are definitely not choices a guitar player would intuitively make.
And Jimmy Page was in the studio producing that track.
“I was a huge success as a flute player, playing it entirely wrongly,” Anderson tells Ken Bruce, laughing heartily. “I discovered, when my daughter was learning to play flute at school, that she was using different fingering for some of the notes. I told her: ‘This is wrong; it should be like this.’ She said: ‘No, it’s not; look, it says so in the book!’ I had to come to the unnerving conclusion that she was right, the books were right, and I was most embarrassingly wrong.”
But brilliant. Who says it has to be done by the classical book? If it works, it works.
he always has sounded perfectly right .
Daughter: You are blowing in the wrong end.
Ian: Who cares.
One wonders (I don't play the flute): if he did play notes that fitted the rest of the music, it wasn't musically wrong. He only didn't use the standard fingerings for it. Probably there are good reasons to start learning flute with these fingerings (like I did with guitar), but that doesn't make other fingerings wrong by definition ;-)
In the same interview he also said that, as he discovered that, he started learning again how to play with the correct fingering. So kudos for an artist who has still the will of learning after years of work and success.
As a young teen I attended my second Pink Floyd concert, and as their opening act a new ( to me) band from UK came on as
Jethro Tull. It was so good, I hung on every lyric, and the music was awe inspiring. I was
a Floyd fan, but kept replaying the unexpected JT performance
on the ride home. I bought their album the next day, and the subsequent albums. I was expecting the usual second rate opening act, but was duly
impressed with Ian Anderson's
musical ballet presence. We were fans from that first tour in Canada. I am still huge fans of both UK bands. My only regret today is that we will not likely
see these bands live now in 2022. Cheers, I enjoy your
channel. My date that night and then my husband to be is a very
gifted musician.
Incredible geniuses but seeing them live adds to the admiration of Jethro Tull.
It's a shame that people only ever seem to play Aqualung and Thick As a Brick.
I wish my favourite Tull album, "Stand Up" got more love. So great and so under-appreciated.
The first 3: This Was, Stand Up, Benefit are their best works IMO.
“We used to know” is a fantastic song. “Hotel California’s” chord progression is exactly the same.
Their first two albums were great works.
"With You There To Help Me" is a favorite, as is "The Teacher", and many others.
These are what you get when real talent is pursued and made into skill. It is an act of volition, not a lottery win as the envious claim. It is an act of devotion and failth. It takes a lot of courage to pin one's future on an uncertainty. That is what defines the enterpreneur anc visionary. I have nothing but the deepest respect and admiration for all who pursue their lives in this manner and make good.
I have a fondness for "Song For Jeffery" because the first time I heard it was on Rolling Stones Circus, and the guitar player that inspired me to start playing, Tony Iommi, was playing guitar.
I love that album. Benefit and War Child are also great albums.
Dude,the piano intro to Locomotive Breath is iconic. Just the first two notes at a concert drives everyone wild.
But it was a radio edit. Except for those alternative rock stations extended plays.
I am a theory nerd, and love the commentary :) Not only is the opening Aqualung riff bluesy, but I love how including the opening d-flat introduces a tri-tone, the so-called "Devil's tone." A harmonic revelation of the two ways in which people see Aqualung himself: deserving of pity, or the devil himself :) I saw Jethro Tull live at every opportunity: five times between 1972-75 alone. Truly electrifying. Sorry that you don't care for the acoustic parts of the title song. I feel strongly that this is where we get the compassionate view of Aqualung: "Aqualung my friend, Don't just start away uneasy. You poor old sod, you see it's only me." Other see the snot, while one alone (acoustic) calls him friend. Thanks, Doug!
Martin Barre's great lead guitar work sounds pretty Rock to me. That great lead solo in Aqualung, the riffing and fills in Locomotive Breath, and the great leads in Wind-Up are prime examples of a great Rock guitarist. Tull had moved away from the Blues when Martin joined on the 2nd album and it shows in the guitar content.
Only Anderson could perform Locomotive breath the way it was meant to be played. Professional flautists are blown away, bearing in mind he was self taught
You probably know this but there's quite a few youtube reactions by concert level flautists and as you noted they are dumbfounded.
@@stevemd6488 it was to them i was referring, specifically 'Locomotive Breath (Live)'
His technique defied classical rules and thus he was able to surpass even some orchestral flautists.
When you are self-taught, you are free to develope techniques that trained musicians can't comprehend.
Only in the late 1990's, Anderson realized that he was playing the flute wrong. His fingerings were incorrect, but he re-dedicated himself to learn the correct fingerings, and felt that he was much improved. Also, the baby finger on his right hand is deformed (or broken badly), which inhibits his playing to some extent.
@@LordEriolTolkien My favorite is Heline and her reaction to the live version of "My God". But yea agree LB leaves them stunned as well.
Your insight and delight into the lyrics of "Wind Up" is my favourite thing yet. Thanks Doug.
I'm surprised no one pointed out the lyrics, "and you snatched your rattling last breaths with DEEP SEA DIVER sounds." The aqualung.
They did, about 50 years ago.
Thank you, I was too lazy to point it out...
Hey, until today I always heard "December's foggy freeze" as "December's fucking freeze!"
@@timedmonson4839 lol nice
Ian has said he was inspired by Robert Burns "To A Mouse" when he wrote the line "don't you start away uneasy". Burns wrote "Thou need na start awa sae hasty,". And
indeed the plight of the homeless man is like the plight of the mouse who Burns has made homeless with his plow on a cold winter day. Burns of course is Anderson's
countryman and fellow bard.
EVEN IF THE VIDEO IS 30+ MINUTES LONG, IS LIKE CHATING WITH A GREAT FRIEND ABOUT MUSIC AND OTHER STUFF. THANKS.
It does very much remind me of hanging out with my old bandmates.
The liner notes on the album give a huge insight to the themes of this masterwork:
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.
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 Man did 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 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.
Posted these on my wall at 20 YO. And Ian insists it wasn't a concept album...
Doug! The words you've been kind enough to share with us outside of the music, I hear and respect and love what you're saying and your sentiments on religion, and your views of it. I can't thank you enough for how honest you've been with us since the beginning of your channel. I'm so taken back right now, by your continued respect and decency!💜💜💜 You've really developed a loving and supportive community!
Everyone should try to be so decent and fourth coming!🙏🙏🙏 "We can ALL be heroes!"- My youtube professor!
@acidrockpro I agree with you completely. Very well said.
Aqualung is and was the song that introduced me to Jethro Tull. And I have been a fan to this day. Owning every record, seen them seven times and still listening today at 63. It’s not the kind you have to Wind Up on Sundays. The entire album is a play.
I only gave this a look today because of Aqualung. I was there when it came out and gave me a great appreciation for a whole different kind of rock. I love it.
It was part of me for a long time.
Ian Anderson is a brilliant lyricist. "Wind Up" has to be one of the greatest satires of religion ever written. You should also listen to "My God" and "Hymn 43" from this album - very much the same territory
Without swearing a single time ,it is one of the most vicious and attacking diatribes to religion I’ve read in a lyrics’ song .
And yes “My God “and “Hymn 43”goes the same way .
It's not religion as a general concept that he's railing against - it's unchanging, cult-like, organized religion specifically. He's found his own way to talk to God, and doesn't need their Church or their Bible or their ceremonies.
Ian Anderson's father was a minister in the church, so he was brought up in a religious environment. The line "don't tell me I'm my fathers son..." I think is personal to him, about his own upbringing. Once you realise this, the whole song makes a lot more sense, he is singing about his own childhood.
Had the pleasure of seeing Tull in Manchester, in 1976. One of the best concerts I have ever been to. They were absolutely brilliant, and of course, so was Anderson. What a stage presence!
Martin Barre is celebrating 50 years of Aqualung by playing the full album live on tour, and it just so happens that he is playing it in my home town of Grimsby, Lincolnshire on my birthday, in September. Can't wait!!
Anderson's father a minister in the church? Please direct me to where you can find that information, as the only credited occupation of his father on the net is that he ran the RSA Boiler Fluid Company in East Port, Dunfermline before the family moved to Blackpool.
This was one of the albums that got me into Rock music as a kid. And no, the 6 year old me had no idea what he was talking about but it still stuck with me. NOW - if there is ANY other song from this album you must do, it's My God. Musically and Lyrically it may be the best thing they've ever done.
He has done the full album.
You say that Wind-up "is Brilliant!" Imagine us (UK) public school pupils hearing this for the first time way back then!! Talk about hitting a nerve! Genius!
Wind Up has always been my favorite track on Aqualung and it’s always puzzled me why no one ever talks about it. Glad to see it getting some love!
Indeed, and Tull live was a thing to see and hear. This song live - brilliant!
Your analysis of Wind Up is spot on. Sometimes music is more than music.
I loved your exposition at the end. I was raised as a Catholic. Having that experience, I found "Wind Up" spoke volumes to me. It very much summed up how I felt about God and some of the problem I had with what I had been taught. It said exactly what I wanted to say, in that I felt God was a wonderful presence for me and I wanted to scream at some people, "No! He isn't some sort of wind-up doll! Quit trying to make him LESS by confining him to your walled-in version of what he is." Anyway, thank you and _ I mean this in whatever way it means something nice to you - God bless :-)
I agree with you about Wind Up. I love the lyrics. He's not the kind you wind up on Sunday. And he carries their God under his arm on the way to school. I don't believe you can limit God to an ancient book.
I still remember the first time I heard "Wind up" - my mind racing with all the multi-layered meanings, but most of all being blown away by the complex nature of the title itself. The title references so many things all in just two words:
-It is the last song of the album, so it "winds up".
-"He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays" can be interpreted as saying you don't have to treat church or God as a wind-up toy - something to be done each week simply because it won't work otherwise. But also this could refer to a lot of people just going to church on Sunday as their single shallow religious activity without actually applying Christian belief to their actual lives. Ian seems to be accusing these people of winding God up - lying to Him.
-The song has a strong message of individuality - socially as well as religiously - Ian calls it an "accident of birth". He is releasing himself from his parentage and saying that his beliefs are his own - he has "wound up" where he is, there was no plan to that, and that is for the best.
The song showcases Ian's mastery with words, and the power of verse. It is truly one for the ages.
A wonderful breakdown. Thank you.
As a teenager, Wind Up gave me strength and inspiration to go on finding my own belief. Even though I quickly settled for an atheistic view, this song still makes tears in my eyes.
Yes, me too!
Aqualung, the song, is such a well constructed song; it opens with the heavy riff with lyrics that reflect what one usually feels when confronted by a homeless person; then it goes to just guitar when the lyrics describe the pathetic man he is; it picks up again and the lyrics tell what he has to do to live each day. It ends with the lyrics of "disgust" with the heavy riff. Lastly one of the great guitar solos I've ever heard. I was there when this album came out. Consider the album "Benefit" in the future if you would. Thanks for doing this Doug, enjoyable.
As much as this album is a classic, Wind Up is one of my favourite songs ever! Phenomenal.
I had the great fortune of seeing Jethro Tull LIVE! 7 (seven) times, back in the `70's ... always an unforgettable performance ... not simply just masterful musicianship, but absolutely extraordinary showmanship! They put on a SHOW to remember in each and every play of their passion. An Historic Treasure of Progressive Rock, et al.
Thanks for telling your story, Doug. I thought it would be rude to ask, but I'm glad to hear it! I was raised Catholic, but have only been in a church for weddings since I left home at 19. Most of my family is still religious (and Republican!), however.
Definitely I've loved the lyrics for this album, especially "My God" and "Wind Up", since I first heard the album. They just seem so...reasonible, to me!
This is the album that made me want to learn how to read, write, and play music.
Ian Anderson's contributions throughout the years have been nothing short of brilliant.
The album isn't only about religion and our place in society. The other major theme was of the plight of the outsider (the homeless, etc).
The other thing in the album was the contrast between the heavy, dark and brooding vibes of most of the album with the lighter and less intense ditties in between. Ian said this was a difficult album to record and that he still wasn't perfectly happy with it after lots of attempts.
I understand why this album is the best seller, but it is probably my third or fourth favorite Jethro Tull album. Interestingly, the one I go back to the most often is Songs From the Wood.
I'm similar. Aqualung is in the middle of the pack of my favourite Tull albums.
Songs from the Wood has some beautiful songs. a big favorite of mine.
Heavy Horses keeps bringing me back to Tull every few months…
I am consistently most smitten with Benefit. But Heavy Horses, Aqualung, and Stand Up also make the regular rotation.
My no. 1 would have to be The Broadsword & The Beast. No, it’s Minstrel In The Gallery. No, it’s Crest Of A Knave or maybe Thick As A Brick…….. help me out here guys, help me out….!!!! 🤣
It's so great to see someone get "Wind Up". Such an awesome song. It was the last song of their early seventies concerts. Really cool...so many memories.
Jethro Tull is simply amazing. That was one of the first bands i listened to. My first song of them was living in the past.
My fave Tull song is "Life Is a Long Song". I had always enjoyed it, then on the day I received the call that my dad had died something told me to put it on the turntable and lie back. It was the most cathartic experience I had ever had in my life to that point. Dad's final illness wasn't that long, but we all had known what the end result would be, and when it happened I had all of these emotions to let out, and Ian and the guys gave voice to it for me.
When i was in college in 1974 I played Wind Up in church.
When I tell (told, really; haven’t mentioned it in years) people in the know that, they are amazed-until I elaborate that it was in a Unitarian Universalist church. I wouldn't have dared played it in a Catholic Church, where I was raised and went to grade school. No point in preaching to a choir that is incapable of listening.
A year later I took an elective course at university in classical guitar. The classroom was on the top of the school’s bell tower, and the professor’s name was John Lennon. On day 1 he whipped out a copy of Bach’s “Bourree” (well known to any Tull fan) and announced that my first assignment was to learn it. Just more of the famous Tull coincident synchronicity.
My God is the song of the Aqualung album, not to be overlooked. There’s more passion and variation in its flute solo than anywhere in the Tull catalog.
LOVED YOUR ANALYSIS OF THIS THOUGHT PROVOKING CLASSIC - AS A LAPSED CATHOLIC WHO WAS ONCE a NALTAR BOY -I GOT THE IDEA THAT IT'S ALOT MORE ABOUT LOVING , PEOPLE , ANIMALS AND things in NATURE ,,,AND LESS ABOUT ALL THOSE DOGMATIC RULES and unconscious prayers THAT MAKE US THINK THAT IT IS 'US AGAINST THEM'',,,, [AND THAT OUR PARTICULAR RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND HAS ALL THE ANSWER S . but that THAT IF WE CAN CONNECT WITH OUR TRUE SOULS -WE ARE GOD , AND WE CAN BE AS LOVING AS JESUS WAS ,,,THANX, MAESTRO DOUG ,,I LOVE YOUR SHOWS !
Three songs, so I gave three comments :) Wind Up: I grew up in a religious home. This was a favorite album of mine in 1971 (I was 14 years old). When my father heard Wind Up for the first time on a Sunday (I was singing along in my room: "you can excommunicate me..." as he listened on the other side of the door) he freaked out, and made me turn off my turntable. It was only many years later when we could talk about it calmly that I explained that I, too, was not interested in a God one had to "wind up" on Sundays. Jethro TUll was MY voice at that age. I am a mystic, so my view of divinity is quite different. You are one of the very few reactors who really get it ;) Thanks!
The more I listen to your reviews, I imagine trustfully that my understandings and my ears develop likewise... 😊🙏
Hi Doug - great review.
I always thought the lines in Wind Up about "How do you dare tell me that I'm my father's son because that is just an accident of birth" was also a comment on the English (UK) class system and private (misnamed Public in the UK) school system where a lot is/was rooted in inherited position and privilege (ie you will be successful and behave in a certain way because you are "you're father's son") and in the song it sounds like its the Headmaster telling him this. This is why he goes on to say a better measure of his worth is composing a better song (ie rather than his inherited position).
I think it is partially about the private school system because of the way he says he leaves it with "their God tucked under his arm" - it sounds to me like he's running away from a boarding school (he also says when he was young "they packed me off to school" and being "groomed for success" right at the beginning).
I agree it is provocative and thought provoking (the whole album is).
Hey Doug, your comments at the end, and your discussion about where your belief lies and your approach to the bible was one of the more beautiful things I've seen on RUclips for a while. When I first heard "Wind-Up" back in the early 90s, it was like a lightning bolt for me, too, and helped me to settle some of my own struggles with the dogmatic side of religious institutions, the nature of belief, and one's human responsibilities versus the abdication of that personal responsibility to a ritualized institution. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your personal experiences, and for doing it in such a beautiful and respectful way.
A brilliant album that shaped my early teenage years. Wind up is my favourite.
I hate those posts that ask you to name the artist, album, or songs that meant the most to you growing up - but, for me, Jethro Tull just might be that artist, Aqualung just might be that album, and the songs just might be Aqualung, Locomotive Breath, and Wind-Up. I saw the band live several times, as well. I never clicked a video so fast. You're awesome, Doug. Loved the thoughtful and eloquent commentary.
This album had so much influence on 14 year old me. One of the best albums of all time! Was lucky enough to see the concert too.
Excellent Doug. The human experience is so rich. When I first listen to Aqualung, I could not grasp every word, but with subsequent listenings I realised what Ian was talking about, and it really hit my heart. Then in Wind Up, it feels like what I felt trying to interpret some of the bible, that I was told to read. The human experience.... so diverse in many places of the world, crossing times and spaces, in the middle-east, the east, extreme east, the ocident... the human struggle to understand what it is to be a good person. Today, since a couple of centuries, we have developed our ways to investigate what is best to do, how to organise thought, how to optimise our well being, many of us are still trapped in tradition so they refuse to dip their toes in other waters. We still have much to learn. Let us allow ourselves to be humble enough and see each other as human beings, and learn from each other, and from those who studied more than us about a subject. Like I am learning a lot from you, even though I have listened to those songs a lot in the past. Thank you!
I never get tired of Jethro Tull. No matter how many times I have listened to that music.
I love how the music and tempo of locomotive breath evokes the train and engine. I reminds me of a train ride down in Mexico that I would find frightening now as an adult but as a kid I enjoyed the heck out of it. The train rocked so much I wondered if we were going to fall into the canyon below us. Going through mountains. wild
To go along with your discussion of Ian Anderson's view on religion the vinyl album (I'm not sure if the CD had these) liner notes included these lines that seem to express his view nicely:
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.
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 Man did 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 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.
Rather interesting stuff.
My 'God' is my passion, MUSIC... I cant help writing and have the ability to record and now release to the world. I have written since the 3rd grade but it wasnt until 50 years ago that I really felt the urge, the pull to really write poems, prose, verse, songs... and it became my passion. I have always asked my co-workers what their passion is.. and have been surprised by the number of people who dont have any passion at all. It drives me. My father was an incredible musician and vocalist. He was a tenor and sang in choirs for decades because of his love of singing. Boeing Stratosingers was a group he sang with for the longest. But he also did barber shop and church music having been a catholic the first 55 years of his life... just keeping it as real as I can... Mark Q. Warren
One of thee coolest things about the 70's... Everyone was trying to use songs and song (Lyrics) to make you think about more then, holding hands, or your girl friend, or being glad all over, and BS like that. All of a sudden everybody wanted to be like Bob Dylan with his intellectual lyrics. The Beatles and Stones both switched off the pop songs and started using lyrics as stories or messages or even lyrical weapons. Ian Anderson, like John Lennon, Ray Davies, John Prine, Paul Simon, Jim Croce, and many more, was a master at making you listen closely to what he had to say.. Geezer Butler wrote some amazing lyrics, but because it was "Black Sabbath", he was under rated, because it must be devil music. So many groups and singer/songwriters from the 70's & 80's to mention. Jethro Tull is ALWAYS my go to nostalgia music, even over Steely Dan. P.S. God is NOT religious, what so ever ! God is A CREATOR WITH A PLAN !
Great Video Doug. Thanks! In an interview one time, Ian Anderson said "Aqualung" was actually a poem his wife wrote about common misconceptions people have about the homeless. He was so impacted by it, he wrote the music to make it a song. "Wind Up" was one of three songs on this classic album where Ian blasts the National Church of England and their schools for trying to teach about man's version of God - different than the God that Ian understood. The other two songs are "My God" and "Hymn 43" (based loosely on Psalm 43). Around the same time, Emerson, Lake & Palmer recorded the song "Jerusalem" (based on an old Hymn) on the album Brain Salad Surgery, that describes the same concerns Ian had. ALL of these songs are REALLY great songs, whether or not you like the messages!
Aqualung, Jethro Tull's most iconic song, has no flute in it. 👀
You gotta hit A Passion Play soon youll be amazed by the arrangements and the musicianship. Best Tull album in my opinion
Ian Anderson is a pantheist, he himself claimed that. It shows in pretty much all his lyrics.
I`m just a simple german musician... born in 1961... growing up as a Tull/Genesis/a.m.o. --- still love to play my classic-rock guitar every day & since today: love your channel & comments !!! ---
I've enjoyed listening to music for a very long time, and know many of the tunes you have reviewed. What I'm loving from watching your videos is how you help me understand why I like the songs I do as much as I do. Your understanding of how the music is designed to express various emotions and actions and feelings is incredible. I've passed a vid on to a few friends, who are musicians, and they too are amazed. I'm also enjoying hearing songs from my youth (born 1958 - I'm OLD -lol) that I actually knew of but never heard. Perhaps it's allowing me to enjoy a second youth, but whatever, I'm so glad to discover your broadcast - looking forward to many more Doug. Oh, BTW, like your choice of personal mind entertainment with the Pink Floyd songs you do rather than drinks. Many of the other songs are well appreciated with the green herb - just saying!
1971, went to a friend's house who had a stereo with Altech Lansing voice of the theater speakers. Aqualung, Abbey road, Cosmos factory. It was paradise 🙂
I always considered Aqualung their Sgt. Pepper. Like The Beatles, it may not be their best album but probably their most important.
Love your reaction to Wind Up. “Brilliant” is the only way to describe that song. “I’d rather look around me, cause that’s the honest measure of my worth” is how I get through life. I measure my worth by the friends I’ve made and the lives I’ve touched, not by the laws of some made up god. Through this song, Ian let me know that I wasn’t alone.
Wind Up was a Sunday song that was played many times back in the day rooming with buddies. That was 'church' for us. Good memories...
This 70's era is full of truly iconic passages in which they depart from the common musical construction.
They also bring us a reflection on an ancestral social inequality reflected in our era in which the change of various work technologies was too fast to accommodate an equitable adaptation to the income that this work provides.
The musical excerpts represent and they thus reflect an image of the sudden changes and extinctions of certain skills for certain jobs that the machines of the industrial revolution and those of computer technologies have brought to a society that does not adapt so easily to the unhappiness of many poor unfortunates who thus are remembered and exposed to the world by these excellent musicians.
I think that these 70's came to show us that all human behavior should be rethought and changed in order to soften all unnecessary social upheavals, especially economic poverty.
Nowadays only bread and circuses no longer works. People specialized more than that.
This is pure humanity.
3 very important songs to me. I sing karaoke every weekend as my way of blowing off steam and reliving my days on stage. The songs I'm best known for singing are my go-to songs; Comfortably Numb, Aqualung and Locomotive Breath.
I've been looking for a karaoke version of Wind Up for years, but to no avail. Would love to sing that as well.
Tull used to use a shortened version of Wind Up as the into to Locomotive Breath live.
Truly an under appreciated gem of a song and a brilliant way to sum up the underlying theme of the album.
Rich the Ancient Metal Beast
If you're ever in Portland, Oregon, I've got probably the biggest collection of Jethro Tull karaoke tracks globally. They're homemade tracks so the quality isn't the best but for Tull addicts, they do the trick. I've got Wind Up, My God, the first side of Thick as a Brick, To Cry You A Song, Dun Ringill, Black Sunday, just to name a few.
Brilliant lyrics. 'The Army's up the road' refers to the 'Salvation Army hostel'.
“The flowers bloom like madness in the spring” is TS Eliot level poetry.
"as he bends to pick a dog end" - great line!
Thanks for being so honest (about your theological views) Doug and I'm happy that Jethro Tull was the act that provoked. The lyrics are always very sincere.
I was 13 in '71 & so ready for this album & lyrical content. Fortunately I only had to endure one year of parochial school but boy was it informative, yeesh. The good part, after growing up from the get go with all kinds of popular music from Gershwin & Ravel to the Beatles, Stones, Jazz & Motown, I came upon an 8-track tape of Aqualung and that was the blow mind gateway prog experience I was ready for, that thing that sets you off...music is the real spiritual intelligence, the common language, what the universe is in play for.
I loved your confiding your spiritual worldview in us, Doug. And I’m delighted that “ Wind Up” struck such a chord. My favourite JT track, and gave review of yours
It's so nice to hear someone praise "Wind Up"', it's a song that's really resonated with me ever since I first heard it as a teenager. I had the same experience as Ian - being packed off to "Sunday School" and feeling like I was being indoctrinated into a cult, not being taught about God. Anyway, most people who listen to songs off of Aqualung never react to this one, and a lot of those that do the content just goes right over their heads - so thank you, sincerely, for your thoughtful take on it.
One review at the time included the exclamation: "Oh my God! Ian Anderson is making us think!".
50 years later it's still true.
Tull. ..,... Was.., is. My favorite concert was tull . Even though I was escorted out after the concert was over. A friend of mine , " tony " " started yelling out cross eyed Mary . The one song he was there to hear above all others . They didn't and he loudly proclaimed his hurt feelings . Funny then , funny now . Longliverock !!!!
Glad you liked it. Smart, witty, poignant writer, Ian Anderson is. One of the best bands of the 70's. Have you done a long listen to either "Thick As a Brick", or "A Passion Play"? Would love to see your reactions to those. Cheers!
I always felt that Locomotive Breath was about drug use and the fact that there is no "Slowing down" but rather just quitting. " In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath" - Just the madness of life in general turns a lot of folks towards drugs.. "Runs the all time loser" - Mankind. "Headlong to his death" - As does most drug use. "he feels the pistons screaming" - Accelerated heartbeat. "old Charlie stole the handle" - Darwin? Satan euphemism? "He sees his children jumpin' off
, At stations one by one" - Gods children dying one by one. "His woman and his best friend
, In bed and having fun" - The uninhibited promiscuity that comes often with drug use and users. 'So he's crawling down the corridor
, On his hands and knees" - At the end of his rope watching his life crumble. "And the all time winner
, Has got him by the balls" - No where to go but death now. "Oh, he picks up Gideon's Bible
, Open at page one" - Gideons bible was usually in hotel rooms where many people go to use drugs/prostitution etc. "I thank God, he stole the handle' - Either being grateful that it was God at the helm or maybe him poking fun as in "thanks God, for setting us up" etc etc.
I may have read too much into it back in the day hahaha Still an amazing song ang really loved hearing you react and listen! Thanks!
I really love your channel!!! Was very fortunate to have found you... Is very interesting to see how you analyze every song... Man!!! Congratulations by a huge Dream theater fan.
And best regards from Monterrey, Nuevo León, México! 🤘
one of the greatest guitar solos in history (Aqualung).
That’s for damn sure! And Jimmy Page was behind the glass at the studio waving at Barre as he laid down the solo trying to distract him, crazy!
Yes Martin just play so Melodic .Just fantastic.
Nice rant (ish) at the end Doug good words and sentiment. Music is a religion and there are zealots and haters there too. And no one knows the answer we have to be open and accepting.
You gotta check out Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick album. This album "Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull" is just amazing!
Already done them..episodes 181 & 282. Enjoy.
Yeah he did Thick as a Brick. :D
He talks about that specific album in this video. 🤣
He should do Passion Play!
@@SteveN-qo5uv we need a petition!!! This is a true test of a reactor!!
50 years on, ... I had caught most of the lyrics, and I had thought of it as another step in waking from mass hypgnosis by established religions; glad to hear your clear "this was bold" (or however you put it). Your musical technical language is like trying to follow spanish after 1 semester 9 years ago. A few morphemes here and there. But emotional, non-"understood" content feels as strong as ever. thanks for this.
Great final commentary, Doug. I was born a catholic as most brazilians are (or at least were, though the Catholic religion is still somewhat predominant in Brazil, the gap from other religions has been closing) and as time went by I have changed a lot in terms of how I see religion and the bible. Though I've changed to another religion, my current point of view is very similar to yours.
Anderson used a classical guitar, on which he changed the gut strings to metallic acoustic ones. That's why he has a characteristic sound
Nylon strings.
Aqualung is SUCH a good tune
My pet peeve of many 70s songs were the great instrumental intros that were cut off in the single versions for radio play, I have always loved the piano intro to Locomotive Breath!
It seems like everybody misses the screaming train whistle from Martin Barr's Guitar every time Ian Anderson sings "Old Charley stole the handle".
I have loved this album since 1971. I've really enjoyed watching you enjoy it. If you listen to the lyrics from most of the pieces on Aqualung, the whole album is a social commentary, with emphasis on the Church of England.
Just started listening to your channel, Doug, and am really enjoying your commentary. Thank you
When I saw this tour in concert the pianist riffed on classical pieces before Locomotive breath. I can almost recall the pieces... 🙄 How forceful is Martin Barre solo in shaping the direction of the piece! Where do they get the great sound at "oh God, he stole the handle..."? As a PK born and raised in the Anglican tradition, your delight in the message is precious. Oddly this i what my people were teaching me all along, against the blind teaching of the church. We DO have a responsibility. a gratitude, an appreciation, to our parents but we DO have to "look around us and compose a better song." I didn't expect it to end in the Marvel Universe LOL!
Just simply an awesome album. I'm glad you appreciated it as so many of us have been doing for years.
Steven Wilson did such an amazing job of reviving an album that was always so tin sounding despite the great songs. He brought the strings to the fore, and gave bass and drums a fuller sound. I started listening to it almost as a new album. Doug will have a field day if he ever gets to Passion Play.
I really appreciate that you decided your thoughts after hearing the album are worth sharing with us on RUclips.
FYI, Jethro Tull was an Englishman who in 1701 revolutionized the agriculture of England by inventing the horse-drawn "seed-drill", allowing huge tracts of land to be economically planted and farmed. RockOn,, Doug.
It was the rock and roll flutes of Jethro Tull and the Moody Blues that grabbed my attention and formed my love for the lovely instrument. As a kid just learning to play the flute I experimented with all kinds of different sounds. The band teacher wasn't impressed with my antics, but I knew what's up!
Aqualung! One of my all time favourites... both the song and the album.
Great songs. Great time spent again with u Doug. Very smart writing indeed.
I absolutely love love love Jethro Tull. Aqualung and Wind-Up are two of my favorite songs and I was very happy to see this.
I LOVE the juxtaposition between the acoustic and electirc. There was piano in the middle fast section.
Thanks Doug. Your analysis of Wind Up exactly matched my own, got me to thinking about my personal spirituality and family history of church involvement, and led eventually to my embrace of apostasy. Your career choice also was similar to mine. I worked for a church-related newspaper for several years, but not for the reason many chose to believe.
Interesting take on Locomotive Breath. I remember having a big discussion about the lyrics of this song with my AP English teacher back in high school and we came to the conclusion that the song is about science and religion and the increasing tension between the two ideologies.
Our reasons for the interpretation was 'Charlie has the handle and the train it won't slow down ' and the bit about 'gideon's bible, open at page 1' which would be Charles Darwin and Genesis respectively. I think the 'woman and his best friend' line I interpret as being Truth and Reason, or maybe Society and Reason, and how the church was used to being involved in both spheres but was increasingly cut out of that relationship. I have no idea if it's what was intended but it hangs together pretty well, I think
It's not "the" woman, it's "his" woman. That's a huge difference. I'd always taken that line to be about betrayal
@@midnightmoses580 my misremembered lyrics doesn't change the interpretation. Religion was THE source for both Reason and Truth before the scientific method. After science became established suddenly the two things closest to Religion 'his woman' and 'his best friend' had cut Religion out of the picture.
Also, if you read my answer again, the was referencing the line, not its contents, hence the quote AFTER the word 'the'.
Finally, it is exactly a betrayal, that's literally what I described, a relationship of three concepts with one of them being cut out of the triangle by a new relationship between the other two. It's just anthropomorphized to give the metaphor emotional weight
Cool. Science isn't an "ideology" though :)
@@frankshailes3205 sure it is, or at least the belief that science is a valid way to seek 'capital T' Truth. The idea that successive iteration, experimentation, and peer review can reveal the truths of the universe more than religious revelations or intuitions can.
This is what most religious people get wrong when they accuse people of 'having faith in science'. They are meaning we need faith to believe the discoveries are truth: evolution, big bang, climate change, etc. But in truth, my faith is not in the results but the methodology, and the fact that it is a better, more reliable way to gather understanding than faith in a book or faith in the words of a person.
@@jasonGamesMaster Only in the archaic sense that it meant "The science of ideas; the study of their origin and nature. ‘It was this discipline that he described as ideology - literally, the science of ideas.’" If scientific method failed to come to any correct conclusions, rational people would abandon it as they abandoned religion, and look for another method to find out facts.
Wonderful reflection at the end, I never caught it the first time around, so thanks for this opportunity. Love you, man! xoxo
This reason why you didn't remember the opening to locomotive breath was because that was left off of AM radio.
"You snatch your rattling last breath with deep sea diver sounds..." Hence the name Aqualung.
That's definitely not the same version of Wind Up as on the original album. I don't think I've ever heard that one before. It has a slower tempo for one thing. It almost sounds like a live version.
I brought this album home at 14 when it first came out. My devoutly religious parents heard it, hit the ceiling and I had to fight valiantly to save it from the trash can. Lol..I still have it to this day and it plays as good as new. Martin Barre was one of the most underrated drummers ever, IMO. Anderson just overshadowed everyone else in that band, no matter that they were all great.
Martin is the guitarist.
When he sings "I don't believe you you have the whole damn thing all wrong..." for 50 years I can only imagine the curtain opening and the Radio City Rocketts doing their thing.
Aqualung presents two views of the homeless. The first a derogatory judgmental observation and the second a more compassionate empathetic take on Aqualung's situation.
Written to make you first dislike, then pity, then feel compassion for the character.
Is it a concept album or not tho , Anderson says no but to me everything about it says yes ( but what do I know ) 🤔🧐
@@hairywelder5188 I think he said he didn't intend to make a concept album, but there is a common theme through the whole thing. Subtle distinction between saying he didn't intend too make it one and it not being one.
@@hairywelder5188 Aqualung is mentioned a couple of times through the album, so guess that can make it kind of conceptual. And it sort of have thread through out.
I read that Thick As A Brick was a direct comment on people who constantly asked if Aqualung was a concept album , I'm sure even on the remix album notes he denies it is
Who'd have thought. Now 70 y/o I AM "Aqualung" my friend. "Wind Up" happily sent me out on the bent and narrow.
Saw this concert early 70s. I was hooked and still am.