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. "Good Heavens, now
Ian Anderson wants us to think!" headlined 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 "naïve" 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.
The nucleus of
Jethro Tull over the years: Ian and Martin.
This picture was probably taken during the Benefit or
Aqualung tour (1970/1971).
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 egoïstic 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 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". (They were posted to me by Andrew
Jackson.)
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. She had been photographing
homeless people, living their harsh lives in the
streets of London. 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 egoïsm, 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 à 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 'à 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-Lung® 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
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.
* Neil R. Thomason
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."
- 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
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