An
introduction to "Living In The Past"
After the huge success of
the 'Aqualung' and the 'Thick As A Brick' albums and the
world tours promoting these album there was a big demand
for Jethro Tull-material. Chrysalis decided it was time
for an extra release: a compilation double album
containing songs from the previous years, packed in a
beautiful cover with photographs and details on the
included songs.
With this double album,
smartly named 'Living In The Past' after their successful
single, new fans now got access to older material, while
the long time fans finally found the singles they bought
assembled on one album. 'A Song For Jeffrey', 'Love
Story', 'Living In The Past', 'Sweet Dream', 'Witches
Promise' and 'Inside' - they all were released as a
single, some of them becoming hits in Europe and the US.
The album also contains five songs that were released in
the EP format in 1971: 'Life Is A Long Song', 'Up The
'Pool', 'Dr. Bogenbroom', 'For Later' and 'Nursie', while
three songs were released on earlier albums: 'A Song For
Jeffrey' and 'Inside'. The album offers the first live
recording of Jethro Tull to appear on record: 'By Kind
Permission Of' and 'Dharma For One' two tracks from their
benefit-gig in Carnegie Hall, New York, November 1970.
'Living In The Past' is
for most Tull-fans one of their favourites, since it
shines a light on the evolution of Ian's songwriting
capabilities and contains an interesting variety of
songs.
Annotations
A
Christmas Song
- A Christmas song is Ian's first
original work after the departure of Mick
Abrahams. It is an acoustic, whimsical piece with
an emphasis on mandolins and guitars (...).
Lyrically he accomplishes a kind of social
commentary:
When you're stuffing yourselves at
the Christmas parties
You'll just laugh when I tell you to take a running jump
You're missing the point I'm sure does not need making:
The Christmas spirit is not what you drink.
- This piece is important for a number of reasons.
First, it clearly establishes his view on
alcohol. Anderson remains a strong spokesman
against drugs and alcohol for the duration of his
career. He explains that he avoids intoxication
because he feels it interferes with his creative
process: he feels that he needs to remain
clear-headed to accomplish the kind of
self-analysis that he feels is a cornerstone of
his writing (Lewis, 27). This attitude toward
drugs and alcohol acted to distance him from his
audiences and from his contemporaries. He felt as
is he grew up in a generation that he didn't
belong to. Unable to express the sentiments
overtly without ostracizing much of his audience,
his opinions toward drugs were "bottled
up" and arose as bitterness and anger in his
music toward the general culture of the times
(Anderson 4). Anderson speaks disdainfully and
condescendingly of the pace and greed of America
in interviews at this time (Lewis 24).
- I don't really agree. It's mentioned, certainly,
but I think the song is 90% about the hypocrisy
and contradictions of modern, commercial
Christmases and the spiritual 'real' meaning of
the festival. Alcohol is only mentioned in one
line of the song, and the spoken humourous
comment at the end is an admission that Ian isn't
a Puritan watching from the outside - he wants a
drink, too! I've never thought of Ian as
anti-alcohol. Definitely anti-drug,
particularly anti-cannabis, but he doesn't seem
adverse to a quiet drink. I understand him being
hostile to drunkenness, but that's a common
attitude. It's important to distinguish the
sources of intoxication! If he was
anti-alcohol, his comments in the 20th
Anniversary video, about visiting his local pub
and hoping he'd still be able to have a quiet
drink with his fans, wouldn't make sense. Peggy
famously drinks rather a lot, so why did Ian
employ him for so long if he was
anti-alcohol? Ian publicly joked about
Peggy's drinking habits in numerous concerts and
interviews, and I think the only memorable quote
from Peggy from his time with Tull was 'Success
is being locked in the pub at closing
time'. The album title 'Nightcap' and its
graphics have a little to do with alcohol....
- One point about this song is that the tune and
lyrics of the first few lines are from a
traditional Christmas carol. I learned the
carol when I was about 5 years old; presumably
Ian did too! The first verse
is:
"Once in royal David's city
stood a lonely cattle shed,
where a mother held her baby,
in a manger for a bed."
See
An Online Christmas Songbook if you want the
full lyrics and sheet music.
* Neil R. Thomason
- "A Christmas Song" is also a work that
exists in a strong historical framework because
it is presented as a kind of Christmas carol.
Caroling is perhaps the oldest surviving English
mid-winter tradition (Lloyd 98). It originated as
a \par pagan ceremony of ring-dancing (118).
Clearly Ian has changed the tone of the
traditional Christmas carol, and that has a
psychological impact that is difficult to
measure. As a pagan tradition, caroling worked a
kind of magic of rejuvenation: the winter was a
dead time, and to insure the resurrection of the
world in spring, the carolers would come to offer
their songs and to take their reward (102). The
carolers offered blessings of bountiful harvests,
and in exchange, those receiving the carol would
offer up some of their wealth - in either food or
money - as a sort of mid-winter sacrifice (102).
The rite is a product of an agricultural society
in which the forces of nature need to be
interacted with at a magical level in order to
insure the survival of all. Ian's use of the
carol form invokes strong connotations to anyone
familiar with the holiday or with caroling. His
song implies the loss of ties to ther meaning of
the festivities. He says:
"How can you laugh
when your own mother is hungry
and how can you smile when your reasons for smiling are
wrong?".
- It's clear that those with plenty are not giving
to those who have none, and those who get to
celebrate do not share the celebration. In a
pagan sense, this abandoning of ritual not only
fails to provide for the needy, it also endangers
the rebirth of spring and all future harvests.
These connotations carry over in modern
sensibilities as well: there is a sense of
distancing from the true nature of things and a
sense of imminent repercussions. The song also
begins to imply his attitude toward religion.
This becomes clearer on his fourth album,
Aqualung.
* Judson C.
Caswell (Scc vol. 4 issue 92, Dec. 1993);
adaptation Jan Voorbij ; Anderson, Ian: Trouser
Press Magazine, Autodiscography, 1982, p. 1-13;
Lewis, Grover: Rolling Stone: Hopping, Grimacing,
Twitching, Gasping, Lurching, Rolling,
Paradiddling, Flinging, Gnawing And Gibbering
With Jethro Tull, 7/22/1971, p. 24-27; Lloyd,
A.L.: Folk Songs In England, New York 1967.
Driving
Song
By
Kind Permission Of
- This instrumental piece of music,
recorded at Carnegie Hall, New York in 1970, was
inspired by a well known piece of classical
music. "The piano part is Sonate nr. 8 in
C-flat (C mol), Opus 13 by Ludwig von Beethoven
(1770-1827). Sonate nr. 8 is better known as
'Pathétique'."
* Jeroen Louis
- Another part is inspired by
Rachmaninov and taken from 'Prelude in G Sharp
Minor, Opus 3 nr. 2.
* Juha from
Finland
Wond'ring
Again
- This remarkable song, recorded in
June 1970, just before the Aqualung sessions
started, is the first one in which Ian criticizes
the strive for continuous economic expansion that
takes such a heavy toll from the environment
(pollution, the waste of natural resources). This
theme will be explored further, esp. on the
'Stormwatch' album (1979). Ian might have drawn
his inspiration from the outcome of the research
of a group of scientists led by Dennis Meadows,
called The Club Of Rome. This group started their
work in 1968 and got a lot of attention in the
media. They pointed out that economic growth and
over-population would within a few decades lead
to an environmental disaster and the exhaustion
of the natural resources. In 1972 they published
the alarming results in a report called "The Limits To Growth", which had a huge impact. The book
became a bestseller and was translated in 20
languages.
- This economic growth eventually
will lead to ".... the
stillness of death on a deathly unliving
sea" and "the
natural resources are dwindling". The illusion of progress, that was so
very present in the sixties/early seventies'
society until the energy crisis in 1973 disturbed
this "farflung
illusion", is
referred to in "... and the
motor car magical world long since ceased to
be". The
over-population that will lead to starvation,
poverty and increasing the exploiting of natural
resources is mentioned in "...
spawning new millions, throws the world on its
side". In
spite of all these problems the political
parties, the press, functionaries etc., "brainwashing
government lackeys", impose on us the illusion, that there
is nothing to worry about, since all these
problems can be overcome and we are heading for a
new era of growth and wealth: "...
we'll soon be on our way to a grand year for
babies and quiz panel games of the hot hungry
millions you'll be sure to remain". However, not everybody profits from
the products of wealth, and those who don't are
urged to solve their own problems, since society
doesn't care: "And those with
no sandwiches, please get off the bus" and "And those with
no homes to go to, please pick yourself
holes". Bear
in mind that we find this critique once again in
the 'Aqualung' title song, where Aqualung has to
depend on 'salvation à la mode'.
- Then, after depicting this almost
apocalyptical scenery, the song becomes acoustic
and Ian skillfully changes the perspective by
reducing the problem to proportions we can
identify with: a caring young couple, wandering "through quiet
lands", aware of
the damage done to nature ("searched
for the last pigeon, slate grey I've been
told"). When
one of them unfortunately "stumbled
on a daffodil"
(a symbol of spring and new life) it triggers
their "remorse and
(...) touched by the loss of our own" and they realize something irreversible
has happened: the daffodil is crushed, like
nature in the first verse. They wonder what will
become of their future children: will their eyes
be opened when they grow up? Will they become
people who value nature care for it?
- From this song, especcially from
the acoustic part, 'Wond'ring
Aloud', one of the
Aqualung acoustic gems, originated.
* Jan Voorbij
Jethro Tull released
this EP with five songs in the autumn of 1970. Ian
Anderson stated that people who were buying singles did
not get not enough music for the price they paid, so he
had three more songs added for the same amount of money.
These five songs were added to the "Living In The
Past" album.(Courtesy: Dave Gerber)
Up
The 'Pool
- The song is about Blackpool, where
Ian had been living since he was twelve years old
until he moved to London. Apart from being a big
industrial town, Blackpool is a classical, very
touristic seaside resort, like Brighton and
Newquay. Ian stated that he dislikes Blackpool,
calling it e.g. a shit-hole during gigs. In the
summertime, the beaches are crowded with seaside
visitors, in spite of the fact that the water is
polluted. In a very picturesque way he describes
the beach scenery in any given summer's day.
Blackpool: the
Golden Mile, the Iron Tower, the silver sea, a tea-stand
and in the background Edward Pier.
Most of the tourists came from
London, 'the smoke' in the vernacular of
north-west England and from the Midlands, one of
Britain's biggest industrial areas: "I'm
going up the 'Pool from down the smoke
below". When Blackpool first
took off as a resort, it was as result of
increased mobility amongst the working class; for
the workers of Liverpool and Manchester,
Blackpool was THE place to go on vacation.
"..... to taste me mum's
jam sarnies": sarnies is
British slang for sandwiches. Note that Ian
adopts the characteristic pronunciations of the
area; 'me' rather than 'my'. This is even more
apparent in the line which follows:"The
candy floss salesman watches ladies in the
sand...". Listen to the song
again; you'll notice the hard 'a' of 'cAn dy...
mAn... sAnd'. Someone from, say, London, would
generally pronounce 'salesman' as 'sails-mn'. Ian
hence stresses the distinct nature of the place
and the Lancashire accent.
The dominant feature of the
Blackpool skyline, visible for miles, is the
Blackpool Tower, situated on the seafront: "The
iron tower". It rises out of
a building containing a zoo and a ballroom. The
road along the seafront is a mile of amusement
arcades, cafes, fish & chip shops, tea stands
and other tacky ways of separating visitors from
their money (sorry, Blackpool Tourist Board!);
this is "the
Golden Mile", where one will
also find all kind of attractions like a fair and
casinoes to attract tourists. At either end of
the Mile are a vast number of guest houses,
another central feature of the town. The fierce
Blackpool landlady is nationally, if not
internationally, renowned. They generally offer
bed, breakfast and evening meal, and no more;
whatever the weather, one must vacate the
premises during the day. So, if the line doesn't
refer to guests drinking tea with their
breakfasts, Ian probably means people huddled in
bus shelters drinking tea from vacuum flasks! The song 'Big Dipper'
from the 'Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll' album is
about Blackpool too. In the album sleeve's
cartoon, the panel entitled 'Home' actually shows
the Tower. There is a Big Dipper on the Golden
Mile.
* Jan Voorbij & Neil Thomason
"The
politicians there, who've come to take the
air.....". Each
year, the British political parties hold
conferences to discuss policy (allegedly); for
some reason, seaside resorts always host such
events. The terrorist bombing of the Grand Hotel
in Brighton in the 1980s probably made the news
internationally; that was one such conference. In
this song, Blackpool is the host resort. By the
way, I don't think the Labour Party always visits
Blackpool, and it isn't only the Labour Party
which visits. In this song, however, I'm pretty
sure the Party in question is indeed Labour: "while
posing for the daily press, will look around and
blame the mess on Edward Pier",
i.e. pretend the mess isn't the Party's fault! In
1971/2, when the album was recorded, the Prime
Minister was Ted Heath. So the Labour Party, then
in oposition, were blaming the mess on the
Conservative administration. Some references list
the lyric as ‘Edward Pier’, others as
‘Edward Bear’. The latter would make
more sense. In 1971/2, when the album was
recorded, the Prime Minister was Ted Heath
(therefore Ted ®
Teddy Bear ® Edward
Bear). So the Labour Party, then in oposition,
were blaming the mess on the Conservative
administration.
Now the 'chorus'; snapshots of
Blackpool: "There'll
be buckets, spades and bingo, cockles, mussels,
rainy days....". Amongst the
rows of slot machines and video games, the Golden
Mile has several bingo halls. In Lancashire, it
rains a LOT. "...
seaweed and sand castles, icy waves":
Blackpool is on the west coast of Britain,
dominated by Atlantic weather systems; the Irish
Sea is seriously cold most of the time. "... Deck chairs, rubber
dinghies, old vests, braces dangling down
...": The stereotypical picture
of the British workman on holiday was of a
middle-aged, balding man with a toothbrush
moustache, wearing a string vest and fairly
formal trousers rolled up to the knee to reveal
socks and shoes. The trousers were held up by
braces and his bald patch covered by a
handkerchief knotted at each corner. Anyone
recognise Monty Python's Mr. Gumby? I have to
point out that this image is as accurate as the
City gent wearing a Bowler hat and carrying an
umbrella, or as accurate as the typical American
wearing a Stetson....
* Neil Thomason
Dr. Bogenbroom
For me, this song is about the
rat race we all run within the material driven,
economic world we live, the resulting stress it
places on people, and finally disenchantment.
* Phil Vaughn
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