Cup Of Wonder
The Annotated Jethro Tull Lyrics Page

Annotations, information, comments, references

An introduction to "This Was"

Picture this: one of the many British blues bands of the late sixties is offered the chance, after a period of extensive touring under different names with different band members, to record its first long play album and has the nerve to title it 'This Was'. That is exactly what Jethro Tull did in August 1968 and looking back from this day to that event one could say it marks the start of one of the most peculiar careers of one of the most peculiar bands in the history of rock.

As Jethro Tull emerged from the British blues boom that brought along great bands like Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Chicken Shack, Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After, Colosseum a.o., it is no surprise that their first album leaned heavily on the blues, and jazz-influences are clearly present. Despite the fact, that the music is relatively simple compared to later albums (since it sticked so close to the blues idiom), the poverty of the recording itself (due to the state of the analogue recording techniques of those days) and - like the music- shows traces of amateurism, the album has a certain charm that makes it into a valuable object for every Tull-fan. The same goes for the lyrics, that are mainly love songs and charming in their simplicity: they do not differ much from those of blues songs from other blues and R & B bands in the late sixties. The album reflects very well the atmosphere of the Jethro Tull gigs in late 1968 / early 1969, as I recall them.

A very rare picture of Jethro Tull from the Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus film in December 1968, just after Mick Abrahams left the band. His temporary successor was Tony Iommi, who co-founded Black Sabbath early 1969.

Another important feature of the album, that makes it so interesting is the rivalry between Ian Anderson and Mick Abrahams. One gets the impression that there is a constant duel between flute and guitar for the leading part. The flute was a novum in rock where the guitar since the origin of blues, country & western and rock & roll always was considered to be the 'prima donna'. This rivalry becomes clear when one compares Ian's elaboration of Roland Kirk's "Serenade to a cuckoo" to Mick's blues-rock elaboration of the traditional "Cat's Squirrel". One of the best songs and musically most interesting ones on the album, where this duel is so obviously present, is "Beggar's Farm". Here we get a good impression of both Mick's and Ian's improvisational talents. Both Ian's flute playing and Mick's guitar playing come close to jazz.

They both wrote songs for this album honouring the blues in compositions like the pensive "Someday the sun won't shine for you", the lamenting "It's breaking me up" and the acquiescing "Move on alone". Different opinions regarding the musical course for the future - among others things - led to the departure of Mick Abrahams, who formed the blues band Blodwyn Pig, that still tours today from time to time. In the context of the band's history Jethro Tull from this moment on became more and more Ian's band.

Though this album is primary a blues album it offers ten varied and very interesting songs. They give us insight in the evolution of what lateron would be recognized as "Tull-music", or to put it in the words of those days: the "Tull-sound". Both music and lyrics would dramatically change from that point on when it comes to originality, complexity, imagery and creativity. "This was how we were playing then, but things change, don't they". Indeed they did and still do, definitely.
* Jan Voorbij

Annotations

Serenade To A Cuckoo

• This piece of music was written by the famous jazz flautist/saxophonist Roland Kirk. Ian stated that this was one of the first pieces he learned to play on flute and acknowledged that his style of flute-playing was a stylistic derivative of Kirk's: e.g. mixing all kinds of vocal sounds with his flute-playing and the 'impure', jazzy flute technique.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1936 -1977)

• Casswel suggests that Ian also derived aspects of his later stage persona from Roland Kirk as well: "Kirk is described by Lipsitz in his book Time Passages. Lipsitz speaks of Kirk's unusual stage attire and behavior as subversive and unconventional. He also makes note of Kirk's aggressive sense of humor, citing his satirical rendition of hymns and his "mischievous wordplay". Lipsitz calls attention to these characteristics to identify Kirk as a performer who is deriving his power from a sense of history. He explains that Roland Kirk presents an art that can be interpreted at many levels - an art that makes reference to the past through oblique and coded messages. These messages arise as eccentricities in Roland Kirk's music and stage presence. All of these are important aspects to bear in mind in the analysis of Ian Anderson's art."
  * Judson C.Caswell (SCC, vol. 4, issue 32, December 1993) ; adaptation Jan Voorbij

A Song For Jeffrey

• This song is dedicated to a friend in Blackpool - where the band originally came from - Jeffrey Hammond. Jeffrey joined Jethro Tull as a bass player after Glenn Cornick left the band and appeared on record for the first time on Aqualung in 1971.