| Jethro Tull – Only Solitaire Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I have a feeling that, like most Tull songs, this one may just be just too psychedelic and "stream-of-consciousness" for the kind of very precise, systematic interpretation that others have attempted, but I have a hunch that it is having a jab at critics (specifically, theatre critics in the first part) and (in the second)indulging in a bit of self-directed send-up: Ian Anderson has, I think, always been troubled to some extent by the Jekyll-and-Hyde style dichotomy between his off-stage and on-stage personae, the first, highly civilized, serious-minded and even somewhat inhibited (i.e. the down-to-earth, thoughtful and intelligent person we see in interviews) and the second, a kind of sexually depraved, prancing, grimacing madman. He has even described the latter as a kind of 'devil' that takes him over while on stage but which he doesn't (quote) "take back to the Holiday Inn with me" (unquote) and the act itself - perhaps more to the point concerning this song - as something he does, not in order to entertain or interact with others, but simply for himself (i.e. a game of solitaire, rather than of chess), to 'let off steam' so to speak. So, I think that the person with the "oratory prowess" is off-stage Anderson (he often gives incredibly long, detailed and highly analytical answers to questions in interviews on almost any topic) while the "lame-brained antics" and "jumping in the air" reference the Mr Hyde on-stage persona. I suspect that the references to having VD are an oblique - and possibly disingenuously self-deprecating - allusion to Jethro Tull's almost notorious eschewing of the sex-and-drugs culture that was so prevalent among the band's early compatriots (particularly, of course, Led Zeppelin). Well, as I said, just a hunch... |
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| Jimmy Buffett – Please Take Your Drunken 15 Year Old Girlfriend Home Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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"She liked Jethro Tull more than she liked us" Well, at least she had taste!! :-) |
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