| Slade – Run Runaway Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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I think this song is about how things in life are NOT black and white, but ambiguous, yet it is nonetheless important to "seize the day"... especially when it comes to love. The chameleon part is repeated over and over... I think maybe the chameleon is you the listener. Stop being equally nice to everyone; stop agreeing with every side of the argument. Make a decision, break a few eggs, and act! |
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| Mazzy Star – Fade Into You Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| @[tinkiwink:32850] Duh? Well I don't believe in an afterlife myself, but I can certainly see how believing in heaven and hell would provide a motivation to be a good person. While I hate to put myself in bad company, it stands to reason that a person who behaves without morals must not believe in hell... unless they are so deluded that they don't see their own bad actions as bad. | |
| Mazzy Star – Fade Into You Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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I guess my interpretation of this song is a bit darker than most people's. I do not see it as a bittersweet thing, or about a "slightly damaged" lover. I see it as a description of an out-and-out sociopath. "I want to hold the hand inside you I want to take a breath that's true I look to you and I see nothing I look to you to see the truth" She wanted to know the person, to be friends with who he really is inside, but she senses there is a lack of normal warmth or sociability. So she looks closer, and determines how he really is. "You live your life" implies that he lives his life for himself; probably anticipates no afterlife and wants to get all he can while the getting is good. So he "goes in shadows"... is sneaky, manipulative and dishonest. "You'll come apart and you'll go blind" -- OK, not 100% sure what this means... possibly, like most sociopaths, when he gets caught he becomes furious with the catcher and lashes out recklessly rather than seeing and admitting his own bad behavior. "Some kind of light into your darkness Colors your eyes with what's not there." Evil but intelligent, he knows how people SHOULD feel, and is skilled at faking emotions to manipulate others. "Fade into you Strange you never knew Fade into you I think it's strange you never knew" Whatever happens, it ultimately is all about him. Everyone else is there only to be used for his benefit. He is the center of the universe, in his own mind. She thinks it is strange he does not have a normal sense of right and wrong... normal life experiences teach that small children and even dogs have some inborn sense of good and bad, and a natural desire to do good. This guy does not seem to sense that by pissing in the community well that ultimately he is hurting himself. "A stranger's light comes on slowly A stranger's heart without a home" When a stranger meets this guy, it takes a while for that new stranger to catch on to his unexpected evilness. The stranger is initially approaching with a trusting and open heart, and thus is vulnerable. "You put your hands into your head And then smiles cover your heart" This guy reaches into his finely-tuned tool kit of psychological tricks, preparing to manipulate this new stranger with his lies and fake emotions. He masks all this cold-hearted, calculated aggressiveness behind a charismatic smile and friendly persona. |
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| Jethro Tull – Cross-Eyed Mary Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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@[Fuzzbean:27195] Well I wish this site had some "Edit" button... to be more clear about the opening lines, this is exactly how a libertarian person would view taxation: as legalized theft. Even the lowest thief with no morals at all would probably prefer to steal from rich people rather than a poor baby, if the work was equally easy. My interpretation of this song is that Ian Anderson has libertarian political leanings, which were probably spurred along by the astoundingly high tax rates on high income British rock stars back then. See also the Jethro Tull song "Queen and Country." Or the Beatles song "Tax Man." |
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| Jethro Tull – Cross-Eyed Mary Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I take a completely different view of this song from just about everybody else. I think this song is about a politician, and possibly one particular real-life politician. A socialist politician, and maybe one with actual crossed eyes or actually named Mary. "Who would be a poor man, a beggar-man, a thief If he had the rich man in his hand And who would steal the candy From a laughing baby's mouth If he could take it from the money man" This practically sums up the libertarian philosophy. In other words, who would bother with ordinary crime, if he could steal legally through taxation? Who would remain poor, if he could even himself up with the rich through the power of government? "Cross-eyed Mary goes jumping in again She signs no contract but she always plays the game" Politicians are always on the lookout for problems to fix... it is how they keep themselves looking useful and in office. Of course when their "fixes" backfire and millions of dollars pour down a rathole, they don't take any personal responsibility or lose any money out of their own pockets. "Laughing in the playground gets no kicks from little boys Would rather make it with a letching grey Or maybe her attention is drawn by Aqualung" Politicians know younger people rarely vote, but senior citizens sure do. May the Lord have mercy on any politician that threatens Social Security. And then, showing compassion for the homeless is always good politics, too. The "playground" could be the U.S. Congress, or probably the British parliament as Ian originally intended it. "She's the rich man stealer but her favour's good and strong She's the Robin Hood of Highgate, helps the poor man get along" I believe Highgate is a rather wealthy area, full of rich folks ripe for the harvest. The song also mentions Hampstead village, which is famous as a haven for socialists, communists, and other extreme liberal types. |
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| Jethro Tull – Two Fingers Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I'm not buying any of the current explanations about licking two fingers clean. I'm still cogitating on that one. And I don't agree that this is so specific to the Catholic Church and their particular practices as one person claimed. But overall it is obviously about religion and death. I rather felt the "chamber pot" might be our earthly bodies, which return to dust and might be recycled to hold another soul later, if souls exist. I think "the hard-headed miracle worker who bathes his hands in blood" is obviously God, the guy who can foresee everything and has unlimited power to fix anything, yet lets little kids get shot in random drive-by shootings. He's just sticking stubbornly to a plan, I guess, right? The "old man with the telescope" is also God, once again watching and knowing everything but remaining distant and uninvolved. I think the "deal" in this song is not so much a matter of money, but of belief. Believe in God -- without the clear proof He could effortlessly provide -- and get your ticket to heaven. Some philosopher once pointed out that by believing in God, whether God exists or not, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. That assuming God does not actually hate gullible people, I guess. |
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| Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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@[Aqualung:27150] You are correct. I think he says "Thank God he stole the handle..." And it is not just the studio album version. I see at least 2 live concert versions on YouTube where I can hear and see him saying something like "thank" before the word "God." I think Ian Anderson feels we are better off without that brake handle. |
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| Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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@[PatriotOGrady:27149] Well you are not the only one feeling uncertainty. At first I felt your original comments here must surely be an over-the-top parody of some other person's manner of expressing themselves, but not only could I not locate an appropriate target but now you are staying in character so consistently as well. You mentioned the importance of context... in your roundabout way.. If one takes this song's lyrics in the context of a whole bunch of other Jethro Tull songs, and (so to speak) solve simultaneous equations, Ian Anderson's opinions and motivations become rather clear. |
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| Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[PatriotOGrady:27135] You have a much different understanding of Ian Anderson than me if you think what he says or explains about a song's meaning outside the song itself is anything but a red herring. | |
| Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[PimpTasticBling:27134] Well you can listen to the album version... Ian is definitely saying "thank" or something else very similar. You can look at more than one live concert version on YouTube and both hear and SEE Ian saying "thank" or something similar. I don't care what the printed lyrics say... I have seen obviously incorrect lyrics on album sleeves before. I could believe some random noise got on the album version, but the YouTube concerts are consistent with the album. | |
| Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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As a couple others have said, "Old Charlie" in this song is Charles Darwin. This song is about the decay of religious belief in modern society. Traditionally religion has provided a simple and fool-proof "God said so" basis for morality, putting the brakes on our most primitive urges. As Darwin's theory of evolution (and science in general) seem to more and more render God unnecessary, not only is the basis of our morality and responsible behavior undercut, but the whole meaning of life becomes questionable. So, Old Charlie stole the brake handle that kept the train of life under control. As our religious belief system collapses, younger generations in particular "jump off" and stop attending church. Angels we imagine flying around up in heaven suddenly fall to earth, as if a power switch was clicked off. Some individuals, unable to find a new basis for morality, begin to engage in irresponsible behavior. Life seems to have no meaning, no promise of heavenly reward at the end, and becomes just an exhausting struggle as we shuffle along helplessly towards death. We thought a comforting God was out there someplace, but now all we hear is the silence of reality howling as we must deal with the pressures of daily life on our own. If you doubt the Darwin idea, think about it... what is on "page one" of the Bible? Sure Ian Anderson says this song is about population growth, and that "Skating Away" is about climate change, but if you believe that I have some swampland I want to sell you. As Ian said in the lyrics of the song "Nothing to Say," his policy is "don't ask me will I explain, I won't even begin to tell you why." Please note that while the printed lyrics say "God he stole the handle," if you listen to the album you can clearly hear -- and in concert versions on YouTube, visually SEE -- Ian saying "THANK God he stole the handle..." I other words, in the long run we are better off without our vision clouded by religious fantasies. |
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| Jethro Tull – A Time For Everything Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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Along these same lines was Pink Floyd's later song "Time"... with its lines such as "No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" etc. etc. It is a great topic to write a song about, and would have occurred independently to a lot of people. Though I sometimes wonder if Pink Floyd's "The Wall" was not sort of a restatement (with refocus) of Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick." |
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| Jethro Tull – Son Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[acidcasualty:27102] I agree this song is about parents such as Ian's father, but I tend to think the line you quote from "Wind Up" refers to our Father who art in heaven. In other words, of all the religions on Earth, what is the probability of being born into the one and only true and fully accurate religion? | |
| Jethro Tull – Play In Time Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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Start by reading my comments about the song "Nothing to Say" from this same album... that is part of the key to Jethro Tull in general, as is this song. Anyway, looking at this song, Ian has this powerful urge to "do what must be done" as far as satisfying his own conscience that he has communicated important truths to people. Yet he feels it is "no time" to be doing that right now, because he has to "take in what (he) can" as far as making money, while he has the chance. As he said in the song "We Used to Know" off the "Stand Up" album, he felt the success of the band could be a case of "slowly upstairs, faster down." So here he is, singing what he feels he must sing, but he is informing us that to do it without alienating fans and undermining his own success he plans to do it by "talking to people in (his own cryptic) way." It is especially important to note that at one point in this song (in the album version, at least) it sounds very much like music being played backwards. I don't imagine there is any actual message encoded in there, but it is a clue for us to look deeper; that what we hear on the surface is not necessarily what he is actually saying. |
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| Jethro Tull – Nothing To Say Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I think this is a very key song to understanding a lot of things about Jethro Tull. It seems that (especially as a young adult) Ian Anderson spent a lot of time thinking about religion, that the subject was very important to him. And we have a few songs, such as "My God" where he addresses the topic in a relatively open and direct way. But there are a larger number of songs that I think are about religion but which address it with more cryptic lyrics... "Locomotive Breath" and "Backdoor Angels" come to mind, and the whole "Passion Play" album. Overall I think Ian believes in a historical man named Jesus, and allows that there may be some sort of God, yet believes that existing organized religions are a bunch of nonsense. And I think he believes we would all arrive at that same conclusion, if we just looked at the evidence (and lack of evidence) with clear eyes. No doubt as a child he believed what he was told about religion, until he got older and thought for himself more. So on one hand he had this powerful urge or drive to tell the truth about religion, but on the other hand he realized that telling the truth would insult or anger a large proportion of his fans who were religious. Anyway this song is like a preparation or a warning about what is to come. Look at some of the lyrics: "No I say I have the answer proven to be true, But if I were to share it with you, You would stand to gain and I to lose. Oh I couldn't bear it so I've got nothing to say." So, if he told the truth about religion, the listener would gain knowledge, but Ian would lose fans and lose money. "No, just because I have a name well I've got nothing to say." His band is just getting successful, just made a name for themselves, and he doesn't want to torpedo that success now. "That your misfortune brought upon us and I won't disguise them." It seems characteristic of Tull lyrics that the point of reference is constantly shifting... that "you" in one line may be the listener, "you" in the next line may be the established powers-that-be, "you" in the line after that is Jesus. In this case I think "you" is Jesus... Ian does not question here that Jesus lived and suffered, but laments all the turmoil and suffering that organized Christianity has wrought. "So don't ask me will I explain, I won't even begin to tell you why." When giving interviews, Ian seems to take pleasure in making totally ridiculous explanations about the meanings of his songs. For example it appears he recently told Rolling Stone that "Locomotive Breath" is about population growth, and that "Skating Away" is about climate change. This is utter nonsense, and he has been doing it for years. Just his policy, I guess. |
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| Jethro Tull – Mother Goose Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| If you read about Hampstead Heath on Wikipedia, you will note that it is a large park in London and for many, many years famous as a "cruising ground" for homosexuals looking for sex partners and actually engaging in sex there. So we should not be surprized that the "chicken fancier" comes to "play" in such a place. | |
| Jethro Tull – Mother Goose Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I think this song is a relatively straightforward account of things Ian Anderson actually encountered while on a walk. While it is "encoded" a bit, it has no particularly deep meaning. Nor is it pure nonsense, as Ian might have suggested in an interview at some point. As promised in the earlier song "Nothing to Say," Ian is really airtight about explaining his lyrics: "So don't ask me will I explain; I won't even begin to tell you why." Indeed he loves to toss out red herrings in interviews to throw us off track. Mother Goose may have been a goose that was somehow trapped and Ian rescued. I myself, as an American, have been a bit confused about exactly what "Picadilly Circus" is; possibly folks from non-English-speaking countries might be even more confused. The hundred schoolgirls were probably crying about the breakup of the Beatles, which became official about the same time this song was recorded... shortly after December 1970. Ian calling himself a schoolboy could have several meanings, including that he was still seeking some wisdom such as the meaning of life or the existence of God, or perhaps he was just sexually attracted to the teenage schoolgirls. The chicken-fancier is a homosexual man. The fact that his sister drives a truck, a traditional man's job, seems to indicate some confusion of sexual or gender roles in that family... hence the verbal raised eyebrow we hear in the song as originally recorded. The laborers are knocking themselves out digging a trench or whatever, to get their "gold" paychecks to live off of. Ian is Long John Silver because his recent musical success has given him a huge treasure of money, yet he would not yet be likely to be recognized on sight by the average person. Johnny Scarecrow is a local bum or other poor character who saw a nice mac dressing a snowman and took it for himself since it was better than what he had. |
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