This is what was listed at Cup of Wonder, a great Tull fansite:
* "'Locomotive Breath' is another song about dying, but it's not so serious as 'Slipstream'. It's an analogy of the unending train journey of life; you can't stop, you've got to stagger on. But it's not that serious. All of the songs have an element of humour, and sometimes pure silliness".
* Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971
* This song is about modern man ("the all-time loser"), who can hardly keep up with the pace of life in our society ("locomotive breath"). He suffers from all kinds of desillusions, alienation and solitude, cannot get hold of his own life and in the end resorts to religion: "he picks up Gideons Bible, open at page one", in the hope to find a solution. The verseline "The train won't stop going, no way to slow down" symbolizes his/our life that goes on and on without a pause until we inevitably die. At this place in the bible one will find the book of Genesis in which is described how the universe, the world and all living beings on it were created. Roland Tarmo points out that "old Charlie" is a reference to Charles Darwin and his evolution theory, that offered a scientific alternative for the unconditional belief in creation as worded in Genesis, thus questioning the self-evidentness of this belief. In other words: he "stole the handle", that for centuries had defined men's position. I assume that "the all-time winner" refers to God.
"Gideon" is the organisation that aims at spreading the Bible by having it placed in public buildings like hotels.
* Jan Voorbij
This song is about modern man ("the all-time loser"), who can hardly keep up with the pace of life (chase for profit) in our society ("locomotive breath"). He suffers from all kinds of desillusions, alienation and solitude, cannot get hold of his own life and in the end resorts to religion: "he picks up Gideons Bible, open at page one", in the hope to find a solution. The verseline "The train won't stop going, no way to slow down" symbolizes his/our life that goes on and on without a pause until we inevitably die. At this place in the bible...
This song is about modern man ("the all-time loser"), who can hardly keep up with the pace of life (chase for profit) in our society ("locomotive breath"). He suffers from all kinds of desillusions, alienation and solitude, cannot get hold of his own life and in the end resorts to religion: "he picks up Gideons Bible, open at page one", in the hope to find a solution. The verseline "The train won't stop going, no way to slow down" symbolizes his/our life that goes on and on without a pause until we inevitably die. At this place in the bible one will find the book of Genesis in which is described how the universe, the world and all living beings on it were created. Roland Tarmo points out that "old Charlie" is a reference to Charles Darwin and his evolution theory, that offered a scientific alternative for the unconditional belief in creation as worded in Genesis, thus alienating man from god (old Charlie stole the handle) "Gideon" is the organisation that aims at spreading the Bible by having it placed in public buildings like hotels.
Locomotive Breath is a reference to the de-personalization of the modern industrial society which treats people as parts of a machine.
He (the protagonist) is the all-time loser, who has tried and failed at gaining control of his life. this headlong chase for profits...
"Crawling down the corridor" is his struggle to keep going, though crushed by the weight of his failures. corridor is lovely imagery the doors might open to gardens of eden but we keep going down the corridor seeking the farthest door (to happiness)
"The all time winner has got him by the balls" is a reference to the mad merry-go-round of mantle of winner (and his greed) that keeps him locked into his position as a broken cog in the corporate machine, a position from which he can only escape by dying
"He feels the piston scraping Steam breaking on his brow" (he feels all the thrills and pain of the ride - headlong rush to madness)
"The train it won't stop going No way to slow down." the greed fuels the rush for profits there is no stopping one or the other
"He sees his children jumping off At the stations one by one". all his efforts to earn profits fall by the way side there is someone else ahead in the rush for profits, the mantle of winner that has captured vitality of his soul.
"His woman and his best friend In bed and having fun." his soul ( wife) and his happiness ( best friend) are estranged to him by the same act (in bed and having fun)
"He hears the silence howling Catches angels as they fall" the answers to big questions are unavailable to the point that their silence starts howling. and faith catches the angels (those who give up greed) as they fall by wayside ALT silence of soulless march gathers more following as angels (kindred souls) fall to temptations of this march.
I acknowledge help from interpretations of brian333 mar 21, 2013/ taobeth dec 16, 2004/ track nov 22 2009
ps: 1. to fail you just need someone else to succeed more not necessarily drugs or alchohol
2. old Charlie could just be a ref to "MTA" story that track googled - Very-very interesting: I googled "Old Charlie" and found "MTA" in Wikipedia. It talks about a song written in 1948 called Charlie in the MTA: "The lyrics are about a man named Charlie trapped on Boston's subway system, then known as the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)... It has become so entrenched in Boston that the city's subway system named its electronic card-based fare collection system the "CharlieCard" as a tribute to this song...The song's lyrics tell of Charlie, a man who gets aboard an MTA subway car. Charlie CAN'T GET OFF the subway as he didn't bring enough money for the "EXIT FARES" that were established to collect an increased fare without upgrading existing fare collection equipment.
When he got there the conductor told him,
"One more nickel."
Charlie could not get off that train.
Did he ever return,
No he never returned
And his fate is still unlearn'd
He may ride forever
'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned.
This is what was listed at Cup of Wonder, a great Tull fansite:
This song is about modern man ("the all-time loser"), who can hardly keep up with the pace of life (chase for profit) in our society ("locomotive breath"). He suffers from all kinds of desillusions, alienation and solitude, cannot get hold of his own life and in the end resorts to religion: "he picks up Gideons Bible, open at page one", in the hope to find a solution. The verseline "The train won't stop going, no way to slow down" symbolizes his/our life that goes on and on without a pause until we inevitably die. At this place in the bible...
This song is about modern man ("the all-time loser"), who can hardly keep up with the pace of life (chase for profit) in our society ("locomotive breath"). He suffers from all kinds of desillusions, alienation and solitude, cannot get hold of his own life and in the end resorts to religion: "he picks up Gideons Bible, open at page one", in the hope to find a solution. The verseline "The train won't stop going, no way to slow down" symbolizes his/our life that goes on and on without a pause until we inevitably die. At this place in the bible one will find the book of Genesis in which is described how the universe, the world and all living beings on it were created. Roland Tarmo points out that "old Charlie" is a reference to Charles Darwin and his evolution theory, that offered a scientific alternative for the unconditional belief in creation as worded in Genesis, thus alienating man from god (old Charlie stole the handle) "Gideon" is the organisation that aims at spreading the Bible by having it placed in public buildings like hotels. Locomotive Breath is a reference to the de-personalization of the modern industrial society which treats people as parts of a machine. He (the protagonist) is the all-time loser, who has tried and failed at gaining control of his life. this headlong chase for profits... "Crawling down the corridor" is his struggle to keep going, though crushed by the weight of his failures. corridor is lovely imagery the doors might open to gardens of eden but we keep going down the corridor seeking the farthest door (to happiness) "The all time winner has got him by the balls" is a reference to the mad merry-go-round of mantle of winner (and his greed) that keeps him locked into his position as a broken cog in the corporate machine, a position from which he can only escape by dying "He feels the piston scraping Steam breaking on his brow" (he feels all the thrills and pain of the ride - headlong rush to madness) "The train it won't stop going No way to slow down." the greed fuels the rush for profits there is no stopping one or the other "He sees his children jumping off At the stations one by one". all his efforts to earn profits fall by the way side there is someone else ahead in the rush for profits, the mantle of winner that has captured vitality of his soul. "His woman and his best friend In bed and having fun." his soul ( wife) and his happiness ( best friend) are estranged to him by the same act (in bed and having fun) "He hears the silence howling Catches angels as they fall" the answers to big questions are unavailable to the point that their silence starts howling. and faith catches the angels (those who give up greed) as they fall by wayside ALT silence of soulless march gathers more following as angels (kindred souls) fall to temptations of this march. I acknowledge help from interpretations of brian333 mar 21, 2013/ taobeth dec 16, 2004/ track nov 22 2009 ps: 1. to fail you just need someone else to succeed more not necessarily drugs or alchohol 2. old Charlie could just be a ref to "MTA" story that track googled - Very-very interesting: I googled "Old Charlie" and found "MTA" in Wikipedia. It talks about a song written in 1948 called Charlie in the MTA: "The lyrics are about a man named Charlie trapped on Boston's subway system, then known as the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)... It has become so entrenched in Boston that the city's subway system named its electronic card-based fare collection system the "CharlieCard" as a tribute to this song...The song's lyrics tell of Charlie, a man who gets aboard an MTA subway car. Charlie CAN'T GET OFF the subway as he didn't bring enough money for the "EXIT FARES" that were established to collect an increased fare without upgrading existing fare collection equipment.
When he got there the conductor told him, "One more nickel." Charlie could not get off that train.
Did he ever return, No he never returned And his fate is still unlearn'd He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston He's the man who never returned.