Aqualung (song)
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"Aqualung" is a song by English progressive rock band Jethro Tull, featured as the first track on their 1971 album Aqualung, and written by the bands' frontman, Ian Anderson, and his then-wife, Jennie Franks. The original recording runs for 6 minutes and 32 seconds. Like many of Jethro Tull's songs, "Aqualung" tells a story —in this case, the story of a homeless man. The opening lyrics are "Sitting on a park bench / Eyeing little girls with bad intent".
The song is the title track from Jethro Tull's first U.S. Top 10 album, which reached #7 in June of 1971.[1]
In an interview with Ian Anderson in the September 1999 Guitar World he said:
Aqualung wasn't a concept album, although a lot of people thought so. The idea came about from a photograph my wife at the time took of a tramp in London. I had feelings of guilt about the homeless, as well as fear and insecurity with people like that who seem a little scary. And I suppose all of that was combined with a slightly romanticized picture of the person who is homeless but yet a free spirit, who either won't or can't join in society's prescribed formats.
So from that photograph and those sentiments, I began writing the words to 'Aqualung.' I can remember sitting in a hotel room in L.A., working out the chord structure for the verses. It's quite a tortured tangle of chords, but it was meant to really drag you here and there and then set you down into the more gentle acoustic section of the song.[2]
Reportedly, Jimmy Page entered the studio, while Martin Barre was recording the guitar solo. It was during the first take, Martin didn't know Jimmy much, and was a little ashamed. Jimmy waved to Martin from the control room while he was playing, and Martin stopped playing for a short second, and waved with his right hand, while still sustaining the sound with the left hand. The solo on the record is actually this first take. Indeed, there is a short sustain with feedback during the solo. Anderson once joked that if you turn up the volume you can even hear Martin waving.[citation needed]
The Aqualung character is later mentioned in "Cross-Eyed Mary", which follows this song on the album.
Recorded appearances
- Aqualung (1971)
- Bursting Out (1978)
- Slipstream (1981)
- A Classic Case (1985)
- Original Masters (1985)
- 20 Years of Jethro Tull (1988)
- 20 Years of Jethro Tull: Highlights (1988)
- The Very Best of Jethro Tull (2001)
- Living with the Past (2002)
- A New Day Yesterday (2003)
- Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull (2005)
- Aqualung Live (2005)
References
- ^ Rock Movers & Shakers by Dafydd Rees & Luke Crampton, 1991 Billboard Books.
- ^ Jethro Tull Press: Guitar World, September 1999