First: Jethro Tull is the name of the band. The band does not have and never did have, a member named Jethro Tull. The real Jethro Tull was a British agronomist who lived from 1674 to 1741, and no, I have no idea why front-man Ian Anderson and the rest of the band named their group after him, other than that it sounds cool.
I first got turned onto Jethro Tull when my sister lent me an album, the LP of the 1977 album “Songs From the Wood.” While I was more of a head-banger, guitar-rock kind of guy, I quickly developed an appreciation for this offbeat Scottish band and their unusual musical style. There just isn’t another band out there like them, and the neat thing is that they are still rolling, with last year’s release of the album “Zealot Gene.”
But here, from back in the day, are five Jethro Tull songs that I particularly like.
1) Dun Ringill (1979): Dun Ringill is a real place, an Iron Age hill fort on the Isle of Skye off the Scottish coast. It was historically the seat of Clan MacKinnon and, according to Jethro Tull, a place where “the old gods play.” When he wrote this song, Ian Anderson lived at Kilmarie House, a short walk from Dun Ringill. It’s a great song, haunting, evoking images of mystery and ancient traditions, all while the storm-watch brews.
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2) Mother Goose (1971): From the famous album “Aqualung,” the Mother Goose in the song isn’t a goose at all; in fact, it’s not at all clear what she is. This song presents a ramble through a kaleidoscope of strange people and stranger events and is best listened to with an open mind – maybe in a mildly altered state.
3) Heavy Horses (1978): Ian Anderson clearly foresaw a future for the great draft horses in a time when “…the oil barrels have all dripped dry,” a time when we would beg the great horses for “their strength, their gentle power.” While that time hasn’t come and, given advances in energy, may never come, that doesn’t mean we should keep these old bloodlines going. The great draft horses are magnificent beasts – when I was a young man I knew a family that raised Shire draft horses, and they really were gentle giants. That’s reason enough to keep them around.
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4) The Mouse Police Never Sleeps (1978): This song also comes to us from the album “Heavy Horses,” this song isn’t, as one might think, about mice at all. Instead, it tells the story of the veteran vermin-catching cat, who hunts the “little furry folk,” and brings up the vivid imagery of that which has been the domestic cat’s role since the days of Kipling’s Cat That Walked By Himself.
Lying in the cherry tree
Savage bed foot-warmer of purest feline ancestry
Look out, little furry folk!
He's the all-night working cat
Eats but one in every ten
Leaves the others on the mat
And the mouse police never sleeps
5) Up To Me (1971): Also from the album “Aqualung,” this is a quick, peppy piece, with Anderson's wry laughter punctuating the lyrics. And those lyrics are… odd.
Take you to the cinema
And leave you in a Wimpy Bar
You tell me that we've gone too far
Come running up to me
It’s a fun song.
Listening to these tunes takes me back to the old days, those great days of the 70s when we would put on a Tull album and rock to some offbeat stuff. Good times, great music, and a break from the usual 70s rock & roll.
Have you any favorite Jethro Tull tunes? As always, the comments are all yours!
