LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 19, 2020…ON MARCH 19,1971 EVERY KID I KNEW STARTED STARTED SINGING “SNOTS RUNNING DOWN HIS NOSE” BECAUSE IT WAS THE DAY JETHRO TULL RELEASED THEIR FOURTH ALBUM ‘AQUALUNG.’ THE ALBUM ‘AQUALUNG’ WAS A TURNING POINT IN THE BAND’S CAREER.
THE SONG ‘AQUALUNG’ IS JETHRO TULL’S MOST FAMOUS SONG, BUT IT WAS NEVER RELEASED AS A SINGLE. THE STRATEGY WORKED BECAUSE THE ALBUM ENDED UP SELLING MORE THAN 7 MILLION COPIES. THE SONG IS ABOUT A HOMELESS MAN WITH POOR HYGIENE. IAN ANDERSON MADE UP THE CHARACTER BASED ON ACTUAL PHOTOS OF TRANSIENT MEN. ANDERSON SAID THE SONG IS; “a guilt-ridden song of confusion about how you deal with beggars, the homeless.”
HE GAVE THE CHARACTER THE NAME “AQUALUNG” BECAUSE OF THE GURGLING SOUND OF UNDERWATER GEAR. HE FELT THAT’S THE WAY THE CHARACTER WOULD SOUND WHEN HE WAS BREATHING. UNFORTUNATELY ANDERSON DID NOT KNOW THE TERM AQUALUNG WAS A BRAND NAME, AND NOT A GENERIC PHRASE. THE ISSUE WAS SETTLED OUT OF COURT. THE SONG ‘CROSS EYED MARY’ WAS A HUGE SINGLE FROM THE RECORD. IT’S THE SECOND TRACK ON THE ALBUM AND THE SONG IS ABOUT A “SCHOOL GIRL PROSTITUTE TYPE” THAT LIVES A WRETCHED EXISTENCE AND OFFERS HER SERVICES TO THE DREGS OF SOCIETY. SHE’S KIND OF A ROBIN HOOD PROSTITUTE WHO MAKES AS MUCH MONEY AS SHE CAN FROM THE CUSTOMERS THAT CAN AFFORD IT, BUT WOULD GIVE AWAY HER SERVICES FOR FREE TO THOSE WHO CAN’T PAY.” ANOTHER HUGE SONG FROM THE RECORD WAS ‘LOCOMOTIVE BREATH.’ ACCORDING TO ANDERSON IT DEALS WITH OVERCROWDING WITH THE TRAN BEING AN “incessant unstoppable locomotive being metaphor for seemingly the unstoppable population expansion on planet Earth. When I look at it today, it does, for me, become very crystallized in being a song about unmanageable population expansion.”
HERE’S A GREAT LIVE VERSION OF LOCOMOTIVE BREATH
HERE’S JETHRO TULL PERFORMING THE TITLE TRACK AQUALUNG FROM A SHOW IN 1978
AND HERE’S CROSS EYED MARY FROM A SHOW IN 1977