Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick or A Passion Play?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by yesstiles, Apr 5, 2008.

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  1. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    To be perfectly clear as there seems to be some doubt::angel:
    "The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" (Words by Jeffrey Hammond)


    ...and to get even deeper into the mud - Ian Anderson really is not aware of the true meaning of (the message that came through him) "Thick As A Brick" & "A Passion Play".

    :laugh: And if you think I'm joking, then I'm just a one-line joker in a public bar.
     
  2. izgoblin

    izgoblin Forum Resident

    You may be right - what do you think?

    I think of the line "I'd give up my halo for a horn and the horn for the hat I once had." This suggests that after experiencing all three (heaven, hell and life on earth), he wishes to return to life. And though the ministry-of-information.co.uk website suggests some confusion over the yelling of "Steve! Caroline!" at the end, I took it to mean this is Ronnie shouting to two friends he is happy to once again see now that he has returned to life.

    Now as for TAAB, I still don't really get it, because to me it seems like there's a lot of angry, critical commentary within the lyrics, whereas Ian Anderson from what I read seems to suggest it was all in fun.
     
  3. mrbillswildride

    mrbillswildride Internet Asylum Escapee 2010, 2012, 2014


    Seems like a pretty vicious (and spot on) critique on modern society to me...


    Ian's probably just pulling your leg (hopefully not THAT one..)

    He tend to downplay the wicked social commentary in his lyrics from Aqualung-Minstrel these days... old age... revisionist history... squeemish...
     
  4. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    Yes, what does it mean? :D


    Lifebeats (Instrumental)*

    Prelude (Instrumental)*

    The Silver Cord*

    "Do you still see me even here?''
    (The silver cord lies on the ground.)
    "And so I'm dead'', the young man said
    over the hill (not a wish away).
    My friends (as one) all stand aligned
    although their taxis came too late.
    There was / a rush along the Fulham Road.
    There was / a hush in the Passion Play.

    Such a sense of glowing in the aftermath
    ripe with rich attainments all imagined
    sad misdeeds in disarray
    the sore thumb screams aloud,
    echoing out of the Passion Play.
    All the old familiar choruses come crowding in a different key:
    Melodies decaying in sweet dissonance.
    There was a rush along the Fulham Road
    into the Ever-passion Play.

    And who comes here to wish me well?
    A sweetly-scented angel fell.
    She laid her head upon my disbelief
    and bathed me with her ever-smile.
    And with a howl across the sand
    I go escorted by a band of gentlemen in leather bound
    NO-ONE (but someone to be found).


    Re-Assuring Tune (Instrumental)*

    Memory Bank*

    All along the icy wastes there are faces smiling in the gloom.
    Roll up roll down, Feeling unwound? Step into the viewing room.
    The cameras were all around.We've got you taped you're in the play.
    Here's your I.D. (Ideal for identifying one and all.)
    Invest your life in the memory bank ours the interest and we thank you.
    The ice-cream lady wets her drawers, to see you in the passion play.
    Take the prize for instant pleasure, captain of the cricket team
    public speaking in all weathers, a knighthood from a queen.

    Best Friends*

    All your best friends' telephones never cooled from the heat of your hand.
    There's a line in a front-page story, 13 horses that also-ran.
    Climb in your old umbrella. Does it have a nasty tear in the dome?
    But the rain only gets in sometimes and the sun never leaves you alone,
    you alone, you alone, you alone, you alone, you alone.

    Critique Oblique*

    Lover of the black and white it's your first night.
    The Passion Play, goes all the way, spoils your insight.
    Tell me how the baby's made, how the lady's laid,
    why the old dog howls in sadness.

    And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders
    of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision.
    (The examining body examined her body.)
    Actor of the low-high Q, let's hear your view.
    Peek at the lines upon your sleeves since your memory won't do.
    Tell me: how the baby's graded, how the lady's faded,
    why the old dogs howl with madness.
    All of this and some of that's the only way to skin the cat.
    And now you've lost a skin or two, you're for us and we for you.
    The dressing room is right behind, We've got you taped, you're in the play.
    How does it feel to be in the play?
    How does it feel to play the play?
    How does it feel to be the play?

    Man of passion rise again, we won't cross you out:
    for we do love you like a son, of that there's no doubt.
    Tell us: is it you who are here for our good cheer?
    Or are we here for the glory, for the story, for the gory satisfaction
    of telling you how absolutely awful you really are?
    There was / a rush along the Fulham Road.
    There was / a hush in the Passion Play.

    Forest Dance #1 (Instrumental)*


    The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles

    (Words by Jeffrey Hammond)

    [Spoken:]
    This is the story of the hare who lost his spectacles.

    Owl loved to rest quietly whilst no one was watching. Sitting on a fence one day,
    he was surprised when suddenly a kangaroo ran close by. Now this may not
    seem strange, but when Owl overheard Kangaroo whisper to no one in
    particular, "The hare has lost his spectacles,'' well, he began to wonder.
    Presently, the moon appeared from behind a cloud and there, lying on the grass
    was hare. In the stream that flowed by the grass a newt. And sitting astride a
    twig of a bush a bee. Ostensibly motionless, the hare was trembling with
    excitement, for without his spectacles he was completely helpless. Where were
    his spectacles? Could someone have stolen them? Had he mislaid them? What
    was he to do? Bee wanted to help, and thinking he had the answer began:
    "You probably ate them thinking they were a carrot.'' "No!'' interrupted Owl,
    who was wise. "I have good eye-sight, insight, and foresight. How could an
    intelligent hare make such a silly mistake?'' But all this time, Owl had been
    sitting on the fence, scowling! Kangaroo were hopping mad at this sort of talk.
    She thought herself far superior in intelligence to the others. She was their leader,
    their guru. She had the answer: "Hare, you must go in search of the optician.''
    But then she realized that Hare was completely helpless without his spectacles.
    And so, Kangaroo loudly proclaimed, "I can't send Hare in search of anything!''
    "You can guru, you can!'' shouted Newt. "You can send him with Owl.'' But Owl
    had gone to sleep. Newt knew too much to be stopped by so small a problem
    "You can take him in your pouch.'' But alas, Hare was much too big to fit into
    Kangaroo's pouch. All this time, it had been quite plain to hare that the others
    knew nothing about spectacles.
    [Sung:] As for all their tempting ideas, well Hare didn't care. The lost spectacles were
    his own affair. And after all, Hare did have a spare a-pair. A-pair.

    Forest Dance #2 (Instrumental)*



    THE END

    The Foot Of Our Stairs*

    We sleep by the ever-bright hole in the door,
    eat in the corner, talk to the floor,
    cheating the spiders who come to say "Please'',
    (politely). They bend at the knees.
    Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs.
    Old gentlemen talk of when they were young
    of ladies lost and erring sons.
    Lace-covered dandies revel (with friends)
    pure as the truth, tied at both ends.
    Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs.
    Scented cathedral spire pointed down.
    We pray for souls in Kentish Town.
    A delicate hush the gods, floating by
    wishing us well, pie in the sky.
    God of ages, Lord of Time, mine is the right to be wrong.
    Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs.
    Jack rabbit mister spawn a new breed
    of love-hungry pilgrims (no bodies to feed).
    Show me a good man and I'll show you the door.
    The last hymn is sung and the devil cries "More.''

    Well, I'm all for leaving and that being done,
    I've put in a request to take up my turn
    in that forsaken paradise that calls itself "Hell''
    where no-one has nothing and nothing is well meaning fool,
    pick up thy bed and rise up from your gloom smiling.
    Give me your hate and do as the loving heathen do.


    Overseer Overture*

    Colours I've none, dark or light, red, white or blue.
    Cold is my touch (freezing).

    Summoned by name - I am the overseer over you.
    Given this command to watch o'er our miserable sphere.
    Fallen from grace, called on to bring sun or rain.
    Occasional corn from my oversight grew.
    Fell with mine angels from a far better place,
    offering services for the saving of face.
    Now you're here, you may as well admire
    all whom living has retired from the benign reconciliation.
    Legends were born surrounding mysterious lights
    seen in the sky (flashing).
    I just lit a fag then took my leave in the blink of an eye.
    Passionate play join round the maypole in dance
    (primitive rite) (wrongly).
    Summoned by name I am the overseer over you.



    Flight From Lucifer*

    Flee the icy Lucifer. Oh he's an awful fellow!
    What a mistake! I didn't take a feather from his pillow.
    Here's the everlasting rub: neither am I good or bad.
    I'd give up my halo for a horn and the horn for the hat I once had.
    I'm only breathing. There's life on my ceiling.
    The flies there are sleeping quietly.
    Twist my right arm in the dark.
    I would give two or three for
    one of those days that never made
    impressions on the old score.
    I would gladly be a dog barking up the wrong tree.
    Everyone's saved we're in the grave.
    See you there for afternoon tea.
    Time for awaking the tea lady's making
    a brew-up and baking new bread.
    Pick me up at half past none
    there's not a moment to lose.
    There is the train on which I came.
    On the platform are my old shoes.
    Station master rings his bell.
    Whistles blow and flags wave.
    A little of what you fancy does you good (Or so it should).
    I thank everybody
    for making me welcome.
    I'd stay but my wings have just dropped off.

    10.08 To Paddington (Instrumental)*



    Magus Perde*

    Hail! Son of kings make the ever-dying sign
    cross your fingers in the sky for those about to BE.
    There am I waiting along the sand.
    Cast your sweet spell upon the land and sea.
    Magus Perde, take your hand from off the chain.
    Loose a wish to still, the rain, the storm about to BE.
    Here am I (voyager into life).
    Tough are the soles that tread the knife's edge.
    Break the circle,stretch the line, call upon the devil.
    Bring the gods, the gods' own fire
    In the conflict revel.
    The passengers upon the ferry crossing, waiting to be born,
    renew the pledge of life's long song rise to the reveille horn.
    Animals queueing at the gate that stands upon the shore
    breathe the ever-burning fire that guards the ever-door.

    Man - son of man - buy the flame of ever-life
    (yours to breathe and breath the pain of living): living BE!
    Here am I! Roll the stone away
    from the dark into ever-day.

    Epilogue*
    There was a rush along the Fulham Road
    into the Ever-passion Play.
     
  5. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    Two thing I have to say...

    - I NEVER skip The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles. For one thing, I think the music is delightful - beautiful melodies and orchestration. Can I assume we can thank John Evan for that? Also, I've always loved those twee English children's books like "Winnie the Pooh", "Wind in the Willows" and "Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass". This is a great parody of that stuff.

    - There's a ferocious and well-recorded excerpt from A Passion Play on one of the compilations (the cigar box set?) WHERE'S THE REST OF IT?!?!
     
    TheFatChocobo likes this.
  6. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    Waking from a dream, the wishful dream of a dead man.



    Flee the icy Lucifer. Oh he's an awful fellow!
    What a mistake! I didn't take a feather from his pillow.
    Here's the everlasting rub: neither am I good or bad.
    I'd give up my halo for a horn and the horn for the hat I once had.
    I'm only breathing. There's life on my ceiling.
    The flies there are sleeping quietly.
    Twist my right arm in the dark.
    I would give two or three for
    one of those days that never made
    impressions on the old score.
    I would gladly be a dog barking up the wrong tree.
    Everyone's saved we're in the grave.
    See you there for afternoon tea.
    Time for awaking the tea lady's making
    a brew-up and baking new bread.
    Pick me up at half past none
    there's not a moment to lose.
    There is the train on which I came.
    On the platform are my old shoes.
    Station master rings his bell.
    Whistles blow and flags wave.
    A little of what you fancy does you good (Or so it should).
    I thank everybody
    for making me welcome.
    I'd stay but my wings have just dropped off.

    10.08 To Paddington (Instrumental)*
     
  7. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    :thumbsup: ...yes!...the rest? please
     
  8. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
  9. mrbillswildride

    mrbillswildride Internet Asylum Escapee 2010, 2012, 2014



    Do you speak of the Chateau Disaster tapes, from Nightcap? I would presume the rest was not 'release worthy'... Great to have what we got though, what with bits (re)appearing later in Warchild (Only Solitaire) which also has the rewrite of Like Your Finger Clean (from the Aqualung sessions) and now known as Two Fingers. It would seems that many themes and musical passages had an almost incestuous relationship in Ian's brilliant mind circa 1971-74.


    cheers,
     
  10. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

    1999 ...Fresh from God's garden this could be the epilogue to the "Play".

    A Gift Of Roses

    I count the hours: you count the days.
    Together, we count the minutes in this Passion Play.
    Walk dusty miles. And I ride that train
    on a first class ticket, just to be with you again.
    Picking up tired feet. Back from a far horizon.
    Cleaned up and brushed down. Dressed to look the part.
    Fresh from God's garden, I bring a gift of roses:
    To stand in sweet spring water and press them to your heart.

    Like the Kipling cat, I walk alone -
    Never inviting trouble, never casting the stone.
    But this badge of honour is of tarnished tin.
    Light your guiding beacon to bring this fisher in.

    Picking up tired feet. Back from a far horizon.
    Cleaned up and brushed down. Dressed to look the part.
    Fresh from God's garden, I bring a gift of roses:
    To stand in sweet spring water and press them to your heart.

    I count the hours: you count the days.
    Together, we count the minutes in this Passion Play.
    Walk dusty miles. And I ride that train
    on a first class ticket, just to be with you again.
    Picking up tired feet. Back from a far horizon.
    Cleaned up and brushed down. Dressed to look the part.
    Fresh from God's garden, I bring a gift of roses:
    To stand in sweet spring water and press them to your heart.

    Picking up tired feet. Back from a far horizon.
    Cleaned up and brushed down. Dressed to look the part.
    Fresh from God's garden, I bring a gift of roses:
    To stand in sweet spring water and press them to your heart.
     
  11. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    BTW, this was the A-side of the single.
     
  12. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    And this was the B-side.
     
  13. mrbillswildride

    mrbillswildride Internet Asylum Escapee 2010, 2012, 2014

    How was THAT not a NUMBER #1 hit??? It's got it all, sing along now... ;)
     
  14. johnny 99

    johnny 99 Down On Main Street

    Location:
    Toronto
    As kids we hated it. I still do.:shake:
     
  15. mrbillswildride

    mrbillswildride Internet Asylum Escapee 2010, 2012, 2014

    As a huge Tull fan it was never my fave, still isn't, but I have come to appreciate it's place in the tull pantheon better now... You must come to it with an open mind, a love of progessive rock, and a willingness to let Tull take you on a trip... Yes, it is not for eveyone, but for sum it grows wilder...
    ;) :shh: :D
     
  16. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    No, it's a live excerpt, found on disk 4 of the 25th Anniversary box set. After listening to it again, I think it's from a later tour than the original '73 APP shows. They rearrange it slightly, similar to their TAAB reductions, and it ends clean, not continuing on to the rest of the piece or fading out. Anyway, it sounds great, especially Martin Barre.
     
  17. mrbillswildride

    mrbillswildride Internet Asylum Escapee 2010, 2012, 2014

    Ah yes, that IS a great live segment, and I too wondered why we didn't get more fomr that tour... seemed like such a tease...
     
  18. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member Thread Starter

    You must mean "Passion Jig."
     
  19. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member Thread Starter

    I've heard it (the still unreleased material) and it's great. With some great Barre guitar work too.
     
  20. mrbillswildride

    mrbillswildride Internet Asylum Escapee 2010, 2012, 2014

    Hum... that not good...

    Must sick TooTull on him...:righton: :shh: :D
     
  21. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    Enough

    Enough said!:edthumbs:
     
  22. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Those are not only great children's books (I'd include Peter Rabbit in there as well); they're classics of English literature. Anyone who can read The Wind In The Willows and not be moved in some fashion, is lacking in essential humanity.
     
  23. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member

    Location:
    moscow
    That was DCC.
     
  24. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    It was recorded July 1975 in Paris.
     
  25. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    Passion Play Extract "Live"

    "Passion Play Extract" live on the 25th box set disc 4 track 3

    :D It's track 7 "Critique Oblique" from "A Passion Play" as found on the MoFi, performed live.

    Critique Oblique

    Lover of the black and white it's your first night.
    The Passion Play, goes all the way, spoils your insight.
    Tell me how the baby's made, how the lady's laid,
    why the old dog howls in sadness.

    And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders
    of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision.
    (The examining body examined her body.)
    Actor of the low-high Q, let's hear your view.
    Peek at the lines upon your sleeves since your memory won't do.
    Tell me: how the baby's graded, how the lady's faded,
    why the old dogs howl with madness.
    All of this and some of that's the only way to skin the cat.
    And now you've lost a skin or two, you're for us and we for you.
    The dressing room is right behind, We've got you taped, you're in the play.
    How does it feel to be in the play?
    How does it feel to play the play?
    How does it feel to be the play?

    Man of passion rise again, we won't cross you out:
    for we do love you like a son, of that there's no doubt.
    Tell us: is it you who are here for our good cheer?
    Or are we here for the glory, for the story, for the gory satisfaction
    of telling you how absolutely awful you really are?
     
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