My problem with Tull's Aqualung

You must really hate Foghat. Lots of megaphone singing! I never understood why.

 

Foghat is ok, kinda hit and miss.

 

I love this song and the whole album.
But...I agree with you.
I never liked very much this "filtered" part, IMO, the song would have been even more powerful without this effect.

 

That effect makes the song for me.

 

I guess you don't like the New Vaudeville Band.

 

Hee Hee

jerol

 

YOU.

 

That effect adds to the power and intrigue of the song.

 

Dunno ... the live versions I've heard without the megaphone vocal sound pretty good and powerful to me.

--Geoff

 

Never a problem for sure. All good to me.

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1422
"The unusual audio effect you hear in this song is called "telephone burbles" where you remove all frequencies except for a narrow band around the 1,000 hertz mark. This is to reproduce the sound of a telephone. As Ian Anderson told us: "It's also like when you're addressing a crowd through a megaphone. Or even perhaps the tinny sound of a voice trumpet, which is a non-active megaphone. It's a form of address. It's the sound that woke up young pilots in 1941 and sent them into the skies to battle the Hun. This is the sound of the Tannoy, the calling to arms of young men going up in their Hurricanes and Spitfires. It's something that's very much part of the blood of an Englishman."

 

I like the effect. It makes the singer sound 'detached', almost like a daydream state. And as mentioned earlier, it's a cool effect when it switches back to a 'normal' voice.

 

Yeah very good effect that fits the tune . I think it shows the pneumonia the beggar is suffering from..

 

I think it's sets a mood, slows it down, creates a little vignette of the sorry, sad old man before harsh reality sets in when the normal voice comes back.

 

I believe the intent of that section is the notion of this homeless, maybe freezing individual finding some solace in a rancid British loo, or toilet, public washroom as that is what a bog is in their parlance, as well as a damp grassy area in the Highlands of Scotland, that, as I have been told by locals anyway, is not unlike quicksand, one can fall into a literal bog and be crushed to death.
Indeed I would mark that one truly needs a British/American dictionary, re the thousands of words one or the other use that do not exist, or mean something altogether different, to truly have a full appreciation of Ian Anderson's lyrics. I do believe people would often be surprised. Still mark Ian Anderson as one, for instance, if I were to propose, re have the audacity, to mark him as a lyricist of at least the equal of the sainted Zimmerman or Leonard Cohen, would deserve to be met with something at least short of laughter. Cause I ain't kidding, that guy was/is that good. I think people mostly know his output from 2 songs that they have their own classic rock radio perception of, usually well removed from the actual facts. Re Ian Anderson is the snot running down his nose guy. Poor old Aqualung in a position where that is likely a common malady, past the point of caring, or at least not being in the possesion of a minor trifle such as a handkercheif.
There is an outstanding website, frankly do not know whether it still exists, called Cup of Wonder, which goes into great depths to explain the meaning of Ian Anderson with this motherlode of....colloquialisms I suppose they are, explained. Very much enriches the listening experience.

 

I think the poor guy never had a chance when his parents named him Aqualung.

Oh, and I like the effect.

 

My problem with Aqualung is the song itself. I can't stand it.

 

Exactly.

Except he's wrong.

 

The "megaphone" part is one of my favorite sections of a very great song!

 

I wonder if the Bangles were to sing this song without the megaphone part, if that would be the greatest remake of all time?

 

"Snot running down his nose." I see what you did there.

 

Your perfectly free to not like it, but I find that the megaphone part and the "Snot running down his nose" add to the image of a downtrodden, degenerate and unfortunate character of Aqualung, as does the "Eying little girls with bad intent" line. I think it's supposed to be somewhat disturbing. For me, the megaphone part generates a shift in mood, like he is muttering hopelessly under his breath.

 

Maybe Ian couldn't find his aqualung for that section and had to sing thru this....



If you can kiss thru it, surely you can sing thru it too !

...and she ain't so little, so his intent can't be that bad !!!!!!!!!!!

 

Love your dog; however, you're wrong.

 

That's 10cc. not Jethro Tull!