Homeless Persons' Memorial Day Top 100 Songs
Song # 24
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"Aqualung"
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UK, and they toured regularly in the UK and the US. Their musical style shifted in the direction of progressive rock with the albums Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972) and A Passion Play (1973), and shifted again to hard rock mixed with folk rock with Songs from the Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978). After an excursion into electronic rock in the early-to-mid 1980s, the band won its first and only Grammy Award with the 1987 album Crest of a Knave. Jethro Tull have sold an estimated 60 million albums worldwide, with 11 gold and five platinum albums among them. They have been described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive rock bands".
Aqualung is the fourth studio album by the rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1971. In various songs on the album singer/songwriter Ian Anderson explores the struggles of the less fortunate in our society. The title song "Aqualung", was inspired by photographs of homeless people taken by Ian Andersons wife Jennie along the Thames River during the time the group was in recording sessions in London in 1971. The character, Aqualung, was an adaptation of Jennie's favorite homeless subject that she photographed more than any others. Through the photographs, Anderson created the character and brings him to life in the song. An artist was commissioned to paint the album cover using the images from photos and descriptions of the fictional homeless man according to the imaginations of Anderson.
Aqualung is the fourth studio album by the rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1971. In various songs on the album singer/songwriter Ian Anderson explores the struggles of the less fortunate in our society. The title song "Aqualung", was inspired by photographs of homeless people taken by Ian Andersons wife Jennie along the Thames River during the time the group was in recording sessions in London in 1971. The character, Aqualung, was an adaptation of Jennie's favorite homeless subject that she photographed more than any others. Through the photographs, Anderson created the character and brings him to life in the song. An artist was commissioned to paint the album cover using the images from photos and descriptions of the fictional homeless man according to the imaginations of Anderson.
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"Aqualung"
Lyrics
Sitting on a park bench
Eyeing little girls with bad intent
Snot running down his nose
Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes
Hey, Aqualung
Drying in the cold sun
Watching as the frilly panties run
Hey, Aqualung
Feeling like a dead duck
Spitting out pieces of his broken luck
Whoa, Aqualung
Sun streaking cold, an old man wandering lonely
Taking time the only way he knows
Leg hurting bad as he bends to pick a dog-end
He goes down to the bog and warms his feet
Feeling alone, the army's up the road
Salvation a la mode and a cup of tea
Aqualung my friend, don't you start away uneasy
You poor old sod, you see, it's only me
Do you still remember
December's foggy freeze?
When the ice that
Clings on to your beard was
Screaming agony (Hey!)
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
With deep-sea-diver sounds
And the flowers bloom like
Madness in the spring
Sun streaking cold, an old man wandering lonely
Taking time the only way he knows
Leg hurting bad as he bends to pick a dog-end
He goes down to the bog and warms his feet
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Feeling alone, the army's up the road
Salvation a la mode and a cup of tea
Aqualung my friend, don't you start away uneasy
You poor old sod, you see, it's only me
Me-me-me-me-me
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Dee-dee-dee-dee
Dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee
Dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee
Dee-dee-dee-dee
Aqualung, my friend, don't you start away uneasy
You poor old sod, you see, it's only me
Sitting on a park bench
Eyeing little girls with bad intent
Snot running down his nose
Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes
Hey, Aqualung
Drying in the cold sun
Watching as the frilly panties run
Hey, Aqualung
Feeling like a dead duck
Spitting out pieces of his broken luck
Hey, Aqualung
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