An introduction to "Heavy
Horses"
The album - released in 1978 - continued the
themes explored on the previous album with the same
mixture of folk-influenced acoustic pieces and heavy
rock. Like "Songs From The Wood", this album is
full of folk imagery. Many of the songs are about animals
and the lyrics continue much of the rustic tradition of
its predecessor. The album is a bit darker however, with
more references to modern civilization but lacks the
lightness and humour the previous album. The music too
reflects this change: the more traditional rock sounds of
electric guitar and the trap kit are more prominent.
Though Anderson once again was responsible for all the
writing, the musical contributions from individual band
members were stronger than ever. Up to now "Heavy
Horses" remains one of the most popular and
successful Tull-albums and the title song still is - in
spite of being a long winded - an obligatory one on every
Tull concert.
The "heavy Horses" world tour
programme (1978).
By kind permission of Pete McHugh
(Electrocutas - The Jethro Tull
Archive)
Annotations
...And The Mouse Police
Never Sleeps
This song appears to be about cats:
"Savage
bed-foot warmer of purest feline ancestry"
and doesn't seem to celebrate nature
as much as it reminds us that dead and killing
are parts of nature:
"Eats
but one in every ten, leaves the others on the
mat."
It may be the case that a pagan or
'nature-worshipper' would not view death in the
bleak, dreary manner in which most modern,
Western people do.
The line "Eats
but one in every ten, leaves the other on the
mat" is an obvious reference to
the habit of domestic cats to bring their kill to
the master as an offering. This is a very common
behavior of domesticated felines. Anyone who has
a cat that catches mice knows that the cat will
frequently leave the intact bodies of their prey
in a well trafficked area as a gift to show their
'love' for the humans that keep them. The front
door mat is the most common alter of offering, as
this is where the cat patiently waits for the
master to open the door and let them in to the
house.
* Bruce Rusk
 
Acres Wild
Acres Wild takes a very earthy view
of sex, based on a tradition I discussed in the
introduction of Songs From The Wood. In the
opening verse natural settings are enumerated in
which the narrator plans to have sex. Than, in
the second verse, the scenery change from rural
to urban:
"in narrow side streets with
shuttered windows, crumbling chimneys" and brings
us to the present day. The narrator proceeds to
enumerate places of dilapidated civilization. He
speaks of having sex in "a weary town".
Based on the pagan fertility beliefs discussed
before, the practice of having sex in these
places should make them alive and productive
again. Caswell asks himself: "Is it possible
that this song is about a kind of pagan ,
pre-Christian sexual rejuvenation of a crumbling
civilization?" We saw how this theme was the
main subject of Jack-In-The-Green.
In the chorus lines the narrator
calls his love "northern father's western child".
It might be that this cryptic line shows the gap
that arose between old tradition, where every
human being had his/her place in the cycle of
nature, and modern life, where so many feel lost
and anonymous. In that case the "western
child" stands for modern man and his life in
the city who experiences the alienation that
springs from the loss of traditions, that were so
dear to the previous generations ('the northern
fathers'). Could it be, that these northern
fathers refer to Picts, Scots and other Celtic
nations that inhabited Scotland so long ago and -
being safeguarded for Roman civilization - could
preserve their traditions for so long?
* Jan Voorbij
In 'Acres Wild', I've always thought
"northern father's western
child" is simply Skye
itself. The northern father is Scotland,
the comparatively small Isle Of Skye being
described as Scotland's child.
* Neil R. Thomason
"By
deep brown rivers
that slither darkly
through far marches
where the blue hare races."
The 'blue hare' is the Mountain Hare, as distinct from the lowland
Brown Hare. The Blue Hare is seen in mountainous areas of Scotland,
presumably including the Cuillins on Skye, whereas the Brown Hare
is common in England, and frequently appear in English folk songs.
The inclusion of a hare adds 'authentic folk' character to the
song, albeit with a typical Anderson twist to make the image his
own. The term 'marches' refers to border country, not only
politically (the belt of land along the Welsh-English border is
called The Marches), but in terms of landscape - in this context,
possibly the transitional zone where fairly flat, cultivated land
turns into steeper moorland/rocky ground unsuitable for
cultivation. This is probably obvious, but a mountain river would
be shallow & fast-flowing, whereas once it had left the
headwaters, it would become slower and deeper; rainwater draining
from moorland peat would impart a rich red-brown colour to the
river's water.
The
Winged Isle is an old name for the
Isle of Skye. The black
mountains refer to
the Black Cuillins, the eastern part of the
Cuillin Hills on the Isle of Skye.
* Jan Voorbij, Judson Caswell
No Lullaby
At first sight this song seems to
address children and summons them to remain
watchful and "keep an open
eye" for all kinds of dangers
that are "out there in the
night". If that is the case, we
are dealing here with what Barbara Espinoza in
her book "Driving In Diverse" calls
"a discomforting fairy tale : a child
has to stand up to the darkness and all that lies
in wait there" (p. 83). It is known
however that Ian's lyrics can be interpreted at
more than one level. So when we look more close,
it is us who are
addressed here. The lyrics are very alarming,
supported splendidly by the brooding atmosphere
of the music. What are the dangers the narrator
warns us for? Who are these "dragons and beasties", these "folk out there who would
do you harm" and make
it necessary to stay alert ("Keep your eyes open and
prick up your ears, rehearse your loudest
cry") and
defensible ("Gather
your toys at the call-to-arms")? And why
are the "lock on the window (...)
chain on the door: a big dog in the hall" not enough
to make us feel safe?
Bearing in mind that the song was
written in 1977-78, I suspect it has to do with
the rise of fascism in several European countries
in the late seventies and early eighties. Beating
up and brutalizing foreigners (blacks, gypsies,
jews, Turkish and Vietnamese people a.o.),
setting fire to pensions were they were hosted
and other acts of violence: they were all the
results of the agitation of fascist organisations
in the past two decades. This all started around
1975 and a parallel with the situation of the
thirties springs to mind. Due to the economic
recession, originating from the socalled
oil-crisis of 1973, many fascist and other ultra
right wing groups in Europe saw an increase of
their following.
History teaches us that economic crises create
feelings of uncertainty, fear for the future;
they make people distrustful towards foreigners,
and ask for a Great Leader to make things better.
These movements make these ressentiments
explicit, speculate on them and thus manipulate
people, who are not political defensible enough
to resist these ideas, for their own questionable
goals. The National Front in Great Britain, Le
Pen's Front National in France, the Vlaams Blok
in Belgium and the Centrum Partij in the
Netherlands are clear examples of these
organisations.
* Jan Voorbij
Moths
Like most of the songs in
"Heavy horses" this one seems to
essentially romanticize the life and actions of
the "Moths" - creatures of the dark. It
is partly in the third partciple - as if the
"creatures of the candle" are the ones
that are speaking. A solitary candle by a window
on a dark night has more than once been
metaphorically used as a symbol of
"hope".
Probably, the commonly used phrase "A ray of
hope" emanated from someone
fantasizing on these lines. For those who have
read Boris Pasternak's immortal work, "Dr.
Zhivago", maybe it'd be interesting to point
out a similar situation in which Yurii Zhivago
comes across this solitary candle burning by the
window on a frosty night in St. Petersburg,
around which his destiny "soared on powdered
wings" till the end of his life. Probably
all of us, throughout our prosaic worldy
existence keep chasing many futile dreams in the
same fashion, so wonderfully brought out in the
next couple of lines - "Circling
our tomorrows, in the wary month of Spring", for
spring is the season of hopes and dreams, when
fresh life re-awakens. However, many-a-time in
life, prosaic and mundane activitities cause our
faiths to collapse and fancies to slip - "Chasing
shadows slipping". The song
ends with the same kind of ethos that it started
with - "to join in the worship, of
the light that never dies", for
although many and have come and many left,
"hopes" still burn and dreams live -
attracting generations after the previous ones
have been naturally attritioned to attain their
ends.
* Arup Nandi
I've been reading through the comments about song lyrics on
cupofwonder.com and I'd like to add an opinion of my own, if I may,
because I feel there's some injustice done to "Moths" from Heavy
Horses. As the existing comment says it may be about hope, but I think it's
more about romance than anything else, and I think the existing comment is
too dismissive.
We have:
"Sending water-lillies sailing as she turned to get undressed."
which doesn't fit with any imagery of moths/flame in the song. I think
the song is written from the point of view of one a pair of lovers, and
that line has no clever meaning except to make the situation clear. At the
end there's also:
"in a moment's reflection of two moths spinning in her eyes."
Whose "eyes" ?
Several lines compare feelings as the two lovers make love to the
moths' dance:
"And the long night awakened and we soared on powdered wings"
"Creatures of the candle on a night-light-ride."
"Butterfly-stroking on a Spring-tide high."
with this line referring to their climax:
"And we'll all burn together as the wick grows higher"
The "light that never dies" is love, not hope; it's common to refer to
the "light" of someone's love showing in their eyes.
One line which the other comment mentions:
"Circling our tomorrows in the wary month of Spring."
means either the lovers are young or their romance is new. The
"springtime of
life" means youth. There's a song (September Song) which says
"it's a long road from May to December", May being the beginning of adult life
and December being death. Also, Chris Rea's song "Looking for the summer"
begins: "Look deep into the April face, a change is clearly taking
place, looking for the summer", agreeing that April is the "last month of
youth".
Finally, I think even the music and Ian Anderson's gentle voicing of
the lyrics suggest this is a love song.
* Jessica Knight
Journeyman
One Brown Mouse
The song is inspired by a poem of
Robert Burns: 'Ode To A Mouse'. Though the song
has a markedly urban setting, it fits the tone of
the album. Taking the Burns connection one step
further, the first three lines of 'To A Mouse'
are:
"Wee, sleekit,
cow'rin', tim'rous beastie
O what a panic's in thy
breastie!
Thou need na start awa
sae hasty,"
(see for the complete poem: The
Official Robert Burns Site)
In a recording for the BBC in 1975, Ian quoted
these lines and acknowledged that the third line
may have unconsciously inspired the line:
"... don't start away uneasy..." in
Aqualung.
* Neil R. Thomason
Heavy Horses
The title track of the album
eulogizes in an almost loving way the working
horses of great Britain, who find themselves no
longer needed with the advent of mechanized farm
machinery:
"And
there's no work to do: The tractor is on its way".
The narrator presents himself as a
man who wants "to keep the old line going" as he is
aware of the special qualities and charm of these
animals and that they will be needed badly in the
future:
"one day when the oil barons have
all dripped dry
and the nights are seen to draw colder".
People than will realize what the
price is of economic growth and once again will
"beg for
your strength, your gentle power,
your noble grace and your bearing."
The narrator believes the heavy
horse will not let us down:
"And you'll strain once again to
the sound of the gulls
in the wake of the deep plough, sharing".
"The
Suffolk, the Clydesdale, the Percheron vie with
the Shire ...." These are
four breeds of heavy work and draft horses. For
specific information about these horses visit the
Breeds Of
Lifestock website of the Oklahoma
State University, Animal Sciences Dpt.
* Jan Voorbij
Alexander Glasgow points out that
Ian might have been inspired by a poem of Edwin
Muir when writing "Heavy Horses":
"I was listening to the lyrics for Heavy
Horses last night, and the theme of praising the
old technology when the new was seen to have been
nilhilistic or corrupt. I started
thinking of a poem by the Orcadian poet Edwin
Muir. His poem "Horses" tells of the
aftermath of some nuclear/chemical/generally
apocalyptic war, and the almost supernatural
arrival of horses to save the people and
re-aquaint them with the reliable old technology. There's a
copy at http://www.rhizomatics.demon.co.uk/muir/. Have a
read: in fact, look at the entire site. The man
was very close to capturing something
unquantifiable about the atmosphere and quality
of daylight this part of Scotland".
* Alexander Glasgow
|
Introduction 
