The Jasmine
Corridor
"Nice place to say goodbye.
Smells good, looks good, was good. Faces east.
Always the optimistic light. Nothing ever really
ends".
* Ian Anderson in the album
booklet.
This personal song is about
Anderson's own demise.
 
The Habanero Reel
"On a lighter note, I think
quite a few people know that I'm keen on spicy
food, particularly those who have visited
our website . I use a lot of chilli peppers when
I cook at home and the generally accepted number
10 strength killer is the habanero - in the
Caribbean a close relative of this is the Scotch
Bonnet, which I also refer to in this song. 'The Habanero Reel' is just an
ode to capsicum, which gives off that excessive,
burning heat. Of course, the best thing about it,
as I say in the song, is that it is strictly
legal!"
* Ian Anderson; from the
Papillon Press Release "The Secret Language
Of Birds"
"The Capsaicin experience: the
endorphin rush. We're not just talking Chicken
Tikka Massala. Can repel intruders. Probably
illegal in your town after all, in that
context".
* Ian Anderson in the album
booklet.
Panama Freighter
"Lonely Planet guide to
traveller's romance. Pragmatism. Cynicism. You
take U.S. dollar?"
* Ian Anderson in the album
booklet.
"I'm
not the only lonely planet rider in this
one-horse town": 'Lonely
Planet' is a series of tourist guide books
for independent travellers ie backpackers.
They tend to inform one about the 'real' country
rather than just the resorts and tourist
traps. Hence Ian's use of the phrase
suggests the song's narrator is a backpacker just
passing through. It further implies that
this isn't the most salubrious of locations.
* Neil Thomason
The Secret Language Of
Birds, Pt. II
"Semantic set-aside. You with
me? "
* Ian Anderson in the album
booklet.
"
. . . . don't take the Admiral on board.
This Hardy's not for kissing . . ."
Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805),
admiral of the English fleet which defeated the
French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
However, Nelson was mortally wounded by a
gun-shot during the battle, and his famous last
words, as his friend Captain Hardy held him in
his arms, were: "Kiss me, Hardy." Of
course, this has been the source of many rather
juvenile jokes for British comedians. In
this age of elaborately self-conscious sexuality,
it is easy to forget that such a heart-felt final
gesture was not considered 'funny' in previous
centuries. In the context of this song, I have no
idea what Ian is saying! For a start,
Captain Hardy was the one who gave the
kiss. In this song, the implication is that
the Hardy-character might be on the receiving
end of one, from some source or other,
which seems to necessitate this pre-emptive
warning. Perhaps this is just
stream-of-consciousness, like the appearance of
Long John Silver in 'Mother Goose'?
* Andy Jackson
"Berkley
Square": A reference to the song
'A Nightingale Sang In Berkley Square' (lyrics
Eric Maschwitz, music Manning Sherman, composed
in 1940). Berkeley Square is situated in the
upmarket area of Mayfair in London, and Ian
pronounces the word in the English fashion. 'A
Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square', was sung
and recorded by Frank Sinatra. The original
lyrics to this song are to be found at Rick's
Music Pages.
* Koen Wynkoop, Andy Jackson
* Berkeley Square, London
Boris Dancing
"I've always had a soft spot
for Boris Yeltsin, I wrote the music to 'Boris
Dancing' based on a visual image of a CNN news
report from when Boris was seeking re-election.
He was filmed in Red Square, sweating profusely,
bright red in the face, boogieing frantically in
front of a young Moscow rock band. He
nearly died from a heart attack just a couple of
days later. The song is in several rather
difficult to follow time signatures, as when
Boris was dancing he wasn't quite on the
beat. 'Boris Dancing' is just a celebration
of his strange, individual dance style."
* Ian Anderson; from the Papillon Press Release
"The Secret Language Of Birds".
Dear fragile human bear Boris
campaigned in multiple time signatures all of his
own in Moscow's Red Square before nearly dying.
All to preserve the memory of the Frug, the
Twist, the Mashed Potato and the Bolshevik
Boogaloo. Hand on heart but not any longer,
hopefully, on button.
* Ian Anderson in the album
booklet.
Circular Breathing
The deep breath that goes on
forever. Strangely detached but objective view
from a height. Pink Floyd's 'Learning To Fly'
meets L.S. Lowry meets Status Quo's 'Pictures Of
Matchstick Men'. Or not".
* Ian Anderson in the album
booklet.
"Circular
breathing". This is
the breathing technique used by Australian
aborigines when playing the didgeridoo. It's
an art not many people get to master, but a basic
explanation is that the individual blows through
the instrument with air reserves, carefully
controlled from the cheeks, whilst drawing air
through the nose. Carefully, they must then
revert back to 'diaphram ' air, or lung air. Then
the procedure is repeated over and over again.
Try to do this with a straw in a glass of water,
and you can see how hard it is to keep the
bubbles constant!
* Adam Bodkin
The practice of circular breathing
isn't restricted to the aborigines, of
course. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, author of
Serenade to a Cuckoo and flute/saxophone genius
in his own right, was also a master of the
technique, as evidenced by the songs "Many
Blessings" on "The Inflated Tear"
and "The Business Ain't Nothin' but the
Blues" on "I Talk With Spirits",
among others. He was also known for his ability
to play three saxophones at once and incredibly
well.
* Sean Albright
Again, there is a suggestion of
'natural life', and the timeless cycle of life
and death (as represented by the tail-eating
serpent, or uroboros, illustrated on the cover of
the 'Ring Out, Solstice Bells' EP).
"Lowry
matchstick figures". A
reference to the English painter L.S. Lowry (1887
- 1976) whose industrial cityscapes were
populated by crowds of thin, black, 'matchstick'
men and women. Like Henri Rousseau he can be
considered a 'naive' painter, and the best
website featuring his work is Lowry's
Virtual Gallery. Like many songs in the
past, there is a suggestion of the dichotomy
between the natural landscape and the
industrialised world. John Constable,
living in the early years of the 19th century,
could still paint unspoilt, pastoral scenes, in
which the great cloud formations suggested
Nature's over-arching power. By Lowry's day, the
typical landscape in Lancashire consisted of
Satanic mills, factories, smoke-stacks, and an
anonymous bustling mass of workers whose lives
were ruled by the factory whistle. The weather
had disappeared entirely from these
paintings; the lakes were tainted with pollution.
"A Manufacturing Town" (1922)
by L.S. Lowry
* Courtesy: Kevin Lees, Lowry's Virtual
Gallery
The Stormont Shuffle
"Peace, Love, Misunderstanding.
Decommissioning the vipers' tongues. Two part
tune: north and south, slippery Sams, moaning
Minnies. Doublecross, double talk, double
trouble".
* Ian Anderson in the album
booklet.
" 'The Stormont Shuffle' was
written at a time when things were beginning to
enter into that peace negotiation period. 'The
Stormont Shuffle' is a two-part tune: one is more
the Republican, southern kind of Catholic,
slightly wilder, hairier, tinged with the
Samisen, and the other part of the tune is a bit
more dour, a bit more Protestant, a little bit
more furrowed eyebrow, a bit more the loyalist
kind of thing. I had these two little flute tunes
which symbolised for me those two opposing
factions and I put them together and tried to
draw them together . . ."
* Ian Anderson in "A New
Day", March 2000
The title 'Stormont Shuffle' can
only refer to Stormont Castle, in Northern
Ireland, where the British and Irish governments
have been holding talks with the radical
organisations to hopefully agree peace in
Northern Ireland. The shuffle could be a
double reference - is the track musically a
'shuffle' (c.f. Fairport Convention's 'Aunt Sally
Shuffle')? Additionally, the peace talks
have certainly been a shuffle - progressing
rather slowly, with all the participants
reluctantly shifting their positions and dragging
their feet.
*
Stormont Castle
There's a nice parallel between the
two instrumentals on the album refering to
politics as a dance. As I think Ian has
already mentioned, 'Boris Dancing' was in part
inspired by (ex-) President Yeltsin's rather
shaking dancing during his election campaign, but
also Yeltsin's dancing in trying to stay on top
of the volatile political situation in Russia,
constantly changing his dancing partners (Prime
Ministers in particular).
* Neil Thomasson
|
Introduction 
