This
set of this compilation contains songs that were all
completed and several were mixed and ready for
release. They didn't make it to the albums for
various reasons. Ian explains this in the booklet
that comes with the compilation: "... probably
because they didn't fit in with the rest of the album
of which they were supposed to be a part or, perhaps,
because there was some aspect of them with which I
became disenchanted. The odd bar that made a brief
visit to the major third, maybe? Or something a bit
wet in the lyrics?" Hence the 'flawed gems'.
Lick Your Fingers Clean
The song was recorded
during the Aqualung-sessions (1971), but Ian
decided that 'Wind Up' was a more appropriate
finale for that album. It was reworked in
1974 and included as 'Two
Fingers' as finalling song on
the WarChild album. The adaptation consists
of a different musical phrasing and choice of
instruments and a variation of time schemes.
The lyrics were changed to fit in with the
WarChild context.
* Jan Voorbij
Ian's quote about
religious institutions operating as a 'social
service' instead of a spiritual one' would
perfectly tie-in with those lyrics in 'Lick
Your Fingers Clean' you mentioned: "and the hard-headed
social worker who bathes his hands in blood .
. . . " which
were re-written later as "hard-headed
miracle worker who bathes his hands in blood
. . . .". I think it's clear, from
the above quote, that Ian was referring to
ministers of the Church as 'hard-headed
social workers', as opposed to spiritual
guides or whatever. And in re-writing the
lyrics for 'Two Fingers', it looks like he
decided to make the religious reference a
little clearer, by referring to them as
'miracle workers'.
* Andy Jackson
Beltane
In this remarkable
song, recorded in 1977 during the Heavy
Horses sessions, Ian Anderson's capability of
evoking sylvan and rural imagery comes to the
fore in all self-penned originals. He applies
images taken from the old Celtic Beltane
festival. Hodgson points out, that against
"the background of agrarian dependency
and fear of the unknown there eventually
developed two separate, yet connected cycles,
each of four annual festivals. These were
designed both to mirror the changing seasons
and to secure the favour of the gods",
referred to in this song: "... the
phantoms of three thousand years...".
Beltane was possibly the biggest festival of
all eight and took place on May Day itself,
between midnight ("Have
you ever stood in the April wood and called
the new year in?") and
sunrise ("and
the red cloud hanging high").
The cult spread across Britain, ancient Gaul
and as far as northern Italy and is by some
believed to be named after the god Belenus
(Baäl?). "Winter was proclaimed dead
for another year on this day and, aided by
the moon, the sun was again declared
victorious. Sacred fires were lit upon holy
hills and flaming torches were carried around
the fields to celebrate his triumph".
This festival and its rites were meant to
ensure fertility for people, livestock and
land, but also to bannish infertility,
diseases and other evil. "People would
dance sunwise around the fires and even jump
through the flames so as to purify themselves
for the coming year. They would then drive
their livestock between the fires for similar
reasons". Thus was the masculine, solar,
sky-father annually joined with the feminine,
lunar, eart-mother in accordance with each
other and balance both in human life and
nature as well was restored. Such was the
belief.
Apart from dancing and singing, people
supported the rejuvination by having sex in
field and wood. ("Thrust your head
between the breasts of the fertile
innocent."
(and) "while the kisses drop
like a fall of shot from soft lips in the
rain, come a Beltane.")
Stories abound of young men and women running
amok in the woods on the eve before the first
of May. Church officials condemned such
practices, swearing that a full two-thirds of
the maidens returned home "defiled"
(Lloyd, 106-107). For the pre-Christian
peasant, however, these were not defiling
acts: The first of May was seed time, and
after planting it was believed that the seeds
should be assisted in their fertilization.
The sexual energy of the most virile members
of the community was required to ensure the
success of the crops (Lloyd, 106). Young
couples copulated in the furrows of the
fields to assist the crops along as well
(99). As a result of these pagan practices,
sexual imagery involving fields and farms is
abundant (200)." I included some vivid
descriptions of the Beltane festival further
down this page.
Now back to the song itself. As for the
darkly and glittering imagery this song has
the same atmosphere as the "Heavy
Horses" album and the only reason it was
left out is in my opinion that the tenor of
this song would have made it more appropriate
to "Songs From The Wood", where
Anderson implicitely pleads for a renewed
care and respect for nature, tradition and
sense of community as a remedy for the
environmental pollution, pursuit of gain, and
alienation that is so evident in today's
society. I refer here specifically to the
last stanza, were the link is made to
"us here and now". Our surroundings
(society?) for instance are described as "your parks and towns
so knife-edged orderly". In
spite of our striving to control nature, the green man goes
his own way and reminds us of that ("... as the thin stick
bites"), by
rapping our knuckles with his cane. In this
context the last "come a
Beltane" sounds like a wish, a
prayer maybe, for a new era in which people
will be more caring for nature and
themselves.... March the mad scientist
springs to mind here....
Note the double twist in the imagery here:
the "cane
of sweet hazel"
crashes down on the knuckles, but also on the
window-sill! As if the boundary ('window')
between fantasy/myth and the reality of life
is broken by his warning blow.
* Jan Voorbij ; Source:
"The Phantoms of 3000 Years, a look at
some of the myths behind the music of Jethro
Tull", Alan J. Hodgson, Birstal, UK
(1993)
In the Central
Highlands of Scotland, bonfires, known as the
Beltane fires, were formerly kindled with
great ceremony on the first of May, and the
traces of human sacrifices at them were
particularly clear and unequivocal. The
custom of lighting the bonfires lasted in
various places far into the eighteenth
century, and the descriptions of the ceremony
by writers of that period present such a
curious and interesting picture of ancient
heathendom surviving in our own country that
I will reproduce them in the words of their
authors.
The fullest of the descriptions is the one
bequeathed to us by John Ramsay, laird of
Ochtertyre, near Crieff, the patron of Robert
Burns and the friend of Sir Walter Scott. He
says:
"But the most considerable of the
Druidical festivals is that of Beltane, or
May-day, which was lately observed in some
parts of the Highlands with extraordinary
ceremonies . . . Like the other public
worship of the Druids, the Beltane feast
seems to have been performed on hills or
eminenc e s. They thought it degrading to him
whose temple is the universe, to suppose that
he would dwell in any house made with hands.
Their sacrifices were therefore offered in
the open air, frequently upon the tops of
hills, where they were presented with the
grandest views of nature, and were nearest
the seat of warmth and order. And, according
to tradition, such was the manner of
celebrating this festival in the Highlands
within the last hundred years. But since the
decline of superstition, it has been cel e
brated by the people of each hamlet on some
hill or rising ground around which their
cattle were pasturing. Thither the young
folks repaired in the morning, and cut a
trench, on the summit of which a seat of turf
was formed for the company. And in the middle
a pile of wood or other fuel was placed,
which of old they kindled i.e., forced-fire
or need-fire [fire made by friction].
Although, for many years past, they have been
contented with common fire, yet we shall now
describe the process, because it will
hereafter appear that recourse is still had
to the "tein-eigin" upon
extraordinary emergencies.
The night before, all the fires in the
country were carefully extinguished, and next
morning the materials for exciting this
sacred fire were prepared. The most primitive
method seems to be that which was used in the
islands of Skye, Mull, and Tiree. A
well-seasoned plank of oak was procured, in
the midst of which a hole was bored. A wimble
of the same timber was then applied, the end
of which they fitted to the hole. But in some
parts of the mainland the machinery was
different. They used a frame of green wood,
of a square form, in the centre of which was
an axle-tree. In some places three times
three persons, in others three times nine,
were required for turning round by turns the
axle-tree or wimble. If any of them had been
guilty of murder, adultery, theft, or other
atrocious crime, it was imagined either that
the fire would not kindle, or that it would
be devoid of its usual virtue. So soon as any
sparks were emitted by means of the violent
friction, they applied a species of agaric
which grows on old birch-trees, and is very
combustible. This fire had the appearance of
being immediately derived from heaven, and
manifold were the virtues ascribed to it.
They esteemed it a preservative against
witchcraft, and a sovereign remedy against
malignant diseases, both in the human species
and in cattle; and by it the strongest
poisons were supposed to have their nature
changed.
After kindling the bonfire with the "
tein-eigin" the company prepared their
victuals. And as soon as they had finished
their meal, they amused themselves a while in
singing and dancing round the fire. Towards
the close of the entertainment, the person
who officiated as master of the feast
produced a large cake baked with eggs and
scalloped round the edge, called "am
bonnach beal-tine" i.e., the Beltane
cake. It was divided into a number of pieces,
and distributed in great form to the company.
There was one particular piece which whoever
got was called "cailleach
beal-tine" i.e., the Beltane
"carline", a term of great
reproach. Upon his being known, part of the
company laid hold of him and made a show of
putting him into the fire; but the majority
interposing, he was rescued. And in some
places they laid him flat on the ground,
making as if they would quarter him.
Afterwards, he was pelted with egg-shells,
and retained the odious appelation during the
whole year. And while the feast was fresh in
people's memory, they affected to speak of
the "cailleach beal-tine" as
dead."
In the parish of Callender, a beautiful
district of western Perthshire, the Beltane
custom was still in vogue towards the end of
the eighteenth century. It has been described
as follows by the parish minister of the
time:
"Upon the first day of May,
which is called "Beltan", or
"Baltein" day, all the boys in a
township or hamlet meet in the moors. They
cut a table in the green sod, of a round
figure, by casting a trench in the ground, of
such circumference as to hold the whole
company. They kindle a fire, and dress a
repast of eggs and milk in the consistence of
a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal,
which is toasted at the embers against a
stone. After the custard is eaten up, they
divide the cake in to so many portions, as
similar as possible to one another in size
and shape as there are persons in the
company. They daub one of these portions all
over with charcoal, until it be perfectly
black. They put all the bits of the cake into
a bonnet. Every one, blindfold, draws out a
portion. He who holds the bonnet is entitled
to the last bit. Whoever draws the black bit
is the "devoted" person who is to
be sacrificed to "Baal", whose
favour they mean to implore, in rendering the
year productive of the sustenance of man and
beast. There is little doubt of these inhuman
sacrifices having been once offered in this
country, as well as in the east, although
they now pass from the act of sacrificing,
and only compel the "devoted"
person to leap three times through the
flames; with which the ceremonies of this
festival are closed".
Thomas Pennant, who travelled in
Perthshire in the year 1769, tells us that
"on the first of May, the
herdsmen of every village hold their
Bel-tien, a rural sacrifice. They cut a
square trench on the ground, leaving the turf
in the middle; on that they make a fire of
wood, on which they dress a large caudle of
eggs, butter, oatmeal and milk; and bring
besides the ingredients of the caudle, plenty
of beer and whisky; for each of the company
must contribute something. The rites begin
with spilling some of the caudle on the
ground, by way of libation: on that everyone
takes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are
raised nine square knobs, each dedicated to
some particular being, the supposed preserver
of their flocks and herds, or to some
particular animal, the real destroyer of
them: each person then turns his face to the
fire, breaks off a knob, and flinging it over
his shoulders, says, "This I give to
thee, preserve thou my horses; this to thee,
preserve thou my sheep; and so on."
After that, they use the same ceremony to the
noxious animals: "This I give to thee, O
fox! spare thou my lambs; this to thee, O
hooded crow! this to thee, O eagle!"
When the ceremony is over, they dine on the
caudle; and after the feast is finished, what
is left is hid by two persons deputed for
that purpose; but on the next Sunday they
reassemble, and finish the reliques of the
first entertainment."
* Andy Jackson. The quotations are taken
from: J.G. Frazer: "The Golden
Bough", Abridged Version 1987 (cop.
1922), Macmillan (London), pp. 617-622
Crossword
Saturation
Continuation
|
Introduction 