Jack-A-Lynn
Recorded in 1981 during
the 'Broadsword' sessions, but left out. The
song was remixed in 1988 for this
compilation. Fans have been speculating about
this song as being an autobiographical one,
esp. since the second name of Anderson's wife
Shona is Jacqueline. The song is full to the
brim with feelings of missing a loved one and
of homesickness.
* Jan Voorbij
MotorEyes
Blues Instrumental
(untitled)
Rhythm In Gold
Recorded in 1981 during
the 'Broadsword'sessions, but left out.
The car that is
referred to in the lines "Immobilize your
nine-eleven" and "Sabotage
your nine-eleven" is one
of the many versions of the Porsche 911. The
photograph below shows the Turbo 362 version:
There is a double meaning in "Rhythm In Gold", I
think. In fact there has been a gold-coloured
version of the Porsche 911. Secondly, taking
in account the context of the song, "Rhythm
In Gold" also refers to a young and
wealthy woman and the way she moves. Our
narrator is attracted by both of them. Both
images overlap eachother, coïncide - a
feature Anderson has applied in many of his
songs.
* Jan Voorbij
Part Of The Machine
A new song, recorded in
March 1988, especially written for this set.
This song has always
been a favorite of mine. Although I don't
know if it is really safe to annotate Ian's
lyrics on a line to line basis, for to me,
alot of the lines have duel meaning. One has
too look at the over all song to determine
which direction Ian was going. IMHO this song
is about the great paradox of democracy. He
is pointing out both the good and bad sides
of our government. It isn't really meant to
be negative or positive: it's an observation.
What I think Ian is trying to do is initally
capture the spirit of the new United States
imigrants coming to a new county, to a new
democracy, a new freedom, the frontier, the
pioneers eager to make a new life. But as we
all know the country has grown and grown and
grown, and now it maybe is just a big
machine. Are we really free? We all agree,
there is alot wrong with the country now, but
the dream in the beginning, and what our
forefathers tried to do was really good. IMHO
he really sort of captures that early pioneer
feeling.
* Pamela
The "Part Of The Machine"
CD EP, released in August 1988 inthe UK only,
contained 5 tracks taken from the '20 Years of Jethro
Tull' box set:
Stormy Monday Blues, Lick Your Fingers Clean,
Minstrel In The Gallery (live),
Farm On The Freeway (live), Part Of The Machine (edit
4:34).
Pamela has a point here
and I do agree with her. But what most
Americans probably don't realise is, that we
here in Europa are rather sceptical about the
way politics work in the USA. This feeling is
reflected in this song. After all Ian is an
European. I refer here specifically to the
election campaigns we see on TV when
candidates are running for presidency ("the razzmatazz is
rolling").
Political ideologies are reduced to slogans ("Oh, they promise you
gold, promise heaven on earth"), there
is a lot of smiling, handshaking ("Shaking hands, kissing
babies, for all that they're worth"),
intensive media coverage and cruising the
country by decorated election trains ("Everybody's jumping on
the circus train"), paper
rosettes, flags and balloons and "women
folk unveiled".
Superficiality seems to rule as substantial
political debate is consequently avoided and
changed for hammering on issues like family
values, the American dream, freedom,
progress, low taxes and of course - God. This
all takes place at the cost of billions of
dollars.
All these elements invoke here in Europe the
impression that it is all one big show, and
that show is the only thing that matters in
this media-event. This style of campaigning
is more and more adopted in the Western
European countries and is by many Europeans
considered as critical for the democratic
quality of politics and the commitment to
political issues by the average citizen.
Note however that Ian observes, but doesn't
judge. As Pamela states, Ian points at the
controversy between the idealism of the
generation of the Founding Fathers, that was
full of enthusiasm to build up the country
and todays' situation, in which these ideals
seem to be institutionalised or locked in ("the machine"), but
lost their original meaning and charismatic
power as it apparently didn't work for so
many Americans. Our narrator pities that: he
values the 'old' ideals and is apparently
sorry he doesn't have them to inspire him: "I wish I had an eagle
like you to look up to" and "I wish I had an eagle
like you to wake up to". The
verseline "They
hitch their covered wagons and they roll out
west"
contains one of Ian famous double entendres:
he refers here both to the politicians
campaigning the country by train as well as
to the families that undertook the dangerous
journey to the 'wild open spaces' of the west
to build up a livelihood, thus developing the
country.
The sting of this song can be found in the
third stanza: all these people running for
senate or presidency think they will
rise to power, but the ones who really run
the world are the wealthy people, "smart guys" (who) "aren't
running, they're home and dry. Up in the
mountains were the eagle flies" but
are in their own way "part of the
machine". Is our narrator saying
here that there is no true freedom to be
found within the 'system', the machine?
* Jan Voorbij
Mayhem, Maybe
In the lore of many
European and Asian nations wee folk like
fairies (or faeries), dwarfs or elven are
quite common. They habit trees, rivers,
hills, stones and are considered to be
closely related to nature: "to nature's world we
do belong".
Usually they are described as supernatural
beings of diminutive size that are active
during the night: "When
we're working nights ...". Some
of them are plainly good like Brownie, a
Scotch domestic fairy, others are considered
to be bad for their fondness of frustrating
people with their practical jokes:
"Scattered
horses that they would ride",
"Pulling
roses and daffodils" and
"We
terrify the mare and foal.
The fox stood still and far too bold".
The "fairy
folks" in
this song belong evidently to the second
group. They are "Never caught
and never will" and "often
heard but seldom seen" too.
Taking in account the context of the song it
would have been a wonderful addition to
'Songs From The Wood', I think .... More
specific information on fairies can be found
at The
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E.
Cobham Brewer.
* Jan Voorbij
Recorded in 1981 during
the 'Broadsword' sessions, but left out.
Ian's vocals. flute and whistles were added
and the track was remixed in April 1988 for
this compilation.
Overhang
Kelpie
There are many stories
concerning the kelpie in Scottish folklore.
The following passage is taken from a
pamphlet published in Scotland in 1823:
"In the former and darker
ages of the world, when people had not half
the wit and sagacity they now possess, and
when, consequently, they were much more
easily duped by such designing agents, the
'Ech Uisque', or water-horse, as the kelpie
is commonly called, was a well-known
character in these countries. The kelpie was
an infernal agent, retained in the service
and pay of Satan, who granted him a
commission to execute such services as
appeared profitable to his interest. He was
an amphibious character, and generally took
up residence in lochs and pools, bordering on
public roads and other situations most
convenient for his professional
calling."
"His commission consisted in the
destruction of human beings, without
affording them the time to prepare for their
immortal interests, and thus endeavoured to
send their souls to his master, while he, the
kelpie, enjoyed the body. However, he had no
authority to touch a human being of his own
free accord, unless the latter was the
aggressor. In order, therefore, to delude
public travellers and others to their
destruction, it was the common practice of
the kelpie to assume the most fascinating
form, and assimilate himself to that
likeness, which he supposed most congenial to
the inclinations of his intended
victim."
"The likeness of a fine riding steed was
his favourite disguise. Decked out in the
most splendid riding accoutrements, the
perfidious kelpie would place himself in the
weary traveller's way, and graze by the
road-side with all the seeming innocence and
simplicity in the world . . . . But this
horse knew better what he was about; he was
as calm and peaceable as a lamb, until his
victim was once fairly mounted on his back;
with a fiend-like yell he would then announce
his triumph, and plunging headlong with his
woe-struck rider into an adjacent pool, enjoy
him for his repast."
Tales of the kelpie as a seducer
of women are less common. However, as a
shape-shifting demon, he may appear as a
handsome young man with wet seaweedy hair,
wooing his victims into a watery grave ("I'll steal your soul
to the deep"). Even
today, an official document published by
ScotRail (Scottish Railways) refers to the
legend of a kelpie residing in Loch Garve,
west of Dingwall in the Highlands. To me,
though, Ian's kelpie sounds suspiciously like
that old rocker Ray Lomas in 'Pied Piper'.
* Andy Jackson
The song was recorded
in 1979 and originally meant to be included
on the 'Stormwatch' album. It was remixed for
this compilation in 1988.
Living In These Hard
Times
Recorded in 1978, this
one did not make it to the 'Heavy Horses'
album, probably because to content of the
song just didn't fit its concept.
To me this really is an
"eighties" song, that would have
perfectly fitted in the 'Broadsword album',
in the sense that it reflects the general
atmosphere of crises that dominated the late
seventies and early eighties: the feeling of
being threatened by economic troubles, the
fear and uncertainty about the future that
comes from it, affecting (stable?) relations
and not in the least the political climate of
the era (remember Thatcher and Reagan). It is
the first song of many in which this can be
traced.
The first verseline, "The
bomb's in the china. The fat's in the
fire",
suggests that suddenly something has happened
that made the good times turn into hard
times. Looking back at the seventies this
might have been the energy-cirsis (or
oil-cirisis) of 1973/74 that obstructed
further economic growth, but I'm not sure.
Many European governments sought ways to
limit the use of energy like the
"car-free sundays" (Netherlands),
price increase of oil, gas, electricity,
reduce street-lighting on motorways to an
absolute minimum ("Well,
the light, it is failing along the green
belt" -?),
urging people to use energy as economically
as possible, all in the hope to reduce the
economical damage. What then follows are
several lines that depict how the economical
crisis turns everything upside down:
"The cow
jumped over yesterday's moon
and the lock ran away with the key"
and affects the lives of the
common people:
"There's no
turkey left on the table"
"....
brings no bale of hay to the stable."
"Someone
slapped a writ on our deficit,
not a penny left to our name.
Oh, the times are hard and the credits lean,
and they toss and they turn in their
sleep."
"You
know what you like and you like what you
know,
but there is no jam for tea".
The difficulty people experience
in handling this crisis - or just surviving -
comes to the fore in:
"And the line
they take is the line they make,
but it's not the line they keep"
as it's hard to adapt one's
lifestyle when one's income decreases in
order to make both ends meet.
* Jan Voorbij
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Introduction 