Jethro Tull Lyrics

    ------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull

One of the key characteristics of any great song is its timeless quality - how it fits its time and place of writing, but also speaks to generations to follow. When a song loses its timeless quality it falls into nostalgia and eventually becomes dated and less and less relevant. "Locomotive Breath" is one of those great songs that seems to have a timeless feel to it. And certainly it fits into a number of life-experiences as witnessed by the reviews that tag the song as about everything from the death of religion to suicide by drug overdose.

As I follow today's news, I can see how the song can be related allegorically to the current situation in Washington, DC. The "train" in this case would be the US economy and "Old Charlie" who stole the handles represents the politicians and special interests who are playing politics while the train speeds towards the "fiscal cliff" that will leave the US economy in ruins.

The American people have lost control of their government as it keeps growing and growing at unprecedented rates and is speeding out-of-control on the way to economic ruin and no one can stop it now.

The "all-time loser" is the American people and the "death" is the death of the U.S. Constitution that guaranteed the freedom and self-reliance the American nation. "His children" jumping off are the liberties that are being lost as the power in Washington grows. As the train keeps going down the tracks, the "Big Brother" government that will control everyone's lives from the cradle to the grave grows in power and momentum. And there is no way for anyone to slow it down now.

"His woman and his best friend in bed and having fun" represents the moral decline of the nation. Our Judeo-Christian morality has broken down and been swept aside as evidenced by the break-down of marriage and the family. Man, no longer walking with pride as the crown of God's creation, is now crawling on his hands and knees like an animal having lost his dignity of being created "a little lower than the angels."

"He hears the silence howling - Catches angels as they fall." Represents the silencing of religious expression in America at the hands of a few SC Justices along with the "fall" of Christianity in American culture. It has lost its relevance in the lives of the people and the culture no longer has a moral guide to its laws and institutions.

The "all-time" winner is the winner in the Culture Wars that have been raging since the Sixties. Christianity lost and the Secular Humanism has won.

"He picks up Gideon's Bible - Open at page one - God stole the handle and The train won't stop going - No way to slow down." represents the fact that ultimately, God is in control. God is the one who controls history from the beginning and all human history is heading relentlessly towards providential end.

    ------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull

A man starts to lose control of his life, which is symbolized by a locomotive barreling down the tracks. Charlie is the person blamed for this situation (a drug dealer, the devil, lover)he stole the handle which are the breaks and now he can't stop the train (life out of control). He knows its taking him to his death yet he can't stop (acting crazy or stealing to get more drugs). He specifies memorable things that happen one by one that that are consequences of his dire situation and make things worse, because he can't control his life. His children abandon him one by one, his wife leaves him for his best friend, most likely because he is so consumed with his situation he does not even see he has thrown his wife to desperation and his best friend to console her because of his actions at home. Once again the situation is dire for him and he has hit rock bottom but charlie again steals the handle and all he can think to do is go further deeper into the same situation (dementia or drugs). The desperation of all this causes him to start dying either by his own hand or by someone else due to the situation he is in (could be a drug deal gone bad or even a madden rampage that caused him to get run over by a car or to fall off a building etc.. He is now dying and he can see the end near cause he can see angels around him. Since he is dying he is calmer than usual and thinks why has this happened to me and turns to a bible, most likely he has never opened one since he goes to the first page. Then he starts to believe that is was what God wanted to happen and that God was the one who stole the handle, so he accepts he will die and does not blame himself and slowly dies accepting fate.

    ------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull

the train symbolize the life. this person found out that his time is limited (no handle)and his body is old.
"the all time loser" is the humans we will always lose.
"the all time winner" is the death (death always win in the end) which got the old man "by the balls"
and that he open the bible at page one means that when he realized that his gonna die he gets religious.

    ------ About the song Bungle in the Jungle performed by Jethro Tull

This song was the first Tull song I ever heard, and turned me onto one of the most amazing bands out there. I just recently went to my first rock-concert: Jethro Tull's Aqualung 40th Anniverserary Tour.

    ------ About the song Aqualung performed by Jethro Tull

This is an awsome song. its a classic that awta be remembered and preserved for generations to come. i love the way the tempo changes throughout and the instrumental arrangement. i hate wots being passed off as music these days. most of it wud be forgotn in a very short while. bands like jethro tull, kansas and boston awta b remembered and celebrated. ROCK LIVES 4EVA!!!

    ------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull

This song is about a man who loses it all.... (Not only does he lose his wife and his children abandon him, but he is completely betrayed by his best friend, whom he catches in bed with his wife.) He has hit rock bottom and then fallen more, and he feels that there is no other way to go but lower. He ends up not in his house, but in a hotel (most likely a cheap one) completely alone, empty, shattered, in a way hopefully none of us have ever experienced. He notices a bible and opens it. At this point it says, "I think God.... stole the handle...." I read this as "the all-time loser" being "caught" by God (All-time winner has got him by the balls.)All he has to turn to is God. He has nothing else but the Bible to turn to. God brought the loser to Him, but in a very, very painful way. I read it as a "God works in mysterious ways" song.

    ------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull

The song poses the question : what does organized religion do when confronted with scientific fact / theory ..in this case Darwinism . Old Charlie = Darwin .
He picks up Gideon's bible , Opened at page one = Genesis ie: Creationism
" He sees his children jumping off
at the stations -- one by one. " = the faithful are gradually moving to the side of science
"And The train it won't stop going . no way to slow it down " - Ian Anderson likens this conflict to a locomotive ..once the question is posed and the conflict between science and religion is started there's no stopping it .
It fits in perfectly with the rest of side 2 of Aqualung .

    ------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull

I'm thinking it's a little bit different from the previous interpretations. I don't believe it has anything to do with a drug overdose as much as a lyrical glimpse of "The End". Between the periods of time when the Old Testament and the New Testament were written, much Jewish literature centered around how the world would end. Then in the Book of Revelation, a post-Jewish account is given.

In the first verse the all-time loser refers to Satan. Ultimately, in the Book of Revelation, Satan, who has deluded the world since the Book of Genesis, see his demise coming and it cannot be stopped. The reference to Old Charlie could be either Charles Darwin or to Satan himself, but the handle is an obvious reference to the control throttle on a steam locomotive; without the handle, nothing changes on the train's speed.

In the second verse his children are jumping off, referring to his minions (demons) seeing their fate too and decided to abandon ship whenever they can. Woman and best friend discuss the total breakdown of morality, whereupon a woman is seen sleeping with anyone (best friend is either a literal friend or a dog). Crawling in the corridor is the act of one realizing his impending fate and being reduced to begging (forgiveness or leniency).

Third verse brings finality in that the all-time winner (God) has him (Satan) by the balls. The meaning of Gideon's Bible at Page One refers to the part where Satan started it all, causing the fall of Man. In the third verse, it turns out that God was the one who stole the handle, not Satan himself. All this time, Satan believed HE had control, by stealing the handle, but in fact it was God in control the whole time.

Yes, there are religious undertones in a lot of Rock music and this one takes a little time to figure out.

    ------ About the song Thick As A Brick performed by Jethro Tull

Among all their wonderful compositions - and there are so many, from the Stabd Up/Benefit/Living in the Past ballads to the War Child/Heavy Horses heavies to the Stormwatch and Passion Play melodies - surely, Thick as a Brick stands out like an epic stands out from mere novels. The complex yet so catchy beats, the strange yet evocative lyrics, the vast range of haunting chords and arrangements and riffs and what have yous for every instrument (Good ol' Ian of course in the thick of it all!) make this album Jethro Tull's best ever. It will endure in the Halls of Immortal Rock when all else fades into the low audio frequency babble of yester-centuries...

    ------ About the song Locomotive Breath performed by Jethro Tull

It’s a story of a man’s suicide ending in an observation about God. In the first stanza, Charlie is huffing and puffing as he gasps his last breaths during a suicide by drug overdose. He knows that in his heart and soul, he's always thought himself a loser. The piston is his heart straining to beat as the overdose using some sort of Speed is kicking in. The steam on his brow are the last cold sweats you get while your body kicks into overdrive trying to keep you alive but it's still dying and you feel cold as you blood slows to your extremities. The handle Charlie stole is the overdose that he can't reverse. The train that won't stop is the last spiral into death. No way to slow down because he's alone in the place he has chosen to kill himself.
The answer as to what led him to this point is in the second stanza.
His kids are growing into adulthood and moving on in their lives. He finds himself at that point in life he always looked forward to, when it would just be he and his wife, who is the love of his life, alone together again. However, his children jumping off one by one means he’s finding out that they don't care to keep touch with him. He learns what they really think about him as a father; he was a failure as one in their eyes. He then finds his wife in bed with his best friend, learning that the two people he trusted the most have betrayed him. As he thinks about it, he probably realizes signs that the affair has been going on for a while. He now learns that he's been a failure as a husband too. He’s too cowardly to face them, and is now crawling down the corridor as he suffers a severe stress and anxiety attack. (Those feel like serious heart attacks when they hit just right.) As he's thinking all these things, he comes to a new realization. Although he tried to live his life as one in which he would have no regrets of things missed, he didn’t see himself turn it into a self-centered, selfish life. In this stanza, Charlie's lifestyle (the handle he stole) is what set off the chain of events that have now led to a life that is crumbling around him (the train that won't stop or slow down).
In the last stanza, he's at death door. Just beyond is Hell's gate. The silence howling would be the winds of the fires of hell blowing, carrying the sounds of the suffering therein. We know it refers to Hell because that is where fallen angels are doomed to go for eternity as per the Bible. The all time winner in this song is not referring to God but Satan. God doesn’t grab you by the balls, that's painful. Satan however is the all-time winner in any life not centered around God. It is a life of sin and every time another person dies without God in his heart, it's another soul earned or won by Satan away from God. We know Charlie has picked a motel to carry out his suicide due to the Gideons Bible on the nightstand next to his death bed.
In the last several lines, Charlie picks up the Bible which is open to page one, the beginning, the Creation. The singer then says in exclamation, "I think God! He stole the handle… The singer is stating that God started an irreversible chain of events with His allowance of free will to man since the Creation in Genesis. Man’s free will has put us in a downward spiral towards the end of times ever since that first disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden. The exclamation strikes me as an accusation of fault against God. I think those last lines may be reflective Ian Anderson’s religious beliefs.