jeffrey
Alive & Well & Living In
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2010
- Posts
- 434
- Reaction score
- 48
I would guess that this album is where a lot of casual listeners, music press critics and fans alike realised that here was a band who had finally come of age and would, henceforth, go onto greater things. Written by a composer, Ian Anderson, who had a precocious talent for words and a striking melody, well advanced for his years - he was twenty one years old when he wrote the music for this album - and a group of musicians who were at the very top of their trade.
The album means different things on many levels and to many people. To me it’s a body of work that deals with remoteness and family alienation coupled with loneliness and the realisation that the expectations of ones parents and loved ones are not necessarily those of your own.
The album opens with plea - “With You There To Help Me” is surely written from Ian Anderson’s viewpoint that the endless touring is getting him down and he would feel better back with his family in Blackpool.
I’m going back to the ones that I know
With whom I can be what I want to be.
Just one more week for the feeling to go
And with you there to help me
Then it probably will.
The second song, “Nothing To Say” is again about alienation and a distance that is building up between his parents - he’s not going to argue with them because, as the title of the song state, he’s got nothing to add to any disagreement.
“Alive And Well And Living In” is written from a female standpoint and shows Ian Anderson’s understanding of what others feel as opposed to his own feelings.
She can’t remember now when she was all in pieces.
She’s quite content to sit there listening to what he says.
Ian Anderson’s relationship with his Father is cleverly put into context with the next song “Son” as it is written from the viewpoint of a Father and depicts the disappointment that he must feel with his son’s choice of career and how the expectations of parents can sometimes come to nothing.
. . . . Be grateful my son for what you get.
Expression and passion. Ten days for watching the sunset;
When I was your age amusement we made for ourselves.
For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me deals with the loneliness that Michael Collins must have felt orbiting the moon whilst Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong grabbed all the glory of being the first humans to walk on the moon on the Apollo 11 mission. It is also one of Ian Anderson’s songs that mentions Jeffrey Hammond, his friend from Blackpool and future member of Jethro Tull - did he suffer the same alienation that Ian Anderson felt with his parents?
“To Cry You A Song” is possibly the nearest that Ian Anderson gets to writing a love song. Not the usual girl/boy lyrics but a plea to be understanding when he gets back from his travels.
When I get down I’ll jump in a taxi cab
Driving through London town to cry you a song
“A Time For Everything” put the listener in the position of a fifty year old individual looking back over his life and realising what he hasn’t been able to achieve.
Ages passed I knew at last my life had never been.
I’d been missing what time could bring.
Jeffrey Hammond makes an appearance in the lyrics to the next song “Inside” and it is one of the more upbeat songs on the album in that the composer seems more at peace with himself and also with those around him. With references to “no money coming in but I can’t be sad” coupled with “we will fall into sleep and we will awake to a new day of living and loving you so” are lyrics with very many people at the time of the album’s release would have identified with. Probably the same could be readily identified with today.
“Play In Time” is for the concert audience. An explanation, if you like, about what Ian Anderson feels about his songs and how he hopes the listener will understand his compositions.
Trying so hard to reach you;
Playing what must be played, what must be sung
And It’s what I’m singing.
Talking to people my way.
The final song on the original album is “Sossity: You’re A Woman”. A wonderful melody is coupled with a intricate lyric. Is Ian Anderson on the verge of splitting up with his partner or, as it could be interpreted, that the two are having an argument and both are trying to score points off each other?
All of the tears you’re wasting
Are for yourself and not for me.
It’s sad to know you’re aging
Sadder still to admit I’m free.
To the casual listener this album may seem a bit “dark” with its subject matter but to fans and to many non fans, it is an essential album to own and to enjoy. The addition of John Evan to the line-up meant that the overall sound was much fuller and textured. It was also to be the final Jethro Tull for Glenn Cornick as he was replaced by the aforementioned Jeffrey Hammond for the next album Aqualung.
The album means different things on many levels and to many people. To me it’s a body of work that deals with remoteness and family alienation coupled with loneliness and the realisation that the expectations of ones parents and loved ones are not necessarily those of your own.
The album opens with plea - “With You There To Help Me” is surely written from Ian Anderson’s viewpoint that the endless touring is getting him down and he would feel better back with his family in Blackpool.
I’m going back to the ones that I know
With whom I can be what I want to be.
Just one more week for the feeling to go
And with you there to help me
Then it probably will.
The second song, “Nothing To Say” is again about alienation and a distance that is building up between his parents - he’s not going to argue with them because, as the title of the song state, he’s got nothing to add to any disagreement.
“Alive And Well And Living In” is written from a female standpoint and shows Ian Anderson’s understanding of what others feel as opposed to his own feelings.
She can’t remember now when she was all in pieces.
She’s quite content to sit there listening to what he says.
Ian Anderson’s relationship with his Father is cleverly put into context with the next song “Son” as it is written from the viewpoint of a Father and depicts the disappointment that he must feel with his son’s choice of career and how the expectations of parents can sometimes come to nothing.
. . . . Be grateful my son for what you get.
Expression and passion. Ten days for watching the sunset;
When I was your age amusement we made for ourselves.
For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me deals with the loneliness that Michael Collins must have felt orbiting the moon whilst Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong grabbed all the glory of being the first humans to walk on the moon on the Apollo 11 mission. It is also one of Ian Anderson’s songs that mentions Jeffrey Hammond, his friend from Blackpool and future member of Jethro Tull - did he suffer the same alienation that Ian Anderson felt with his parents?
“To Cry You A Song” is possibly the nearest that Ian Anderson gets to writing a love song. Not the usual girl/boy lyrics but a plea to be understanding when he gets back from his travels.
When I get down I’ll jump in a taxi cab
Driving through London town to cry you a song
“A Time For Everything” put the listener in the position of a fifty year old individual looking back over his life and realising what he hasn’t been able to achieve.
Ages passed I knew at last my life had never been.
I’d been missing what time could bring.
Jeffrey Hammond makes an appearance in the lyrics to the next song “Inside” and it is one of the more upbeat songs on the album in that the composer seems more at peace with himself and also with those around him. With references to “no money coming in but I can’t be sad” coupled with “we will fall into sleep and we will awake to a new day of living and loving you so” are lyrics with very many people at the time of the album’s release would have identified with. Probably the same could be readily identified with today.
“Play In Time” is for the concert audience. An explanation, if you like, about what Ian Anderson feels about his songs and how he hopes the listener will understand his compositions.
Trying so hard to reach you;
Playing what must be played, what must be sung
And It’s what I’m singing.
Talking to people my way.
The final song on the original album is “Sossity: You’re A Woman”. A wonderful melody is coupled with a intricate lyric. Is Ian Anderson on the verge of splitting up with his partner or, as it could be interpreted, that the two are having an argument and both are trying to score points off each other?
All of the tears you’re wasting
Are for yourself and not for me.
It’s sad to know you’re aging
Sadder still to admit I’m free.
To the casual listener this album may seem a bit “dark” with its subject matter but to fans and to many non fans, it is an essential album to own and to enjoy. The addition of John Evan to the line-up meant that the overall sound was much fuller and textured. It was also to be the final Jethro Tull for Glenn Cornick as he was replaced by the aforementioned Jeffrey Hammond for the next album Aqualung.
