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  • SONGVIEWS - Jethro Tull - Aqualung

    Just a bit of preamble, since this is the first installment of SONGVIEWS. These won't be articles about the band, the various members, their history, etc. It's about one thing only: THE SONG. If you want the skinny on the band, I'll always include a link to Wikipedia, but here, we're talking SONGS - the impact they had on us when we first heard them, and (most importantly) the BASS. And when I say BASS, I don't mean the technicalities of the instrument, the musical notation, the various performances... oh, heck, enough yapping. It's about the MUSIC.

    Let's start with Jethro Tull's song, Aqualung. This interesting little ditty came out in 1971, so I was very young when I first heard it (11-ish or so). When I saw the cover to the album, I was afraid of it. The scary image of old Aqualung made me afraid of what the music could possibly be like! I don't recall the song ever being played on AM radio, but - as I was developing a serious jones for FM radio and concept/prog music - I found my way over to the dark side of the dial, and was introduced to this extremely dramatic, and somewhat violent song. It still scared me. I had to grow into it, but it didn't take long.

    The first thing I remember about it was that they sang the phrase, "snot running down his nose," and it pretty much offended me. As a kid, I was thinking, how can they have a song about snot? That's disgusting. I could barely make out or understand any of the other lyrics; I had no idea what it was about, so I remembered it as the snot song. I'd hum the tune in front of others, but always made sure to sing the line, "snot running down his nose," so the kids around me would know I was a badass, listening to badass music.

    All snottery aside, the best feature of the song was the tune, and - of course - the bass. The tune was intense, much more so than AM radio music. Don't get me wrong, I was a huge fan of mainstream music as well, but I also prided myself on my interest in more complicated songs. What struck me most was the way the bass and guitar played the same melody at the opening, and through much of the song. It was something I'd already heard in Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, and I did, in fact, LOVE it. The guitar played the tune, and the bass growled right along with it. Same tune, just a lot meatier and more powerful.

    During the middle of the song, there's a goose-bump inducing pocket of unity between guitar and bass; even the vocal joins in with the teamwork of bass and guitar. Though some would disagree, I see the bass as leading the entire progression through the song. It's a rousing frenzy of bass-driven madness that (as I later understood) describes the out of control persona of Aqualung himself.



    The song begins with a sharp bass and guitar pairing that sets the stage for Aqualung's madness, than it calms down into a sympathetic acoustic guitar. Aqualung is truly insane, and his mind is perverted and dangerous, but what happened to make him this way?

    Then comes the fevered middle section, where all hell breaks loose. Just when you think you might have a twang of understanding for his plight, Aqualung reveals his true self, and we are horrified at his reality.

    The song closes by reigning it back in, but not completely - just enough to give you the courage to keep walking by.

    It wasn't until years later that I began to understand the song,and it made me love it even more. Despite the criminal nature of Aqualung's mind, the song is a mind-blowing exposé of the disturbed. I've never shied away from that.

    The bass guitar is a versatile instrument with many moods. It does just as well in the role of the foot-tapper in a good Country song as it does shaking the rafters and commanding the lead presence in a song like Aqualung. In our feature, SONGVIEWS, I hope to explore many of those different voices.



    I'm including two versions of Aqualung: the original I heard as a kid, and a very energetic live performance. Make sure your bass is turned up, or that you listen through headphones to get the full effect of the bass; computer speakers don't always give you the full BOOM! The live version showcases the bass more effectively than the studio version, so take advantage of its intensity!







    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_(band)
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