Now, more than ever, The Jethro Tull Board kicks ass!
Joined: Sept 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 3,707
Sperm in the Gutter « Thread Started on Jan 9, 2010, 4:09pm »
Here is a new thread devoted entirely to discussion of some of the more lurid and randy aspects of the Jethro Tull personna, stage act and lyrics, because let's face it, sex has always been a huge and very important part of Tull! I guess we could call this, hmmmm, I don't know, let's see.....maybe our "gutter thread?" Hah...hahahahahahaha!
Okay, I'll start this one off with Cup of Wonder from Songs From the Wood, which I would argue is the single most sexual album ever made by any rock artist or group.
What do you suppose those horny pagans intend to do with (or to) the lady they are passing around the table?
And some expressions such as 'tight against the seam' from WOVG I'm starting to incorporate into my everyday gutter talk.
You know what's interesting, Bob? After posting my comment on passing "the lady" which I took literally to mean that they were going to all have carnal knowledge of that lady as part of a pagan fertility rite, I subsequently came across something on Cup of Wonder that suggests that "The Lady" may be a sabbath cake that would have been eaten at the festival. I'm not fully convinced, however knowing Ian, it is entirely possible that he was using "the lady" in both senses, i.e., share the lady sexually and the sharing in the eating of the sabbath cake.
Interesting excerpt from the Cup of Wonder site:
"In the line "pass the word and pass the lady", lady is probably the sabbath-cake which many pagans referred to as "the Lady". Here is referred to witches sabbat, of which Beltane is one of eight. Cakes and ale (or wine) is the traditional sacrament. One would "pass the word" because coven meetings (where a group of witches would work magic together) were, after all, secret affairs."
"There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best."Doris Lessing
"If you agree with me on nine out of twelve issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on twelve out of twelve issues, see a psychiatrist."Ed Koch
Cousin Jack One of the Youngest of the Family member is offline
Joined: Oct 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 55
Re: Sperm in the Gutter « Reply #3 on May 23, 2010, 12:52am »
I see that now Jeff I always thought he was referring to the dancing around the women at Beltane but delving more closely into the sexual innuendos in tulls' music it means something else - I'll delve more deeper
I see that now Jeff I always thought he was referring to the dancing around the women at Beltane but delving more closely into the sexual innuendos in tulls' music it means something else - I'll delve more deeper
You know, CJ, I never really considered that the line "pass the lady" could refer to dancing (I thought it just meant pass her in a sexual way.) That's a good observation on your part, and you may well be right. I would think there probably would have been a lot of erotic dancing, as well as sex, at such a pagan feritility festival. It was considered good for the fields.
Or it could simply refer to the witches' sabbath cake that Jan from Cup of Wonder says may have been known as "the lady."
Joined: Sept 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 291 Location: The Long Good Land, PA
Re: Sperm in the Gutter « Reply #5 on May 24, 2010, 5:01pm »
The cakes passed at Sabbats are referred to as "The Lady", some of them are round and others are shaped like the crescent moon and most of the time they have icing though for Lughnasa(h), it's usually a hearth bread. We do dance at Beltane. While the dance isn't overtly erotic, a hand held for a heartbeat longer than it needs to be can be very arousing and sex in the fields to promote fertility was/is and with any luck at all forever will be a very popular way to celebrate the Merrie Month of May in. Oh, and The Lady is not passed. Whomever The Lady pairs with, it's always Lady's choice.
The cakes passed at Sabbats are referred to as "The Lady", some of them are round and others are shaped like the crescent moon and most of the time they have icing though for Lughnasa(h), it's usually a hearth bread. We do dance at Beltane. While the dance isn't overtly erotic, a hand held for a heartbeat longer than it needs to be can be very arousing and sex in the fields to promote fertility was/is and with any luck at all forever will be a very popular way to celebrate the Merrie Month of May in. Oh, and The Lady is not passed. Whomever The Lady pairs with, it's always Lady's choice.
Thanks for the explanation, Blue. I really was unaware about The Lady being a cake that is passed around the table until I recently saw it on Cup of Wonder. I had always taken it to mean some kind of sexual rite associated with the festival, but in the context of the rest of the stanza, cake is the much better explanation. Pass the cup, pass the plate, etc., they are obviously sitting around a communal table.
I am very interested in pagan beliefs and customs, and once read a book entitled Pagan Christs, but I can't recall the author's name. He was arguing that many of the practices of Christianity (and Judaism), have their origins in pagan religions. And of course that is what Ian is driving at in Ring Out Solstice Bells. The topic is worthy of an entirely separate thread.
I'm not sure if you saw the series Rome on HBO, which despite some flaws and historical untruths, was an excellent series, examining Rome at the time of the late Republic from the point of view of two army grunts, both of whom were actually mentioned in Caesar's Civil Wars, but in a very minor way. The creators of the series took these two guys (as representative of the types of soldiers who witnessed some of the most important events of the time) and gave them central roles in many of those events. I understood why they were doing it that way, but it gave it a bit of a Forrest Gump feel to it.
Anyway, the first season was remarkable in many respects, but particularly in the way it portrayed the role of the ancient Roman religion as so central to everyday life, and particularly, decisions of state. Although the word "pagans" is sometimes used in a perjorative way, this series showed how deeply and sincerely the Romans believed in their various deities, and did a superb job of showing all the cults and rituals that were practiced. It was actually more of an animist religion than anything else, almost like Native Americans in a way.
Okay, I'll start this one off with Cup of Wonder from Songs From the Wood, which I would argue is the single most sexual album ever made by any rock artist or group.
I'll certainly agree with you there, NFM. Actually, have you ever dissected the lyrics from 'Hunting Girl' on the same album? Now there's a smutty tune -- with 'Fox and Hound' euphemisms to hide the real action.
I would suggest that everything from the point where Ian says "She took this simple man's downfall in hand / I raised the flag that she unfurled", deals directly with performing cunnilingus.
And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George, who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision...
Okay, I'll start this one off with Cup of Wonder from Songs From the Wood, which I would argue is the single most sexual album ever made by any rock artist or group.
I'll certainly agree with you there, NFM. Actually, have you ever dissected the lyrics from 'Hunting Girl' on the same album? Now there's a smutty tune -- with 'Fox and Hound' euphemisms to hide the real action.
I would suggest that everything from the point where Ian says "She took this simple man's downfall in hand / I raised the flag that she unfurled", deals directly with performing cunnilingus.
I thought the downfall that she took in hand was his limp dick that she took out of his pants, which he then raised after she unfurled it. But I think you are right about "I'm not inclined to acts refined if that's how it goes." That may well refer to cunnilingus.
I thought the downfall that she took in hand was his limp dick that she took out of his pants, which he then raised after she unfurled it. But I think you are right about "I'm not inclined to acts refined if that's how it goes." That may well refer to cunnilingus.
Oh, you're certainly right about the unfurled flag, but there seems to be a...ummm...change of position thereafter:
This highborn hunter had tastes as strange as they come (cum!). Unbridled passion: I took the bit in my teeth. Her standing over --- me on my knees underneath.
And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George, who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision...
I thought the downfall that she took in hand was his limp dick that she took out of his pants, which he then raised after she unfurled it. But I think you are right about "I'm not inclined to acts refined if that's how it goes." That may well refer to cunnilingus.
Oh, you're certainly right about the unfurled flag, but there seems to be a...ummm...change of position thereafter:
This highborn hunter had tastes as strange as they come (cum!). Unbridled passion: I took the bit in my teeth. Her standing over --- me on my knees underneath.
It's funny, because when I was young, I didn't immediately recognize why he was repeating the word come, but it did "come" to me later, and you are absolutely right that the repetition of the word is intended as "cum" not "come."
"There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best."Doris Lessing
"If you agree with me on nine out of twelve issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on twelve out of twelve issues, see a psychiatrist."Ed Koch
Morthoron Potent Glockenspielist member is offline
Curmudgeonly Wordwraith
Joined: Jun 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 630
Re: Sperm in the Gutter « Reply #12 on Jun 22, 2010, 12:17am »
Yes, this is hilarious, Jeff.
How about a man desperately in need of Viagra:
'Big bottled Fraulein, put your weight on me,'' said the pig-me to the whore, desperate for more in his assault upon the mountain. Little man, his youth a fountain. Overdrafted and still counting. Vernacular, verbose; an attempt at getting close to where he came from. In the doorway of the stars, between Blandford Street and Mars; Proposition, deal. Flying button feel. Testicle testing. Wallet ever-bulging. Dressed to the left, divulging the wrinkles of his years. Wedding-bell induced fears. Shedding bell-end tears in the pocket of her resistance. International assistance flowing generous and full to his never-ready tool. Pulls his eyes over her wool. And he shudders as he comes. And my rudder slowly turns me into the Marylebone Road.'
Aside from the overt smut, I still say that Ian Anderson is perhaps the finest lyricist in rock.
And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George, who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision...
Bogenbroom One of the Youngest of the Family member is offline
Joined: Jan 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 63
Re: Sperm in the Gutter « Reply #13 on Jun 25, 2010, 2:55pm »
'Big bottled Fraulein, put your weight on me,'' said the pig-me to the whore, desperate for more in his assault upon the mountain. Little man, his youth a fountain. Overdrafted and still counting. Vernacular, verbose; an attempt at getting close to where he came from. In the doorway of the stars, between Blandford Street and Mars; Proposition, deal. Flying button feel. Testicle testing. Wallet ever-bulging. Dressed to the left, divulging the wrinkles of his years. Wedding-bell induced fears. Shedding bell-end tears in the pocket of her resistance. International assistance flowing generous and full to his never-ready tool. Pulls his eyes over her wool. And he shudders as he comes. And my rudder slowly turns me into the Marylebone Road.'
Aside from the overt smut, I still say that Ian Anderson is perhaps the finest lyricist in rock.
One thing I always thought was funny with that passage is how Ian is so clever with the lyrics throughout, and then comes in the extremely blatant "He shudders as he comes". It's almost as he gave up with the witty rhyming and allegories.
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