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Post by tootull on Dec 3, 2009 11:03:38 GMT -5
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Post by Nonfatman on Dec 3, 2009 13:32:47 GMT -5
I can't tell you how much I love that aish column, Tootull, but you already know that! It most certainly warrants further discussion, and I will have more to say about it soon. Truly great stuff! Take a look at Tootull's link, folks, it is fascinating. Jeff |
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Post by Nonfatman on Dec 3, 2009 16:36:18 GMT -5
I think it is great that an orthodox Jewish website would run a serious column analyzing a Jethro Tull song, by a writer who obviously has studied the Torah and Talmud extensively. He interprets the lyrics, line by line, showing how Ian was drawing comparisons between human and animal behavior in terms of spirituality, Godliness, vice, virtue, etc., and then concludes that the meaning of this song is consistent with Jewish teachings and scripture!
Jeff
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Post by TM on Dec 3, 2009 20:09:12 GMT -5
Very interesting read indeed.
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Post by tootull on Dec 3, 2009 20:49:38 GMT -5
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Bogenbroom
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 63
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Post by Bogenbroom on Jan 20, 2010 16:04:56 GMT -5
Intriguing read. Something I believe will warrant more than a cursory glance. On the other hand, distilling (or should I say enhancing?) Bungle into a description of Genesis - Revelation as well as explaining the nature of God and Man is almost laughable. Almost.  |
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Post by Nonfatman on Jan 21, 2010 14:48:16 GMT -5
Intriguing read. Something I believe will warrant more than a cursory glance. On the other hand, distilling (or should I say enhancing?) Bungle into a description of Genesis - Revelation as well as explaining the nature of God and Man is almost laughable. Almost. Excellent point....we should not elevate Anderson to the level of some kind of biblical prophet. Anderson himself hates that and is totally freaked by it. He's a man, and a flawed one at that. Incidentally, check out the following link from the Song Meanings website, where members talk about the meaning of this song. One person interprets it as "a controversial song about anonymous gay sex between men of different races" (?!!!); someone else believes the song is about Vietnam; and a third person interprets it as having to do with the Garden of Eden! www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/45579/1/ASC/#commentJeff |
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Bogenbroom
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 63
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Post by Bogenbroom on Jan 21, 2010 16:14:06 GMT -5
Incidentally, check out the following link from the Song Meanings website, where members talk about the meaning of this song. One person interprets it as "a controversial song about anonymous gay sex between men of different races" (?!!!); someone else believes the song is about Vietnam; and a third person interprets it as having to do with the Garden of Eden! www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/45579/1/ASC/#commentJeff Egads man! I'm down with some pretty liberal song interpretations (particularly when the author lends himself to obscurity) but what kind of outlandish crackpottery is that'!? He might as well have said that song is about "umbrellas and the moon sitting around having a drink discussing politics". |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2010 1:23:42 GMT -5
I've long felt that many people would benefit from in depth studies of Ian Andersons lyrics, luckily the internet provides us likeminded fans to share the many interpretations of Ian's songs. Bungle in the Jungle was never a song I had really thought to interpret, though I have always liked it, but reading that article, it does in fact go a lot deeper than I had thought  which is likely with most of Tull's songs that I have read about. |
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wembley
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 66
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Post by wembley on Jan 1, 2011 0:22:29 GMT -5
The song could be a comment on society in general all the hierarchies and pecking orders.
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jrpipik
Ethnic Piano Accordian-ist
There was a little boy stood on a burning log, rubbing his hands with glee
Posts: 193
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Post by jrpipik on Apr 6, 2011 18:28:55 GMT -5
In trying to suss out what motivates God, Anderson is drawing on the imagery of Blake's "Tyger Tyger," the line "He who made kittens put snakes in the grass" making a neat parallel with Blake's "Did He who made the lamb make thee?"
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Post by Nonfatman on Apr 6, 2011 22:43:39 GMT -5
In trying to suss out what motivates God, Anderson is drawing on the imagery of Blake's "Tyger Tyger," the line "He who made kittens put snakes in the grass" making a neat parallel with Blake's "Did He who made the lamb make thee?" That's interesting, I didn't realize that there were allusions to Blake in this song, but it doesn't surprise me considering all the references to various poets and philosophers in Passion Play. The song Back Door Angels, and much of the other stuff on War Child is also pretty heavy with that kind of stuff. Jeff |
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jrpipik
Ethnic Piano Accordian-ist
There was a little boy stood on a burning log, rubbing his hands with glee
Posts: 193
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Post by jrpipik on Apr 8, 2011 18:48:29 GMT -5
One of the things to love about Jethro Tull is that the instrumental sections of their songs are usually not just the same chord changes as the sung sections without someone soloing instead of singing. The band actually takes the time to develop something different for the intro and the interlude. The interplay in the middle section with each instrument playing its own thing comp;ementing the whole is certainly not the most complicated thing Tull has ever done, but it's more musical than most bands ever attempt. And it builds nicely from the simple acoustic guitar riff to the intensifying strings supported by electric guitar and topped off with splashy flute flourishes. Pop Tull is not my favorite version of the band but they do it so well.
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Post by bwalters1 on Nov 24, 2011 7:17:53 GMT -5
The silly, playful Mother Goose-like rhyme of the title reminds me of Nietzsche's Gott ist Tot (God is dead). Ditto for Thick as a Brick.
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Post by bwalters1 on Nov 25, 2011 2:56:27 GMT -5
After reading through Mois Navon's analysis, I took a fresh look at the lyrics. Some offhand thoughts:
The "I" in the song is walking through the city/jungle at night (the tents are dark, lions and tigers wait in the shadows). This person is aggressive (tiger), dangerous (snake) and ...just might eat you. Neither good nor evil -that's just the game the animals play.
The ending lines, however, caught me off guard: "The king on his sunset lies waiting for dawn to light up his jungle as play is resumed". I now see this as saying that God doesn't hold sway during night and waits until the day when the gullible (monkeys) come out and sing his praises.
Wasn't this song written earlier than 1974 when Warchild was released -during Chateau/Passion Play? If it was, it doesn't quite fit the PP outcome where this world is preferable to either heaven or hell. In this song, the world is dangerous and arbitrary.
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Post by Geoff CB on Nov 25, 2011 21:46:02 GMT -5
I’ll write on your tombstone, “I thank you for dinner.”
This game that we animals play is a winner.
Here we have a description of a competitive life made of politics and deal-making – a merciless “game” in which one may be taken advantage of without remorse. This is strikingly conveyed in the burying of one’s dinner guest: opportunism at its worst, man as animal.
This is slightly mis-interpeted. "I thank you for dinner" means not just the burying of one’s dinner guest but that they have been metaphorically eaten - taken total advantage of!
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Post by catbrain on Aug 24, 2012 23:40:27 GMT -5
Incidentally, check out the following link from the Song Meanings website, where members talk about the meaning of this song. One person interprets it as "a controversial song about anonymous gay sex between men of different races" (?!!!); someone else believes the song is about Vietnam; and a third person interprets it as having to do with the Garden of Eden! www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/45579/1/ASC/#commentJeff Egads man! I'm down with some pretty liberal song interpretations (particularly when the author lends himself to obscurity) but what kind of outlandish crackpottery is that'!? He might as well have said that song is about "umbrellas and the moon sitting around having a drink discussing politics".
a text is made of multiple writings, drawn from many cultures and entering into mutual relations of dialogue, parody, contestation...
I have enjoyed reading many interpretations of this song, whether in agreeance with Anderson's own comments or whether their own personal interpretation, and the discussions around those interpretations. |
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Post by My God on Aug 25, 2012 11:41:53 GMT -5
Be damned if I know.  Never liked the song. Don't know why.  |
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which is likely with most of Tull's songs that I have read about. 
Never liked the song. Don't know why. 