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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 20, 2010 9:50:59 GMT -5
What, to you, are the three most memorable and immortal lines found in the lyrics of Ian Anderson, and more importantly, why?
I'll start this one off with my three, all rather depressing I'm afraid:
1) "We saw the Heavens break, and all the World go down to sleep....saw fiery angels kiss the dawn/will we still be here further on?"
This sends chills down my spine because my wife and I were standing near our building on the corner of Bleecker and Mercer the morning of 9/11, a few minutes after 9:00 a.m., a mile and a half from the Twin Towers, with a clear view of the imposing buidlings due south. We saw the fireballs and clouds of black smoke, but thankfully, we went upstairs shortly afterward, and did not see the World Trade Center towers go down to sleep in front of our eyes, except for on TV which was horrible enough. Afterward, for months, life in New York was surreal, with constant screaming sirens, memorials all over town, the stench of burning flesh and materials penetrating our apartment, anthrax killings and scares and a plane going down over Far Rockaway, initially thought to be terrorism, and we actually were wondering (aloud) whether we would still be here further on. In December of that year, we conceived our first child, as a life-affirming hope, I guess, but we were wondering (again) what kind of a World we were bringing him into. So the song has affected me profoundly, because it was written 21 years earlier, Ian's dark vision came true, and I was there to witness and experience it.
2) "Once it seemed there would always be/a time for everything/ Ages passed, I knew at last, my life had never been"
I have been a lawyer for over twenty years, self-employed for the past 13 years, which has both good and bad aspects to it. Although I have achieved moderate success, it has taken a great toll on me and, apart from periodic moments of great satisfaction in having helped my clients, I have not loved what I do....in fact I have mostly hated it. I do enjoy the social work aspect, being able to help injured clients, sometimes becoming almost like a member of their family, and at times it's been quite lucrative, but the actual litigation, i.e., how you get to that point is like climbing Mount Everest, dealing with obstructive insurance companies and attorneys on the other side, the myriad problems and aggravation one faces in handling these cases, the whole stressful court and trial process, the cutthroat nature of this whole base and grubby personal injury business, is what I hate. So very often I have wished that I went into another field, but I don't really see any way out of it, because this is what I have always done.
3) "If Jesus saves, well he better save himself, from the gory glory seekers, who use his name in Death"
When you think of all the wars, murders and cruelty that people have inflicted on one another in the name of God and Religion ever since the dawn of civilization, with no signs of ever abating, what other brief lyric summarizes that sorry history better than this line from Hymn 43, which is Ian's futile prayer for peace and relief. What utter bullshit it is for people to kill each other because they think their god is the only "true" god. What a joke that is.
Jeff
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2010 12:21:44 GMT -5
Great post Jeff , and 3 great short windows into your life.
more people have died in the name of God then anything else
mine would be
1 Each to own way I'll go mine best of luck with what you find but for own sake remember times we used to know
That to me is how I have lived my life from age 16 to now, I have done my own thing and what ever it is good or bad. It is what is. And to other people who I came across in that time they go there own path. I wish them good luck and I hope they remember the times we spent good or bad.
2 I have no time for Time magazine or Rolling Stone
I like that line simply put I don't care what you think or write about me I am what I am.
3 Remember the Christmas spirit is not what you drink
I find it funny, you can substitute Christmas with holiday or any time family get together, and it all changed society has made it all about money and greed and forgotten about the true meaning of any of these holidays are about family. It has gotten so out of control it is sad and every year it gets worse.
I am sure in a day my mind will change and will say oh... I should of said that song, so I might have to add some more
Im left behind when I should of been there
For Micheal Collins Jeffrey and Me,
I think everyone feels this way at one time in there life. Thinking you are missing something that you ve been left out. and passed over, and missed the big thing.
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Post by Mothfairy on Feb 22, 2010 0:50:35 GMT -5
Nice thread...I would partake if I hadn't already done my interpretation of APP lyrics already which I would've quoted for this thread...It would be totally reiterating and boring and plus I'm really tired...haha...It's so funny (or not really) that the only time I can get on here is late at night when the kids finally fall asleep and I'm too tired to think about anything and you guys are usually asking something where you want me to think about stuff....
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 11:56:13 GMT -5
Mothfairy I dont know how think I m just full of hot air and BS
but you have a good reason to be tired(parenthood). Im sure your kids make you think enough, this place is for you to relax .
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Post by Dan on Feb 22, 2010 21:38:44 GMT -5
Yeah, I like this thread also.
1.) "Too proud for anger, too late for hate: resigned in dignity."
(from Ian solo cd 'Secret Languages' Sanctuary)
a.) 'Too proud for anger'.. reminds me that no how many times you have been beaten down-you rise above it.
b.) 'Too late for hate'..with age and wisdom comes knowing there isn't enough time to spend wasted energy on hate.
c.) 'Resigned in dignity'.. the ability to look yourself in the mirror and realize you did everything to the best of your ability.
All that said, I'm none of that.
Something pisses me off daily, love finding people that pissed me off in the past on the obituary page, and my dignity will inevitably never be resigned while I get older and soil myself while watching ESPN.
2.) "Too much hurry, ruins a body" (Songs From The Wood-Fire At Midnight)
Later live version lyric change becomes , "Too much worry.."
Either way -I'm a strong believer that stress will kill you quicker than chicken wings and deep fried bacon strips.
3.) "Now I may tell you that it's love and not just lust" ( SFTW Velvet Green)
Lust doesn't necessarily involve sexual craving ,and my interpretation is something that gives an immediate pleasure that is instant and non-sustaining.
I feel I throw the word 'love' around too casually, as in, "I would really love to go to Hawaii " or " I would really love to have the NFL Network."
Truth be told, I think I lust them along with other things.
I know the rules say three things but I have one more.
4.) From Nightcap's Lights Out. " The cold restricting terror in the dark" and "Are grownups brave or do they just pretend."
Great reflection on fears of the dark that must have been written when James was young and unable to convince my own young ones that the room is the same in the daylight as in the dark. I didn't believe my parents either.
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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 22, 2010 22:20:25 GMT -5
Those are all great lines, Dan. Some of my favorites as well.
Jeff
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Post by TM on Feb 22, 2010 23:00:32 GMT -5
Truly a great thread. Kudos to everybody so far. Hopefully I'll be able to add a few of my own soon.
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Post by tootull on Feb 23, 2010 10:21:34 GMT -5
 This post would need to be about me. Tull is all about "me" from my perspective. Me. Me. Me. I'm almost sure that you'll all agree it's all about "you". www.cupofwonder.com/benefit2.html#ToCryYouASongIn the beginning for me: My eyes were smiling when Tull arrived on stage at MLG 1972. It seemed like they fell from the sky. The smile in your eyes was never so sweet before Came down from the skies to cry you a song. When you've been to death's door and lived to talk about it - talk to me. Life is precious, but death just might be a good thing. (avoid suicide) "And so I'm dead'', the young man said over the hill (not a wish away). My friends (as one) all stand aligned I don't believe you: you had the whole damn thing all wrong He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays. Wind Up - Yes, my anthem. I told them every Sunday, God is not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays. Then Ian stole my line for his song.  www.cupofwonder.com/aqualung.html#WindUpWarning: I have the right to remove this post without warning. ;D The Tull Immortal 
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Post by tootull on Feb 23, 2010 10:56:19 GMT -5
Good read!
9/11, that's all too much.
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Post by tootull on Feb 23, 2010 11:32:50 GMT -5
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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 23, 2010 12:53:18 GMT -5
Good read! 9/11, that's all too much. Thanks, John....that still blows my mind. It was as if Ian predicted it, like some kind of modern Nostradamus. My friend Rob was working at the WTC Marriott the morning of the tragedy. Seven months later, he and I waited outside the venue in Washington, D.C. and Rob was able to tell Ian his story, who was in a great hurry to leave with Shona until he heard what Rob started to say, and then he listened with fascination, and asked a lot of questions. I told that story in a related thread here: thejethrotullboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=lyrics&thread=33&page=1#136Jeff |
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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 23, 2010 12:57:46 GMT -5
Good choices, tootull, and as always, I enjoy your sense of humor!
Jeff
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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 23, 2010 13:05:07 GMT -5
I liked your entries in this thread as well, Derek. I love that line from We Used to Know, and how you related it to your own philosophy of life. The Christmas Song quote is a classic too, all too easily forgotten I'm afraid.
Jeff
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Post by tootull on Feb 23, 2010 13:33:20 GMT -5
Good read! 9/11, that's all too much. Thanks, John....that still blows my mind. It was as if Ian predicted it, like some kind of modern Nostradamus. My friend Rob was working at the WTC Marriott the morning of the tragedy. Seven months later, he and I waited outside the venue in Washington, D.C. and Rob was able to tell Ian his story, who was in a great hurry to leave with Shona until he heard what Rob started to say, and then he listened with fascination, and asked a lot of questions. I told that story in a related thread here (scroll down six posts from the top): thejethrotullboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=lyrics&action=display&thread=33Jeff Jeff, Thank you for sharing that. It's all too tough on the nerves, on the people. I hope the journey here will be worth it for all of us. Peace of mind. Link to post: thejethrotullboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=lyrics&thread=33&page=1#136 |
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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 23, 2010 23:22:48 GMT -5
There is actually another pretty amazing and fateful Jethro Tull element to my particular 9/11 experience, if the story is rewound to around 8:30 a.m. that same morning....before anything happened, while Karen and I were getting ready to go to work that day. I can't believe I forgot to include this, although it is actually a separate little prequel.
I'll explain tomorrow....
Jeff
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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 26, 2010 23:37:54 GMT -5
There is actually another pretty amazing and fateful Jethro Tull element to my particular 9/11 experience, if the story is rewound to around 8:30 a.m. that same morning....before anything happened, while Karen and I were getting ready to go to work that day. I can't believe I forgot to include this, although it is actually a separate little prequel. I'll explain tomorrow.... Jeff In September of 2001, my wife Karen and I had been married for a little over a year, and we were living in her one-bedroom apartment on Bleecker Street, between Broadway and Mercer, which is a very short block. Usually, Karen would be ready for work earlier than me, and would leave the apartment before me, between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. We rarely left together. But on the morning of 9/11, Karen slept late. I was showered and dressed, all ready to go by 8:30. and she was just going into the bathroom to start getting ready. I was feeling good that day, planning to get a lot of work done at the office and also squeeze in a workout, since I didn't have to go to court. I knew it was going to be a productive day, so I decided to listen to some Tull and wait for Karen to get ready so that, for once, we could leave together. And so, as Karen was stepping into the shower at around 8:35, I put on Dot Com. Loud. Very loud. (As is usually the case when I listen to Tull.) Karen showered, dressed, brushed her teeth, etc. over the next 25-30 minutes, and I continued to listen to Dot Com at a loud volume, turning it down somewhat at Karen's request, but it was still pretty loud. And I continued listening right up until the minute we left our apartment, which was probably right around 9:05 a.m. We left, blissfully unaware of what had just transpired a mile and a half due south from where we lived. You see, we lived on the west side of lower Manhattan, about a mile east of the Hudson River, and had I not been blasting Dot Com, we not only would have heard the first plane roar by, we also would have heard the first massive explosion at 8:45 a.m., and the second one at 9:03 a.m. (We know this because other people we knew in the building, including the doorman and super, had heard it all.) But, since I continued to play the music until just before we stepped out, we didn't hear anything, and were shocked to hear from the first person who entered the elevator on a floor below ours that a plane had just struck the World Trade Center, but since the person had mentioned only one plane, we immediately thought "accident"....until the elevator stopped at another floor and someone else got on and informed us that two planes had hit both towers, and then I knew right then and there what it was. When we got downstairs at around 9:10, we talked briefly to the doorman and super and then went outside to see what was going on. We walked to the corner of Broadway, only about 50-75 feet from our building, and saw endless streams of people migrating north, heading uptown. As we stood there on the corner, I hugged Karen and started to weep, because we saw the huge clouds of black smoke billowing from the Towers (but not the Towers themselves, which were not visible from that corner.) When I first moved to NYC, I worked for Aetna's house counsel on the 37th floor of 2 World Trade Center, from 1987 to 1989, and I used to look out those windows in amazement, because it was just so damn exciting to work in those towers, which had so fascinated me when I was a kid; as I stood there on that corner on 9/11, I had a vision of myself standing in my office and a plane flying right into the building where I was standing, so I immediately understood the loss of life that had already occurred and that our country and my city had just been attacked by terrorists. Karen, though, and many others I am sure, did not immediately realize the magnitude of what had just happened. And because she was, and still is, extremely dedicated to her job, she wanted to go downtown to her office in the Federal Building, which is only six blocks north of the World Trade Center, and had I not been there with her that morning, she probably would have done so, and put herself in great peril. But I said to her "what, are you crazy or something, you're not going down there", and so she did not. It was then that we walked to the corner of Mercer and Bleecker, looked south and saw the two sad, beautiful Towers going up in flames and smoke, with those terrible gaping holes. By now it was probably 9:15, 9:20, and people were out there with their cameras taking pictures, which upset me a great deal, and knowing that the Towers would soon topple or fall, I said, "Let's go upstairs, Karen...I can't watch this." And so we did. A decision I am grateful for to this day, because had we stayed and looked on for another thirty minutes or so, as we easily could have done, we would have seen Tower 2 disintentegrate before our eyes. So, it was all because of my fateful decision to listen to Tull that morning and wait for my wife, that Karen and I were spared the agony of hearing the roaring engines of the first plane as it stormed by, and the two tremendous explosions that followed, and had I not listened to Dot Com that morning, had I left for my office instead, Karen probably would have ventured downtown and been a short distance away when Tower 2 collapsed at 10:00 a.m, and who knows what might have happened to her, and what our lives/my life would have been like then? Jeff |
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Post by Mothfairy on Feb 26, 2010 23:49:25 GMT -5
Jeff, your story is amazing. I can't even imagine...wow...
haha, love this....
Like I said, my Immortull lines are from APP, I've already been here done that, but if anyone insists on me dragging it up again or forgotten what I'll said, then I will...
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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 27, 2010 0:36:00 GMT -5
Hi, Holly or should I call you WUV for Weird Uneartlhy Vision?
Yes, when I think about how much Tull affected what I experienced that day, both beforehand with Dot Com, and afterward with And Further On, it freaks me out even still.
Jeff
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Post by Mothfairy on Feb 27, 2010 1:09:27 GMT -5
I wouldn't be surprised if you had suffered some post traumtic stress from the whole thing.
And call me whatever, I don't care!
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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 27, 2010 9:08:36 GMT -5
I wouldn't be surprised if you had suffered some post traumtic stress from the whole thing. And call me whatever, I don't care! Sorry about that wuv thing, Holly, that was pretty stupid. It was late.  We did suffer post-traumatic stress, because of the uncertainty of not knowing whether there would be another attack. The City was just so tense, everyone was scared and on edge, it was really crazy. And there actually were more attacks, if you consider that several people died in the anthrax mailings that followed, so there was a feeling of dread of a more widespread anthrax attack. Then there were the constant sirens, I mean constant screaming sirens, day and night, which made you think something else had just happened and made it impossible to sleep at night, because our building was so close to Broadway, which was closed below 14th Street for three months, so that emergency vehicles could get to the site. Three weeks later, a plane went down near JFK airport, which turned out to be an accident, but was first thought to be terrorism. But we were lucky compared to others. Thousands of other New Yorkers, like my friend Rob, were much closer to the World Trade Center when everything happened, some were in the Towers and managed to escape, some saw the most horrible things, like falling body parts and dozens of people jumping to their deaths, and got caught up in the huge clouds that engulfed all of lower Manhattan after the two collapses, and breathed in all that toxic shit. Those clouds extended about a mile north to Canal Street, but didn't make it up to Bleecker where we were, although some of the residue was blown our way and accumulated on the side of our building, and then there was that awful smell, which came and went - right into our apartment - for the three months that the fires continued to burn. So others suffered much more stress than we did. Jeff |
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Post by TM on Feb 27, 2010 11:13:04 GMT -5
Jeff, your story is amazing. I can't even imagine...wow... |
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Post by tootull on Mar 1, 2010 14:08:16 GMT -5
God bless you, Jeff. Amazing is the word. Thank you for sharing once again. I can only pray for you & your family's peace of mind.
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 1, 2010 23:36:00 GMT -5
God bless you, Jeff. Amazing is the word. Thank you for sharing once again. I can only pray for you & your family's peace of mind. Thanks, John. We were far enough away not to be in any immediate danger, but that might not have been the case with Karen, had I not been blasting Tull that morning. I still think about that. How unusual it was for her to have been running late that morning, and how I almost left to go to work, but then decided to wait for her and give Dot Com a spin. Listening to that record that morning spared us from hearing those explosions and played a big role in Karen not going all the way downtown, because I stayed with her and wouldn't let her go. As we found out later, the Federal Building where she works was being evacuated after the second plane hit, but we didn't know that at the time. Jeff |
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 2, 2010 0:01:51 GMT -5
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Post by Chea on Mar 2, 2010 7:40:31 GMT -5
Hi Jeff. I believe you did well sharing that story.It was a fact nobody should forget.I can a little understand because the former owners of our house is a jews family which sold it to us because was too big for them. They followed what happened that day by Tv here in Italy, it was traumatic for them a lot. Hearing that story makes me even more happy than before to be connected with you, :Pwhishing peace and happyness to your family,too.M  |
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This post would need to be about me. Tull is all about "me" from my perspective. 
