Ever wish a Tull song were longer? Ever feel like adding a stanza or two of additional lyrics to a song like Nursie or Slipstream? Or maybe you had an idea for expanding the lyrics to a lengthy Tull song?
Cheap Day Return and A Time for Everything are other examples of songs that could be longer, even though they are both perfect in their brevity....they say so much in so few words. There are others too. Two Short Planks is a song (which I really like a lot) that I always wish had another verse or two.
So here is your chance at playing Ian for a day! Take any Tull or IA song whether it is short or long, and try to add another verse of lyrics that fit within the song, and that are kind of good enough almost to have been written by Ian.
I have tried this a number of times, only to realize how difficult it is to write lyrics that don't suck, even when the idea of the song has already been created for you, and all you have to do is expand on it. So imagine how hard it is to write the song from scratch!
I have, however, worked out several additional verses to Strange Avenues, another one of those songs that is really perfect the way it is -- you wouldn't really want to alter it in any way -- but at the same time always leaves you wanting more.
So, at the risk of utterly embarassing myself
, I will share my expanded version of Strange Avenues on the board.....tomorrow.
And, hopefully, that will give others the courage to try their hand at "co-writing" a Tull song "with" Ian!
Jeff
I'll beat you to the punch and set myself up for early ridicule.
I learned early to get things out of the way that you are uncomfortable with.
I am not a songwriter, poet or author and have a hard time putting groups of thoughts together in orchestral coherence, evident by the brevity of most of my posts.
I'll try to play your game and tried to sneak in something mythical or regionally relevant, with a hint of sexual innuendo and maybe some humor that finds the way into many Tull songs with a brief explanation at the end.
Dangerous thread, as everything will pale in comparison, and feel like I'm crayon-walking on the Mona Lisa!
Picking a personal short favorite here, Salamander, with the first (and only verse being by Ian Anderson.) Remember it has to be sung in Ian style.
Salamander,
born in the sun-kissed flame.
Who was it lit your candle
branded you with your name?
I see you walking by my window
in your Kensington haze.
Salamander, burn
Salamander, burn
Salamander, burn for me and I'll burn...for you.
Salamander,
Similar to a few.
Like a Chimera* sighting,
no good can come from you.
Squinting through the shadows.
Were you even here?
Salamander, yearn
Salamander, yearn
Salamander, you don't yearn for me but I yearn...for you.
Salamander,
Nothing seems as it should.
Think your the one who taut my trousers,
to be bad and be good.
Try to find me in the shadows.
With all your newty friends.
Salamander, learn
Salamander, learn
Salamander, learn from me and I'll learn ...from you.
* Chimera-
In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing creature composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that terminated in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her spine.
Sighting the Chimera was an omen of storms, shipwrecks, and natural disasters (particularly volcanoes).
I'll interpret verse two as Ray Lomas acquaintance with Salamander as foreshadowing with the bike wreck on the A1 at Scotch Corner and the realization that nothing good is going to come from this brief relationship.
Verse three with a little play on words with taut and taught and reaching a mutual level of debauchery.
Okay, not very good , but now I can try to focus on Lyric Quiz #10.
Danderson