Jethro Tull, Locomotive Breath - A Classical Musician’s In-Depth Analysis 

Leave your questions ONLY here, please!

Reminder: The "Thick as a Brick" album is a Masterpiece, in its entirety. Well worthy of your astute analysis. Much appreciated. :)

A conversation between Amy and Ian would be fascinating. I can't imagine it will happen, but I would be glued if it did.

I’ve always found Jethro Tull to have a very curious ‘Old English Madrigal’ style to it - the instruments, lyrics, odd musical style… And then I actually see them and they are exactly that! Shakespeare-era entertainers with an electric amp!

Jethro Tull was my first "real" concert when I was 16 in 1975. To say it exceeded my expectations would be a gross understatement. They were/are one of those bands whose studio recordings are kind of a jumping off point for their live performances where they can and do wander off and make it so it will usually be different each time they tour. Thank you for sharing your reaction and interpretation.

Your style and enthusiasm are infectious. Thanks!

That piece you linked to by Fauré was beautiful and I can hear a bit of that in the piano intro of Locomotive breath, what an amazing ear you have Amy.

I do hope you do another Jethro Tull song soon. Listening to just “Locomotive Breath” is like eating half a potato chip. This is a top level band.

I have been listening to this song for 50 years and I like your interpretation better. I like the idea that we are just an observer on the train, and then we get off and the train continues on the journey. But Tull music is very open to interpretation, and there's no right or wrong way to understand it.

That was brilliant, Amy! Yes, brilliant! As a trained musician and fan of Jethro Tull (and Gentle Giant - a must hear, too) since the early 70s, I know their music very well. I'm convinced that Ian put such deep thought into this song and that nothing here is random (as always with Tull), and your ideas gave me another perspective on this song. Very exciting! As others have said here - there are better Jethro Tull to dive into, and if you have time and desire for an extensive analysis at some point, I would highly recommend the masterpiece "Thick as a Brick", especially part 1. A 23-minute work and one of the best in prog. (Tull's "A Passion Play" is my eternal favorite of all prog music but this album may be too much of an acquired taste). Thanks again for this truly brilliant analysis. For me, you are at the top of the best reaction/analysis channels.

I always listen to the pieces suggested by Amy. They open a whole new world of beautiful music to me...

Top notch analysis! Another classic that I have always enjoyed but never thought about deeper. Makes me appreciate it so much more!

All I know about the flute part is that I can't imagine the song without it.

Interesting. I didn't know this song was about overpopulation. I had always assumed it was about addiction: "Old Charlie (cocaine) stole the handle, and the train it won't stop; no way to slow down." I had also never noticed the guitar answering the vocals all the way through, despite having heard this song many times. This is why I love your chanel: you make me hear familiar music in new ways.

Jethro Tull's music has more elements of folk music than classical, you were right to describe it this way.

Your pure joy of music and your excitement for this unexpected journey is contagious. Thank you for sharing.

You hit it right on the head. We give our own meanings to some songs. You are really good being expressive with your words. Lol your break downs on songs.

I love how you explain things, your tone of voice and how you move your hands.. …and not only this😊

The Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed was recorded with the London Festival Orchestra. The Night and The Afternoon are usually the most played tracks from this album.

The opening is actually very graphic. It depicts the sound of an approaching train as you stand on the platform somewhere in sleepy countryside. You start hearing its horn from distance (brilliant Martin's guitar). The introduction ends with the locomotive passing you its horn blazing and changing by the Doppler effect ... and then you suddenly are on the train itself sucked into misery of life with "no way out."

Most enjoyable. It's amazing the superficial level that I am able to enjoy this and other music. For me, the surprise that awaits the listener is unique and fun, along with the uncompromising energy, relating life as a train journey. I do love it when you like a piece of music that I've enjoyed over my life. Music that has a depth and complexity that speaks of ideas beyond the mundane. I hope you are directed to more of my favorites in the future. Thanks for your efforts and attention.

If you do revisit locomotive breath. Check out the live version. It’s longer. And Ian is a showman.

Superb analysis……again, Amy. Thank you so much! BTW…congratulations on surpassing 30,000 subs in just over two months! Many never reach that level and those that do often take a year or more to get there. You definitely are providing content which is not only informative but also enriching. Thank you again

Amy you wouldn’t be this first non rock fan and classical musician I’ve known to fall under the spell of Jethro Tull. I predicted they would be the ones. Locomotive a breath is just a tiny sliver of what they can do. Lots of medieval folk and baroque keyboards wild evocative lyrics extraordinary musicianship. Their live album “Bursting Out” is concert were even more amazing.

I’m still going through those links in the description, I do hear the similarities to Locomotive Breath and I recommend that people check them out. Thanks Amy for all the interesting and caring attention you put into all your videos.

Nice to see that you love the music of Jethro Tull, they are the outstanding example of progressive rock. Hopefully there will be more Jethro Tull tracks here, maybe Hunting Girl or even Thick As A Brick (if you really have the time).

Another enjoyable and informative video. Highly recommend the Moody Blues as a band combining both a rock and classical style. Also, the band Yes and their song "Close To The Edge"

The story goes that the guys had problems recording this song. It somehow did not work to record it as a band. So they recorded some pieces separately, and during the recording they found that it still needed a good intro. Then John Evan wrote the piano opening while the other guys were out to lunch and it turned out to be a wonderful part of the song.

I learn so much from these 2nd half videos! Truly set apart from other channels! Keep up the great work 😁

Thank you for those links.....amazing pieces of music!

There's a reason Tull is my favourite band. Simply put, Ian Anderson and co created some of the most beautiful music of the last half a century or so without compromising on anything. Their integrity is intact in the sense that they created music that works on so many levels. They don't do complex for complexity's sake, in fact you can still enjoy the music even on a superficial level. If, however, you want to uncover deeper significance, you'll find it across the board as Mr. Anderson's such an astute observer of whatever's happening around. The tragedy is the deteriorating quality of his voice, but that's something that never hindered fans of, say Bob Dylan from listening to him, even though his voice was never something to write home about. The choice of this song is rather iffy, in the sense that apart from the opening piano I don't think there's so much on offer for a musician grounded on classical music such as you. There are scores of other songs I'm sure you'll find to your liking from this fabulous band. From the same album you could have listened to "My God" which is built on a bunch of sinister chords and has an extended flute solo that really shows off the band's dynamics and sense of drama. Anyways, this is a band to listen intently. Other off-the-wall greats I'm sure you'll enjoy I can suggest Mike Oldfield (Incantations), Frank Zappa (Peaches en Regalia), Kate Bush (Wow), David Bowie (Life on Mars?), Van der Graaf Generator (A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers), Rush (Natural Science), Genesis (The Lamia), Steve Hackett (Shadow of the Heirophant), Gentle Giant (On Reflection), Steven Wilson (The Watchmaker), Storm Corrosion (Drag Ropes), Devin Townsend (True North), Mansun (The Chad Who Loved Me), Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (FC: The Freedom Club), Magma (Spiritual), Angelo Branduardi (Vanita' di Vanita'), Roxy Music (Oh Yeah - On the Radio), Renaissance (Northern Lights), and Premiata Forneria Marconi (L'Isola di Niente) among a million others. Here's to wishing you a most beautiful musical ride, and very good luck regarding this channel.

Hi Amy, I enjoyed the analysis! I also hope that in the future, for the in-depth analysis you will consider listening to other versions of the same song - particularly videos of live versions, which can have a vastly different feeling from the studio recording. There are some spectacular live versions of this song and you'll be able to notice the unique way in which Ian Anderson plays the flute that you wouldn't be able to get from a purely audio version.

One of my favorite song of one of my favorite band, The "answering guitar" part works very well for me Like others in the comments I strongly advise you to listen "Thick as a brick" wich is a one song album (the only integrated cut is because of A-side/B-side of tapes and discs at the time). In this masterpiece you can hear all his inspirations Folk, traditionnal, classical, rock, blues, jazz...it's so well composed and arranged for a band classified as rock music. Jethro tull is no one trick pony for sure.

I have watched many reactions to this song and you are the only one mentioning how the music expresses train sounds and movement down the tracks. I always felt that but did not know how to explain it. Thank you for the in-depth analysis.

Thank you also for the musical reference links. Fascinating!

I'm picky when it comes to watching reactions, but this one got me to watch both. Bringing in the literary with the music was spot on brilliant. I take these kind of songs like a Charles Dickens commentary on civilization. Perfect!

I enjoyed your first listen and analysis and discussion of Locomotive Breath. I loved it as a teenager and I could tell that it was vaguely dark, I thought it was about infidelity of a wife told by the father. I never heard of Ian's own description about over population. I especially liked your analysis of the Piano intro- this was very new to me. Tull's whole style and Aqualung especially was a mind expanding adventure when it was released. I've subscribed to your channel and will be watching for more- the premise of your channel is very fresh and I wish you much luck with your efforts.

The Folk aspect is because a lot of the early Tull songs were folk / blues, and the band is named after the inventor of the seed-drill. Albums such as "Songs From The Wood" and "Heavy Horses" are why the band also get classed as "folk-rock".

Amy, thank you for this channel. For me, it's an enjoyable if brief and momentary escape from this crazy world and it's insanities; and I'm learning so much too.

So glad you're doing this. It's amazing.

I am glad to hear your impressions and learned explanations. You mentioned an abrupt ending. I mostly listened to the album, and it seemed that the songs were connected, so abrupt transitions were similar to other albums with what seemed like medleys. Thank you for these videos.

I always regarded Ian Anderson as a medieval minstrel when playing his flute, as you say," rustic style". You have to watch their live performances, it gives more character to the experience of Jethro Tull.

I admit, I had my doubts about this program. However, having watched/listened to it, I find that I have a much greater understanding of not only a rock band's song, but the way their efforts were related to a much larger musical world. Thank you for this presentation.

I appreciate the levels of reaction you go through; the music and how it feels with you, the story it tells you and then going to the intent of the lyrics in more depth, layering all the different moods and colors of your total experience.

That’s true what you say the artist creates the artistic piece and it can be represented on many different levels to how true that is that’s so absolutely true you can branch off into many different fractal spaces and mean many different things incredible insight on your part And your analysis a musical analogy is very mind expanding I thank you for all of your insight on everything about this particular piece and just in general…

Amy, this was a splendid choice for your progression. I thought a few videos ago that Vlad should throw you some Jethro Tull with this song as a good one among the choices. So, the first introduction of the guitar, does it represent a locomotive whistle as the train is about to take off? The kitchen utensils you hear is the guitar, a technique where by the right hand, with a pick, strums some strings while the left hand on the neck, does touch the strings but not firmly presses the strings to a fret, there by muting a full developed not of music, you end up with a very rhythmic sound. In this song the guitar also fully plays the repeating riff of the song and some contrast melodies to, what we call, "fill in" the sound. Ian Anderson is a self taught flute player and he is well versed in classical music, again self taught, classical music references are apparent in several of his songs. Amy, you should also listen for Ian Anderson making vocal sounds while he plays the flute, a technique or style of playing that is recognized by professional classical flutists, although almost never utilized in classical music and something that Anderson particularly excels at. Not very prominent in this recording but watch him do a 10 minute live version of this song (on RU-vid). You should watch this song live anyway because he is an entertainer galore, with his eyes and everything. And, yes, Anderson, vocally, has a very story telling quality, he doesn't, so much sing. He is aware of this feature and designs his composures around this feature a bit. Interesting and, as always, enjoyable video.

Thank you for giving us rock aficionados something back by recommending some interesting classical music! ❤😊

While all the genres that you mentioned are culminated into the song, you have to understand that with rock and roll the music sets the tone for the lyrics. The base intro on the piano is very dark and slow as the train progresses in its Journey. The man who is riding this train is on a parallel Journey. And yes the flute part very much depicts the passing Countryside moving faster and faster almost in desperation at this point of the song. And yes while the music is uplifting and you can hear all these genres breaking through. The man on the train is heading for a train wreck which is depicted in the lyrics. For whatever reason this guy's life is out of control and he can't get a hand on the brake lever no way to slow down. I believe rock and roll was popularized because it brought us to the real things happening in our own lives, The Good The Bad and The Ugly. Great video I've subscribed for more thank you. As an edit I like the way you explain the classical side of the way the music is composed.

I'm sorry that I have arrived so late to this discussion. I enjoyed watching your highly expressive and animated face as you discovered the various styles of music and instrumentation as you listened to the song and thoughtfully speculated. I am not a musician, I come from a literary background. Nevertheless, I enjoyed your thought process very much, "Virgin Rock," if I may call you that. You reminded me of my own 'virgin experience' of first hearing this JT album, AQUALUNG, fifty years ago - and trying to fathom what the Devil Ian Anderson was trying to communicate - especially in this piece "Locomotive Breath." So, where you heard a nostalgic evocation of the Romantic Era in the opening piano chords, I thought of the Enlightenment period. Back then, leading minds decided that "Reason" would light the way to a glorious future for humankind. So, I got this 'sonic picture' in my mind of the initial emergence of a Train, which is the classic symbol of "Human Progress" invented by Man's Reason, graciously departing the Station. But then, the transition music is jarringly sounded by the 'jazz riff' of the guitar and rapid drumming - intimating that Time has passed and the Train has now sped up and is rocketing down the tracks - as Ian sings "Charley/God" has stolen the hammer (the braking mechanism) and the Train can't and "won't slow down." The hapless man whom the story is about - is the "all time Loser," homeless and shabby Aqualung - whom "The Winner" of life's modern game has shunted aside - as he heedlessly races down the track of history. (In 1970, England had had to finally admit that it's Empire was lost due to the madness of World Wars I & II when the whole of Europe attempted suicide). The promise of "Reason" had given way to Madness, a mass pursuit of wealth and power. Anyway, that's how I look at it, but I'm much more cynical than you are - you who seem to be beaming with youthful idealism and promise. Enjoy.

Hi Amy I'm following your channel chronologically and now up to Jethro Tull "Locomotive Breath". It's a treat. You've now heard "Rock" each decade 1960's to the 1990's if not beyond. Other than "Rock" as a commonality, you're also hearing the energy of 20-somethings regardless of the decade. That's cool. Much great music comes from people that age. Rock fans know how the music of icons has changed over decades. Is there a parallel with the great composers?

I don't know if you've had any experience with Steely Dan but I think you would really dig them. They are musician's musicians. They are 70's pop/rock/jazz fusion which reached significant prominence. So good. Try anything off of their debut album or anything up until around 1980. Lots of great piano and guitar work with crazy chords.

I loved your analysis I think you enjoy listening to Yes’s close to the edge or Awaken which features a Harp!

Your take on the song is your on a journey on the train. I always thought of it as the train as an unstoppable force pushing him through life and making him deal with what ever it pushed him into. That’s the beauty of rock!

Yes! More Tull! Such a great band. The way they meld musical styles to suit their purpose is unparalleled. Incredible musicianship, meets wonderfully composed music. Ian has some very interesting flute techniques that I'm guessing will surprise you. Both with his breathing/singing through the instrument and other rare techniques, he is quite the showman. 🤘🧙‍♂️🤘 Rich the Ancient Metal Beast

I believe the train motif you are hearing is coming from the bass guitar. The bass alternates through most of the song between playing one measure of the main riff with the guitar and then a measure of quarter notes. But this quarter note pulse involves a slide down in pitch with each note. It creates the chugging feeling of the train.

Just a quick comment to say how much I'm enjoying both your reactions as well as the deep dives. I'm quite familiar with most of the songs you've covered to this point (having grown up on them), but I'm even intrigued with with the few that somehow I've never experienced. I play piano and guitar, and have taken a couple of college-level theory courses so I'm really appreciating how you go about deconstructing and analyzing some of these songs that I've heard hundreds of times. Looking forward to whatever's next.

There is so much to listen to out there. I don't know whether to hope for you to dig deeper into an artist, or to keep expanding your horizons and try different artists within different sub-genres of rock.

Regardless of Anderson's inspiration, I loved your analysis. Thank you.

From youtube you can find a lot of many variation of musician reaction channels, which in the end are all the same, but not this one, it is obvious that Virgin Rock is one of the best reaction channels in youtube.

I love it! Another great In-Depth Analysis.

Always glad to see someone’s first reaction to another genre of music. A couple of things: 1) Jethro Tull is the name of the band, which is led by singer/songwriter Ian Anderson, who also plays flute and classical guitar. 2) The flute is part of Ian’s persona as a minstrel singing, dancing, and playing the flute while performing songs. 3) Check out this 1977 live version, which is how I remembered seeing them perform in New Haven, CT in 1977 (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LoUgCCxKN1A.html). I’ve seen them once again in Bensalem, PA for their 50th anniversary tour in 2019! Amy, I thoroughly enjoyed your deep analysis of this staple of Jethro Tull. Do not do an analysis of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven lyrics, but the instrumentals would be good. Their Immigrant Song is a great introduction to their music along with Gonna Leave You Babe. The band Yes has a song called Round About that would be another good progressive rock piece.

Just a thank you for these amazing videos. In a very short time you have become one of my most loved youtube channels. As is The Daily Doug. Hmmm I wonder if there could be some sort of connection. My guess is informed, intelligent people, who are natural communicators, often covering pieces of music that mean everything to me, Basically, just a fantastic channel

Glad I stumbled upon your channel…very cool

They have done so many great songs besidess Aqualange etc. Like Bourée where one really can here how great musicans they are.

I think that one reason for the short song was that it was one of several compositions which ended up being a "concept album" somewhat similar to various movements in a classical composition. However, it was not intended to be a concept album but I think that Ian was speaking his mind regarding life as a whole. Speaking of movements and concept albums, you really do need to hear and analyze Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album in it's entirely. It is considered one of the greatest albums of all time! I would cherish your observations!

As a kid, listening in the 60/70s the flute sounded as if it were the pressure, the pressure the huff and puff of being lost, as his life continues to spiral out of control.

I think one of the most important things Amy brought up was on our own personal interpretations. I think music. poetry, and art in general are important mediums that allow for this. Sometimes we can ruin the experience by looking too quickly to the artist's own personal interpretation. Bob Dylan, used to make up crazy stories about what his songs meant, just to have fun with all the people who would continually ask him about it. I don't think Ian is being as mischievous as Bob here, but I also don't think he would object to our placing our own personal interpretations on it.

I believe the sounds you are referring to as utensils are his making vocal sounds While playing the flute. maybe. The Live version might shed more light and is recommended anyway for the performance.

Please more Jethro Tull's songs. 🤗 I would recommend these three: Minstrel in the Gallery, Jack-A-Lynn, Seal Driver.

This wasn't a "bad" choice, but it is a very simplistic Tull song, and there are others that I think you'll genuinely enjoy. Try "Cross-Eyed Mary" & "Aqualung". Keep in mind, both of those, and "Locomotive Breath" are fairly simple & designed to get radio play. There are many, many FAR more complex compositions by Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull, and a lot of beautiful, softer songs.

Jethro Tull is a very deep well. It might be a bit much to do the whole thing, but I would suggest "Thick as a Brick." I see others have as well. It's a masterpiece, but it will also give you several facets of what this band was about.

Thank you for the Chaminade piece. I had never heard it before and I loved it.

Love the reaction and the in-depth dissections, keep them coming! Now if you want a challenge then take a trip into progressive metal, lots of interesting chord structures and progressions plus unusual time signatures and polyrhythms - Tool, Opeth, Periphery, Gojira, Mastodon, Meshuggah are the big guns but you may want to start off with something a little more gentle like Plini, Polyphia, Leprous or possibly Haken. This genre takes the old school prog rock of Yes, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Emerson Lake and Paler, Jethro Tull and early Genesis and mixes it with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, sometimes throwing in a bit of Folk, Jazz or orchestral/choral to produce a complex but still heavy sound.

If you really want to go back in time to Gregorian Chant you should check out the song "My God" from the same "Aqualung" album. That's the problem with picking a Jethro Tull song to analyze, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into! ;-) So much amazing eclectic but well crafted music to choose from.

You must do The Moody Blues “Days of Future Passed” in its entirety. Days of Future Passed is the second album and first concept album by English prog rock band The Moody Blues, released in November 1967 by Deram Records. With its fusion of orchestral and rock elements, it has been cited as one of the first examples of progressive rock.

Honestly, I never liked this song because I didn't understand it. Now I get it, and actually really appreciate that. Thank you.

As many people said Thick as a brick would be great song/album to react. For more of folk side Songs from the wood would be great, esspecially title song.

The train is a metaphor for life. It rolls on sometimes beautiful, sometimes bad weather and danger.

Greetings from Poland. I really like this channel ;)

From the same album (Aqualung), I recommend listening to "My God" and "Mother Goose", my two favourite songs on the record.

I liked what you say about the personal interpretation of the music, the picture we draw in our minds can be far away of the composer idea but very valid for us. My English knowledge is limited and it was very poor in my youth. We (me and people around me) listened the songs without idea of lyrics meaning, imagining our own meanings. I remember trying to show my poor translations of some songs from "The final cut" (Pink Floyd) to my wife (girlfriend in that time), and she refused to read it because it destroy the meaning he has in her mind. Initially I thought it was an error but the error was mine. In the recent years I started to listen some Japanese music from '70s ~ early '80s. I don't understand a single word and I have got very few translations, but I'm fully able to enjoy (in my way) this music. It's the magic of the music!

I think the inclusion of the flute re-establishes jazz influences within the song (especially by its use of accidentals and grace notes), deliberately bringing us back to the theme of the introduction. Jethro Tull's music is often influenced by classical music, by the way, including a track which is their interpretation of Bach's Bourrée in Em. Great dissection and analysis of the song. Made me listen to the song again with new ears :) I like the suggestion of the flute describing the passing scenery - I hadn't thought of that before, but it does!

it’s awesome to have a grandmaster musician’s analysis!

New subscriber here, “Passion Play” will be wonderful to deconstruct….can’t wait for that.

Yuo might want to check out Tull's version of "Bouree."

I think it was a lost opportunity unfortunately. Locomotive Breath is one of their most simplistic songs, which is what makes it their hit maybe and a concert staple, but not the best choice for in-depth thoughts. There are so many much better and more interesting songs in their repertoire. I think the in-depth analysis would work much better for "My God" from the same album. Or for the title track from "Songs From The Wood" or "Heavy Horses" albums. Or for some deeper cuts from "Minstrel In The Gallery", like "Cold Wind To Valhalla" or "Black Satin Dancer", which by the way have both some amazing string quartet parts.

Indeed very good research on that quote. And that's why rock and roll was so cool because we could interpret it into our own niche.

There have for a long time been a kind of connection between music and trains, and not just the rhythmic sound of a steam train. Fun fact. When the Doppler effect was proven they put a brass orchestra on an open railway wagon and drove by a point where musical experts were listening while the orchestra was blowing a sharp C. The experts noticed that the tone changed a quarter note from when the train came towards them and when it drove away. Then they put the experts on the train and orchestra on the spot where the experts had been standing. The train had the same speed and the musicians were blowing their C. The result was the same and the Doppler effect had been confirmed.

I'm not a musician I don't play an instrument yet whenever she explains the notes & structures of a song such as this one she makes it so easy to understand...

Got to love Jethro! 🙌🏻🎶

Funny you should mention the narration as Ian Anderson is a poet, a musician and a narrator. I've heard some of his interviews where he waxes lyrical about things like the history of human migration, etc. Fascinating stuff. You picked up an important element in Tull's music - the ability to interpret the music in a number of different ways, or just individualise the song and music to what you the listener sees in it. I bet when the band made the song, each musician had his own idea of what the song meant, which could be why you are seeing more than one interpretation of what it means.

I just watched an interview with Ian Anderson : Flute Center of New York presents Flute Unscripted with Caity Massoud, which told of why he took up the flute, He has been performing for 53 years and you can still see him in concert.

Another great listen/analysis! You keep giving me new ways to listen to songs I've been listening to my whole life. Thank you for this, and keep it up, please. I'm hoping you listen to Ozzy Osbourne: Diary of a Madman, and/or The Doors: Riders on the Storm, and/or anything from Janice Joplin. Also, looking forward to your next listen/analysis.

Thank you for an interesting video! I like your interpretations. One thing I have thought of in connection with many of your videos, but haven’t mentioned before, is that besides knowing a lot about music, you got a very well developed fantasy. Some very interesting examples from the classical world. Is the language russian on “The Train Song”? I didn’t understand one word of what he is singing. But it sounds very dramatic. Seems to be a fast train. The similarity between the intro and the piano pieces is quite clear in my ears. Think it is to most people. To me the first enter of the guitar is like an extension/continuation of the last note on the piano. Maybe it could be the train leaving the station (?). A little remark: ”Here’s an example of a Sheppards flute” and cut. Edited. And no link in the description. About similar or different to other Jethro Tull songs - I wouldn’t exactly call “Locomotive Breath” typical. But it is difficult to say, what is typical Jethro Tull. The group existed over a long period and had many changes of members through the years, and all through that made many different things. “Locomotive Breath” is from one of their most famous albums, “Aqualong” (1971),but not the most “tull’ish” track on that on that album. It was their fourth album and the beginning of what is by many considered their classic period. By then it was a different band than when they made their first album. Besides Anderson the only original member was the drummer, Clive Bunker. Stylistically there had also been some significant changes. And so it went on during the groups career: changing members and styles, with Anderson as the only remaining centerpoint. The early output with the original line-up was more blues-oriented, but even back then with many influences involved. The typical bluesrock of the late 60’s was often quite bombastic (if you listened to some of the examples in my comment about the origins of heavy metal, you know what I mean). The early Jethro Tull (as heard on their first album, “This Was” (1968)) was more airy and exuberant than the typical bluesrock band of the period. And certainly much more eclectic . So all ready back then they were kind of a thing of their own. And with a flute playing foreground figure kind of unique. The music was lesser dominated by Ian Anderson, as the original guitarist, Mick Abrahams, was contributing with many ideas. But Anderson and Abrahams couldn’t agree on the direction, and so they went their separate ways, and Abrahams formed another band, Blodwyn Pig, going the way he wanted. There are certain types of melody - and some chord changes too - that you’ll often find in their songs and with Andersons voice and flute as the main interpreter they are usually easy to recognize despite all the stylistic changes. What IS typical about “Locomotive Breath” is the blending of many different types of music. Likevise that folky touch is also a typical Tull-thing. All kinds of music find together (often inside the same song), but there is almost always a significant folk component in the mixture. Two of the many things going on in the 70’s was the so called progressive rock with acts such as Yes and Genesis, and the folk oriented rock (different from the folk-rock of the previous decade) with acts such as Fairport Convention and Steely Span. In general it was two separated camps. But Jethro Tull had a foot in both. I would assess (but some might disagree), that their most folksy album is “Songs From The Wood” (1977).

The piano sets the scene like in a French club, the story happens and then the gritty story is told in earnest, as the life occurs and the kids leave home the man travels and his wife is having an affair and the man can’t stop it. Life is the train . Great stuff the author is a hell of a flute player

Locomotive Breathr is amazing..Live versiion..Martin Barre solo...Incredible!!

Interesting analysis of Locomotive Breath. My take on the flute solo is it feels like an unending, inevitable juggernaut, as if the journey caused hard breathing. The narrator’s tragic journey will not allow him to catch his breath. Ian Anderson’s breathy percussive style allows his breath to sound beside the tone from the flute creates the breathless motif. The narrator’s journey has no way to slow down leaving him breathless.

I always get a feeling of being on a train when I hear Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony 4th movement.

I believe John Evan, the keyboardist with Jethro Tull, had a classical piano background, which he brought to the group. JT was a progressive rock band, esp after the first few years and, so, classical pieces and classical influence were strong elements as well as folk, rock and some jazz. The piece, By Kind Permission of, highlights Evan's talent as soloist. See Jethro Tull - With You There To Help Me - 2nd version (1970) apparently performed for the Beat Club on youtube. The second half of the video features Evan performing a variation on By Kind Permission of with Anderson joining with his flute. As a nod to classical music, there is Ian Anderson's well-known flute solo, Bouree, adapted from Bach's work. It has remained among the long-lived songs Anderson has performed since 1969. Incidentally, Anderson was influenced by Roland Kirk a multi instrumental jazz performer of the 60's who was well known at the time within rock circles.

Amazing. Always. She’s my favourite on RU-vid. She breaks down everything which really changes the way you look at a song.