‘Aqualung’ is a song by the British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, and the title track from their Aqualung (1971) album. The song was written by the band's frontman, Ian Anderson, and his then-wife Jennie Franks. While this track was never a single, its self-titled album Aqualung was Jethro Tull's first American Top 10 album, reaching number seven in June 1971. After ‘Locomotive Breath’, it is the song most often played in concert by Jethro Tull.
The original recording runs for 6:34. In a 1999 interview, Ian Anderson said: “Aqualung wasn't a concept album, although a lot of people thought so. The idea came about from a photograph my wife at the time took of a tramp in London. I had feelings of guilt about the homeless, as well as fear and insecurity with people like that who seem a little scary. And I suppose all of that was combined with a slightly romanticized picture of the person who is homeless, but yet a free spirit, who either won't or can't join in society's prescribed formats. So, from that photograph and those sentiments, I began writing the words to "Aqualung". I can remember sitting in a hotel room in L.A., working out the chord structure for the verses. It's quite a tortured tangle of chords, but it was meant to really drag you here and there and then set you down into the more gentle acoustic section of the song.”
This is Jethro Tull's most famous song, but it was not released as a single. Ian Anderson explained why, saying: "Because it was too long, it was too episodic, it starts off with a loud guitar riff and then goes into rather more laid back acoustic stuff. Led Zeppelin at the time, you know, they didn't release any singles. It was album tracks. And radio sharply divided between AM radio, which played the 3-minute pop hits, and FM radio where they played what they called deep cuts….But that day is not really with us anymore…"
An "Aqualung" is a portable breathing apparatus for divers. Anderson envisioned the homeless man getting that nickname because of breathing problems. He got the idea from watching a TV show called Sea Hunt, where there was a lot of heavy underwater breathing, and where the main character wore an Aqualung. What Anderson didn't know is that Aqualung was a brand name, and the Aqualung Corporation of North America took legal action after the album came out. The case was eventually dropped, but the threat of a lawsuit was troubling to Anderson.
It took 50 years, but Jethro Tull did release a video for "Aqualung," an animated clip directed by Sam Chegini that was posted in 2021.
Labels – Island (UK), Reprise (US), Chrysalis/Capitol (US re-issue)
Songwriters – Ian Anderson, Jennie Anderson
Producers – Ian Anderson, Terry Ellis
SONG LYRICS
[Hook]Sitting on a park bench
Eyeing little girls with bad intent
Snot running down his nose
Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes
Hey, Aqualung
Drying in the cold sun
Watching as the frilly panties run
Hey, Aqualung
Feeling like a dead duck
Spitting out pieces of his broken luck
Whoa, Aqualung
[Chorus]
Sun streaking cold, an old man wandering lonely
Taking time the only way he knows
Leg hurting bad as he bends to pick a dog-end
He goes down to the bog and warms his feet
Feeling alone, the army's up the road
Salvation a la mode and a cup of tea
Aqualung my friend, don't you start away uneasy
You poor old sod, you see, it's only me
[Verse]
Do you still remember
December's foggy freeze?
When the ice that
Clings on to your beard was
Screaming agony (Hey!)
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
With deep-sea-diver sounds
And the flowers bloom like
Madness in the spring
[Chorus]
Sun streaking cold, an old man wandering lonely
Taking time the only way he knows
Leg hurting bad as he bends to pick a dog-end
He goes down to the bog and warms his feet
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Feeling alone, the army's up the road
Salvation a la mode and a cup of tea
Aqualung my friend, don't you start away uneasy
You poor old sod, you see, it's only me
Me-me-me-me-me
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
[Guitar Solo]
[Bridge]
Dee-dee-dee-dee
Dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee
Dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee
Dee-dee-dee-dee
Aqualung, my friend, don't you start away uneasy
You poor old sod, you see, it's only me
[Hook]
Sitting on a park bench
Eyeing little girls with bad intent
Snot running down his nose
Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes
Hey, Aqualung
Drying in the cold sun
Watching as the frilly panties run
Hey, Aqualung
Feeling like a dead duck
Spitting out pieces of his broken luck
Hey, Aqualung
[Outro]
Whoa, Aqualung