Ian Anderson
Silent Singing: The Complete Lyrics Of Ian Anderson And Jethro Tull
ROCKET 88
Anderson’s vivid verse, from roots to branches.
There were so many dirty old men in Jethro Tull’s 1970s lyrics. From Aqualung’s titular character ‘eyeing little girls with bad intent’ to the ‘shady gentleman, flybutton feel’ of Baker Street Muse, Ian Anderson documented the times with unforgiving misanthropy, unless he was simply projecting a young man’s boisterous lust on to tramps and bankers. It wasn’t his only theme by any means; later he pilloried politicians and the military, eulogised the countryside and nurtured an obsession with Christmas songs.