Talk Tull to Me - a weekly Jethro Tull deep dive

You've got your theater imagery. You've got your religious and pagan references. Chivalry and tour busses to boot? What's this one about again?

One of the only covers ever?! Not counting classical pieces... or jazz, I suppose. But other than those. Here's Ian with some Pink Floyd!

Just a reminder, the Feckless Momes will be in London exactly one week from today! Meet us at Mabel's Tavern! We might even do a live recording!

Thank gourd this is the last song on the album. I don’t think I could take another sad, sorrowful, but somehow sweet song! Not sure I could’ve taken another one.

A second coming story? Some hippy rocking out in a bar? Allegory that falls somewhere in between? Most likely the third, if we know anything about Ian, right?

What can be said about this song? …seriously though, what can be said? There’s not a whole lot of substance here. Is it just a song about a very specific type of fashion? Not the best fashion, mind you, but very specific all the same. Then Omen comes in with the save, as usual.

Just a reminder, the Feckless Momes will be in London exactly one month from today! Meet us at Mabel's Tavern! We might even do a live recording!

Ah, more sweet romance. I think? More like the rigors of marriage, I reckon. But there’s still a down-to-earth sweetness present here. Less presentation, more reality.

Just when things couldn’t get any sexier on this album! Get that cold shower ready, folks. We’ve got a sweet and spicy one on our hands. Downright sensual I might venture!

More sexy times incoming! This time they’re slightly food related? Food adjacent, at least. Is this a true story? There’s gotta be some modicum, some nugget, a kernel of origin story in here, right?

Ian’s all about the romance this album. Not romance in the sense of candle-lit dinners and bouquets, mind you. But weird analogies and allusions to love and how much he needs his significant other. Kinda sweet, though, in its own way?

Another life on the road tune. The good, the bad, the crazy-making. You gotta hit the road to make that bread, but be sure to put in a call to you loved one when you get there.

Look ahead. Think about the future. Anticipate what's to come. And then straight-up run away from it! Good or bad, doesn't matter. Ian tells us what to do.

Get out there. Explore life. Experience it. Don't just live your life in a book. According to Omen, that is. Nik's still a square.

You’re in a noisy city you haven’t visited before. You can’t sleep. You hit the pub. You drink the hours away until you can barely keep your eyes open. You wake up and pay for it in the morning. Then you do the same thing over the following night in a different city. Life (and rocks) on the road.

Such a blue collar feel to this album. Ian is commiserating with the everyman. He is letting us know that he feels our pain, he knows what life is like. He used to save shillings to pay for heat, to then cook a can of stew on top of it. Or is this naughty, like Omen thinks, as usual?

We're all animals. And sometimes we're demons! Ian's thesis that brings all walks of life together to revel in naughtiness.

A song of unrequited love? The magic being gone from the band? Or the happenings in a town used to having folks pass through it. We manage to cover it all somehow.

What a good button to the album. We get a reference to the album name. There's a satisfying reincorporation that leads into closure. Next week: a new album!

What a fun little story from Ian this week. Poor Martin. It all comes out in the end, but that rascal Big Riff is still out there...

Finally, a song of the non-sexy nature. This one hearkens back to the blue-collar, working man's songs. It's on the sadder side. Darn-near a lamentation, I'd say.

One of the super rare instances of a Tull sequel song. Imagine if we had an Aqualung sequel... But this is a interesting approach from a very different Ian than he was when he wrote the original.

Ian is clearly in his sultry years. Prepare yourself for another sexy tune. Water running, making clothing translucent, sticking to body parts... oh, and also, pollution.

A song of hope? A song of having your own spot of respite, a safe space. Oh, but then, he sees a lady who needs her own island. Do you have your own? Wanna come back to mine?

More euphemism this week. With a less sexy ending, at least? A tale of pub life, filled with alcohol, a variety of near-naughtiness, and then the pure disinfectant of sunshine!

Oh hey, is this not a naughty one? It actually might be realistic and sweet! A song about love, and nostalgia. Ian paints a landscape of life for this character, and it's really quite nice.

A cowboy. A desperado. A travelling musician. And more, right? This could be the character of Pussy Willow, even! How are you a rattlesnake?

Well, we've made it. Everyone was cringing in anticipation of this one. Ian has been very artistic in his allusions to naughty things in the past. ...did he just give up on this one? Or, is it the ouroboros of allegory and it *seems* like it's just one-note, but there's something beneath?

The last of the Broadsword bonuses. A disco romp. The bass, the synth, the sinnnnging. What a delight. And then next week, on to Rock Island! Back to the regularly scheduled timestream.

Pussy Willow the sequel! What exactly is she doing after she leaves the office? What gets her all tingly and excited? She sticks it to the man!

A song about evolution, yet staunchly staying the same? Well, if there's a perfect way to describe Ian, it's that. Plus some amazing synth, heavy rocking guitar, and DINOSAURS. Omen learns, on air, how dino-nerdy Nik is.

The first Broadsword bonus with lyrics! And it falls under the TRAINS! category too. What a sweet little tune. And how refreshing a sound to hear after so long.

Another instrumental pairing this week. The main body, and then just a tiny little acoustic follow-up. This week is funky, light, and fun. It's a no commitment song. Just go with it. You'll have a great time.

Two instrumentals to kick off our new Broadsword bonus tracks! One is a synthy wonderscape that is right at home in the Broadsword sound. The other is ... strange. But very good strange!

And so closes the final chapter of RökFlöte. Our völva wraps up the story, and Ian breathes heavy. And what a satisfying culmination it is! It took a bit, but we've really come to enjoy this album. We hope you have too!

Heimdall - the ever-vigilant. The god that warns the others of incoming threats. A subtle badass, even. This song really encompasses some really great stuff, both musically and contently.

The pappy to the twins Freya & Freyr. The god who protects those who venture out into the briny. And promotes the treasure one finds!

Bounty, life, harvest, and love. Freyr and Freya bring that really boho feel to the song. What a sweet, soft, supple number to be tossed in 3/4 of the way through a fairly heavy album.

A sister song to last week. We know about Baldr, and we know what happened to him. But what about Loki? Is he good-hearted and he gets carried away sometimes? Or is there malicious intent beneath the facade of the rascally scamp? We can probably interpret it both ways. And several other ways besides. And we probably will!

Another in-person Momes experience! The tragic tale of a beautiful boy. Everybody loves Baldr! But why did Loki do it? A goof too far? Malicious jealousy? And then Ian throws in a mildly recent cultural reference to boot! What a special song this is.

Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?! Ah, my hand! The sweet pooch that is Fenrir - maybe he's a bit misunderstood. Would he have been a monster had he been treated differently? More Norse myth fun!

Our first in-person recording since the camping trip! Hammers, giant serpents, the end of the wooooorld! Not to mention some ripping synth, face melting guitar, and ... falsetto? Not a bad track off of the album, and the second of the singles dropped.

It's Friggin' Freyja! Feather boa, little kitties, she's ready to go. Where do we see Freyja today? What role does Ian take as the singer/orator here? What a good question.

Gather 'round, kids. Let's talk about the god who brought us knowledge (and runes!), at the expense of just a simple eye. That guy drinking from the well over there - that's Odin.

A bit more of the same story from last week. Maybe a little more nuanced. With some finer detail of the people and the world created by our friend Ymir.

Here we are. We've made it. The beginning of a new album. The beginning of a new universe. They come and go and disappear, but there's always another one. They cycle that was, is, and will be. Let's dive into some Norse mythology, baby!

Here we are, at the end of The Zealot Gene! A fitting song to wrap up the album. We see an aging character, near the end. What's he done with his life? How does he feel about it? How does this tie into the present day?

Everyone prepare yourselves. Nik will commence gushing immediately. A tragic, lovely, sweet, unique, etc. etc. etc. Yes, Nik likes this song, everyone knows it. But why does he? Listen to find out!

What's it all come down to? Love, that's what. Turns out the big man upstairs, and the man down here, knew what they were talking about. And we get to see that in practice in this delightful song.

Light song, heavy subject. The final destination for our friend JC. Or is it?! Hey, where'd he go? He took off, but only for the salvation of our mortal soul, so that's good.

30 pieces of silver, eh? How does ol' JC (JK?) feel about that betrayal? How does Judas Iscariot's seemingly foreordained titular betrayal translate to a more apt contemporary idea? I dunno, you'll just have to listen to find out!

Sure, Jesus is special. But he's not the only good guy in the Bible! Let's hear it for how special, humble, and tragic the life of this John guy is. And then let's figure out the allegory for this to make sense present day...

How are we supposed to feel about the ladies on the street? Well, there's what the bible tells, and then there's what Ian tells us. Is there something of an in-between? There just might be.

I'm not naughty, you're naughty. An allegory, euphemism, double (and single) entendre laden romp. Take off your pants and pull on your Wellies, this one's gonna get messy.

The title track. A real doozy. Quite dark and scathing for sitting upon the fence! Mr. Anderson has such a poetic way of telling it how it is. Fair warning: this episode does get rather political.

*voice from the clouds* OLLLLD TESTAMENNNNNNT!! Capital O, capital T, G-O-D. Ian can be fair and loving, be he can also destroy you with a thought! What a terrifying and amazing song.

What a fun and funky bluesy number! Just Ian in a room with a bunch of instruments, doing what he does best. Now, who's going to inherit Aunty Mable's harpsichord when she kicks it?

Dark. Scary. Foreboding. We start off strong with the up-to-date allegory for a biblical passage. Ian's clearly not pulling any punches with this album, and neither are we!

You can sign up for the new Patreon tier to be ready for the first video drop on April 4th.

Nik's favorite live album. One Omen hasn't really listened to. We're popping in a spacer episode, so that The Zealot Gene, Patreon Tull Skull+ access (videos of the episodes?!) line up with the month of April.

A fun and poppy song with a little twisty-poo at the end. A lot of stuff in here that we don't normally get from Tull. And we like it!

An update on the new Tull Skull+ tier coming soon!

We have ourselves another commentary song. Politics and politicking and politicians. The facade and story that they all tell to get to where they are, and then it all just falls away as they become…

It’s been so long! Finally: TRAINS. Ian’s love of trains and this narrator's love-interest intersect into the perfect song. Well, maybe not perfect. But it’s okay as far as train songs go, right?

We've got some Patreon news! The $5 level has been shifted down to Tull Skull. The new $15 level will now be Tull Skull +, which gets you full access to everything from Tull Skull PLUS (see what I did there) a raw, uncut video of the TTTM podcast, each week! This will begin with Zealot Gene, Mrs. Tibbets drops March 28th. That's right, we're going contemporary albums, before we head back to Rock Island. In addition! Anyone who is a Patron, at any level, by the time this starts, I'll send you a fun card and a TTTM sticker!

Sweet and lovely. Certainly mournful. Is there confusion? Is it just missing your beloved?

Friend of the pod JDA gave us a sneak preview of the newest Tull single to drop today. We are here and ready to share our reactions... on YouTube!

Nothing sexy or overly blue collar here. We’ve got ourselves simply a great story in Ian’s characteristic, near-mythological narrative. The poetry, the scansion, the drama!

Another sexy ditty. Another random run-in with a lady in his travels, the narrator describes well-past the initial meeting in the bar. Quit listening, you sicko!

More tough times for our narrator this week. Things stacked up bad. Guaranteed to get mad. But maybe we can all appreciate the little things in life? Find that silver lining, find that dog in midwinter?

One of the sexiest songs yet! Just imagine Mr. Anderson in a smoky foregin bar, a seductive lady approaches and speaks to him in broken English. He responds in kind, she takes his hand… oooh, I’m all tingly!

A silly, sexy song. Another working man’s tune, but this one gives us a glimpse into the life after said working man clocks out for the day. He needs his jump start! ... or is it?

The hard-working farmer’s life is made all-the-harder on crummy land the Man wants to buy out from under you. When they do, what’s the farmer have left? A pickup truck to take him off away from his farm, and the freeway.

A real working man’s song to start off the album. We gone from medieval farmer/hunter, to fisherman, to super spy, and now we land on a man who works the steel. Ian leans into the blue collar aspect of Tull with this one. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

We’ve got ourselves a blast from the past this week. A Scottish Gaelic dirge written by none other than our favorite stringstress Dee Palmer! It’s great to hear the band (kind of) back together for one more go.

Another pair of instrumentals this week. The last of our tracks from the Christmas Album, in fact! We start out with a funky jam, as Tull is wont to do with Christmas tunes. But we wrap up with a really gorgeous, haunting piece. An introspective and lovely way to round out the year.

An introspective, not-so-super-positive Christmas song. A nice change from the bright, everyone-has-to-always-be-happy-at-all-times tunes we’re normally fed at this time. It puts life into perspective a little bit more, maybe?

Two classical-ish songs to begin our holiday festivities this season. One soft and sweet and slow and smooth. The other a funky, jazzy number that’ll get those feet tapping and the mistletoe a-flying.

What. The hay. Okay, we’re thinking Cold War era, right? Is our Tall General a nuke? Is it the dude pushing the button (…out, button in) to launch the aforementioned missile? It doesn’t seem like it’s heavily veiled, this one, but it appears to be chock full of vague and perhaps dated references. We’ll do our best with this, the final track off of Under Wraps.

Ever on top of technology, Ian observes the state of the automotive industry. Where was it when he was a wee lad in the fens of Scotland? What were the trends then? And how has it evolved over the years, into the mid-80s? It’s all about the development of the science and engineering, baby.

“Hey Ian, yeah, we’ve got room for one more song on the album. Yeah, I know. Do you have another spy one? No? Okay. What about one about trains? Seriously, not even one? Nature? Huh, okay. You got a space one? Sure, it’ll fit.”

It all comes to a head in this one song! It explains everything, all of the tracks that we’ve listened to on this album! Or does it? Okay, maybe not. But I can really dig the big reveal in this song, that tells us a little about Ian’s mindset. If you gotta deal with opportunistic invasive parasites like the paparazzi, you might as well have a little fun while doing it, right?

Things haven’t gone well for our hero. He’s gotta scarper, and fast-like. It appears that he doesn’t have a whole lot of time for goodbyes, he’s gotta get gone, beat feet before his spot’s blown up - possibly quite literally. Is he addressing an adversary in this? Or his lover, Svetlana? Or are they one-in-the-same?!

Seems like our heroes in a tight spot. Has he been made? Is he being tracked and followed by any number of unidentified cars? Or is the job getting to him, and he’s seeing Ivan everywhere? Sounds like, if he can survive until extraction, our hero needs a bit of a vacation. Maybe he and Svetlana can go to Cabo for a few weeks.

We have a bit of mystery on our hands here! A frigid landscape, a disappearance, an unclaimed pair of snow shoes. Is it strange experience for our spy hero? Or is it allegory for a one-night stand? That’s the beauty of Ian’s lyrics - they’ll haunt us all forever, never quite knowing what we’re hearing.

We were chuffed to get together with flutist Claire Holdich and had a great time talking Tull, tea, and other non-T things too!

The first half of the song comes across as rather innocuous, maybe a new narrator altogether, just looking up at the sky from his observatory…albeit naked. But then we get a little bit more detail - we hear mention of secrets and *you*, shame and consequences. And don’t forget the Big Bang. Never forget the Big Bang…

Can’t confuse this one this week. No romance here. Did our protagonist make his decision after Saboteur and decide to be just a spy, his love for Mother England winning out? Or maybe he just had a job that really needed taking care of, and then he’ll return to his blonde bombshell when he’s done? Either way, spies!

There may be an over-arching story forming for this album! Is this our same narrator, and his same love interest? Seems like our spy is having a hard time deciding whom he loves more: his country or his newly discovered love. Whatever decision he comes to, he’ll be a saboteur to the other. No one ever said being a super sexy awesome spy was filled with easy decisions.

True to form for this album, we get a song that, at first glance, seems like one of the two: romance or spy thriller. But, also true to the genre of spy thriller, they are not mutually exclusive. Our sexy spy and his sexy damsel shared a sexy moment, it seems.

This one kinda smacks of Under Wraps, doesn’t it? More love in an (exotic?) land. But also possibly spy related? The She/Her could just be Mother England… is it just a love song for his country?! Can we expect that from Ian?

Is this spy thriller fodder? Or is it just that our narrator is having something of a clandestine fling? Or both? Either way, this dude seems pretty smitten, being all wrapped up and stuff.

Living a life of luxury isn’t an easy thing. What do you do when the money runs out?! When the good life comes crashing down, you have to become a pleb again, and then you’re stuck watching jealously as all the other rich folk enjoy that life that you once held so dear Ian’s really playing to his audience with this one…

Finally, nothing commentary related here. Just a fun, dark character song from Ian. He's wearing his ultimate slime ball costume, not even the sexual deviant kind, just an overall villain. And the song's a banger to boot!

We've been seeing a fair amount of Ian's absurd song as commentary lately. And frankly, I'm liking it! This one, however, hits regrettably close to home. It's great, don't get us wrong. But it just puts things into perspective.

Another character song, with our dear singer/narrator as a bit of a creeper. He puts on the facade of absurdity to shine the light of realization on society. A regular Shakespearean clown, this guy.

We've all had that night, once or twice. We have a couple of drinky-poos. The night slips away. We wake up in someone else's pants, a duck duct taped to your hand. A construction crew is pounding away inside your skull, and you've somehow misplaced your bones. If you're Ian (or Nik or Omen, for that matter), this might happen after a particularly strong kombucha.

A repetitive tune, nowhere near the top of our list, we gotta be honest. BUT - we do take apart the lyrics and actually come away with a new understanding and appreciation for it. Not too shabby!