Jethro Tull: Complete Lyrics [Hardcover]

Karl Schramm (Editor), Gerard J. Burns (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2000

Ian Anderson, founder and singer of the band, not only introduced the flute to rock music, he is also a very versatile songwriter. In his lyrics he uses motifs from Celtic mythology, creates grotesque collages, expresses a simple earthbound view of life and voices criticism on modern-day society. Anderson's rock poetry is a blend of present and past, it is both sensitive and blunt, metaphorical and direct.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This is the first complete authorized collection of Jethro Tull's lyrics. It includes personal comments by Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull's music and the band's development, as well as a number of photographs, some of which have never been published before.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Palmyra Verlag, George Stein; 2nd edition (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3930378116
• ISBN-13: 978-3930378111
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,224,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for Tull fans, April 2, 2000

By 

STEVE HERRICK (Vermont, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jethro Tull: Complete Lyrics (Hardcover)

This is a must have book for any Tull fan. It covers the lyrics to every album from This Was through Roots to Branches (hopefully a new edition will be forthcoming to cover J-Tull.Com and Ian Anderson's Secret Language of Birds) There is also commentary on each album by Ian Anderson for further insight.

To have one book with all of Tull's lyrics in one place is well worth the price. If you're a Tull fan, get it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whee! I just got this yesterday, January 8, 2003

By 

John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jethro Tull: Complete Lyrics (Hardcover)

This is a nice resource for Tull fans -- most of whom probably already have it, but mine just arrived yesterday.

Anyway, for anyone who doesn't already know it, this volume collects all of the lyrics from Tull's and Ian Anderson's official releases from _This Was_ in 1968 to _Roots to Branches_ in 1995.

The first twenty or thirty pages consist of Ian Anderson himself providing a retrospective/commentary on the various releases, and on the stages of Tull's long and varied career. These are culled from a couple of talks with Anderson and they're clearly transcriptions of oral interviews, with all the limitations thereby implied. (For example, the word "tempo" is consistently transcribed as "temper".) They're pretty informative, though, and at any rate I like the transcriptions since I enjoy listening to Anderson talk.

The lyrics themselves will be most useful for those albums/CDs with which the words aren't already included in the liner notes, but there are also a handful of helpful footnotes scattered throughout. (Nothing interpretive; just stuff like the actual name of the "Winged Isle" and the significance of "Beltane," items probably already familiar to longtime Tull fans but perhaps not to the band's newer audience.)

There are also a dozen-odd pages of photos, some of which had never been published before this. (There's a list at the back of the book telling who's in them and when they were taken. Incidentally, one allegedly from "1974" -- Anderson on a motorcycle -- appears to be misdated; it looks to be from a decade later. I assume "1974" is a typo for "1984".)

Some customers may also want to know that Anderson donates all his royalties from the sales of this book to a fund for the preservation of wild cats. I'm delighted to have contributed to such a cause and I'd have bought the book sooner if I'd known.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So that's what that Scot was saying., May 28, 2000

By 

"slag_bandoon" (Stumptown, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jethro Tull: Complete Lyrics (Hardcover)

Quality hardbound book essential for any Tull fan. Lyrics for the audibly challenged to help us understand what that leapin' lemur of a musician was singing and snarling all these years. If you were a fan, this book can resurrect your latent Tull spirit. Book even covers his "warty rejects". Get a fill-up of Tull fuel and drive Baker Street enlightened.