Aqualung

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This song is the first track and the title track on the 1971 Album called Aqualung. Much of this album was, in fact, inspired by frontman, lyricist and singer Ian… Read More

Mar. 19, 19711 viewer156K views

Aqualung 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

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[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

About

This song is the first track and the title track on the 1971 Album called Aqualung.

Much of this album was, in fact, inspired by frontman, lyricist and singer Ian Anderson’s then-wife Jenny Franks' photographs of the homeless along the Thames Embankment in central London.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Jethro Tull say about "Aqualung"?

Ian Anderson said about the photo that inspired the song:

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.’

Who produced “Aqualung” by Jethro Tull?

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