811 - Jethro Tull Aqualung 1971

Jethro Tull are a British rock group that formed in 1967-1968. Their music is marked by the distinctive vocal style and lead flute work of front man Ian Anderson. Initially playing blues rock with an experimental flavour, they have, over the years, incorporated elements of classical, folk and 'ethnic' musics, jazz and art rock. "Aqualung" featured as the first track on their 1971 album "Aqualung", written by the band's frontman, Ian Anderson, and his then-wife, Jennie Franks. Like many of Jethro Tull's songs, "Aqualung" tells a story —in this case, the story of a homeless man. The opening lyrics are
"Sitting on a park bench
Eyeing little girls with bad intent"

In an interview with Ian Anderson in the September 1999 Guitar World he 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.