Old Charlie stole the handle and The train won't stop going -- No way to slow down.

[Iron Woode]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO8aa9PGxvU

this is great stuff.

and so is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1xY7Heaqg8&feature=related

 

[QueBert]

what's crazy is that first song makes absolutely no sense, but the music is really nice. Put some crappy music behind it that could be a song today. I listened to it 3 times in a row and I'm still unsure who the hell Charlie is and why there's a train etc.

 

[IronWing]

I think we have a lead in an old case. Where was Charlie when the pump stopped working?

 

[Platypus]

jethro tull <3

 

[Iron Woode]

what's crazy is that first song makes absolutely no sense, but the music is really nice. Put some crappy music behind it that could be a song today. I listened to it 3 times in a row and I'm still unsure who the hell Charlie is and why there's a train etc.

that is one of life's great mysteries.

no one knows what the hell its about.

 

[arrfep]

what's crazy is that first song makes absolutely no sense, but the music is really nice. Put some crappy music behind it that could be a song today. I listened to it 3 times in a row and I'm still unsure who the hell Charlie is and why there's a train etc.

You should listen to the full-length version of Thick As A Brick.

 

[IronWing]

If you keep in mind that Jethro Tull's repertoire of drug use makes the Grateful Dead look like the amateur hour then all the songs make perfect sense. Whereas a Dead song might have have been written while under the influence of one drug or another, Tull songs were multi-drug conceived and so the influences shift line by line, note by note.

 

[feralkid]

what's crazy is that first song makes absolutely no sense, but the music is really nice. Put some crappy music behind it that could be a song today. I listened to it 3 times in a row and I'm still unsure who the hell Charlie is and why there's a train etc.

Metaphor for a life that is going off the rails with no way to stop it.

"All time loser, head long to his death" "He sees his children jumping off..." "His woman and his best friend in bed..." etc.

"Old Charlie" may be Satan, or not...some people claim there's a lot of religious/ biblical references in it but who knows? Ask Ian Anderson.

 

[Evadman]

what's crazy is that first song makes absolutely no sense, but the music is really nice.

Reminds me of Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America. Basically a song about going to the country to eat vast quantities of peaches. Peaches for me.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I've seen Jethro Tull live in concert. Good stuff...Ian Anderson puts on a good show and he's magical with that flute.

 

[JulesMaximus]

You should listen to the full-length version of Thick As A Brick.

That would be the entire album.

 

[meltdown75]

I think Charlie is a metaphor for coke, and the fact that he can't stop doing it means that there is no slowing down, because Charlie stole his ability to slow down.

does that make sense?

 

[FoBoT]

the good news is Jethro Tull was the winner of the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental in 1989

 

[SphinxnihpS]

the good news is Jethro Tull was the winner of the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental in 1989

Saw them at the Chicago Theater in '89. Certainly one of the best bands of all time.

 

[arrfep]

That would be the entire album.

Um, precisely the point of my post.