Список песен:
1. Aqualung
2. Cross-eyed Mary
3. Cheap Day Return
4. Mother Goose
5. Woud'ring Aloud
6. Up to Me
7. My God
8. Hymn 43
9. Slipstream
10. Locomotive Breath
11. Wind-Up
Комментарий Иана Андерсона к альбому:
К этому моменту я обрел уверенность как музыкант - я был в центре внимания в группе, и как гитарист - я начал как следует играть на гитаре. Тогда же я стал затрагивать в своих вещах вопросы религии - просто было самое время. Тогда это разрешали, в простеньких поп/роковых формах. Мне пришлось бы замаскировать кое-что из того, о чем я пел тогда, чтобы сейчас это "прошло". "Aqualung" не был концептуальным альбомом, хотя так думали многие. Идею титульной песне дала фотография лондонского бомжа, которую сделала моя тогдашняя жена. По отношению к таким, как он, бездомным, я чувствовал и свою вину, и страх, незащищенность перед подобными страшноватыми субъектами. Все это вместе дало нам слегка романтизированный портрет человека, который не имеет своего угла, но все же в душе свободен, и не хочет или не имеет возможности войти в общество и смириться с его рамками и предписаниями. Под впечатлением от фотографии и с этими мыслями я начал писать слова к "Aqualung". Помню, как я сидел в отеле в Лос-Анджелесе, пробуя аккорды к куплетам. Это сочетание аккордов - словно пытка, но их роль - взять вас за уши, приподнять и снова поставить на землю, когда начнется более нежная акустическая секция. "Locomotive Breath" - песня о уходящем поезде, над которым потерян контроль и мы с него не можем спрыгнуть... Это в какой-то степени отражает ситуацию в группе на тот момент, со всеми этими бесконечными турне, когда нам надо было записывать "Aqualung" в сжатые сроки между турами. Пришлось действовать быстро. Студия Island только открылась, и они еще не избавились от множества технических проблем. Плюс к этому, у группы были проблемы с "Locomotive Breath". Мы были не в состоянии добиться нужного настроения, я потерял надежду втолковать остальным, о чем эта песня и как ее надо играть. В общем, я отыграл на хай-хэте и басовой бочке целых четыре минуты, задав тем самым ритм, а тогда это были дни, когда о драм-машинах и секвенсорах еще никто не помышлял. Затем я сыграл партии акустики и кое-что на электрической гитаре, потом мы взяли Эвансовское вступление на пианино и вставили его в начало. Наконец, все остальные записали свои партии поверх моих. Так что никто не играл на этой песне одновременно, но получилось не так уж и плохо. На тот момент это был для нас единственный в своем роде случай.
Sitting on a park bench
eyeing up little girls
with bad intent.
Snot running down his nose
greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes.
Drying in the cold sun
watching as the frilly panties run.
Feeling like a dead duck
spitting out pieces of his broken luck.
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
goes down to the bog to
warm his feet.
Feeling alone
the army's up the road
salvation a la mode and
a cup of tea.
Aqualung my friend
don't start away uneasy
you poor old sod
You see it's only me.
Do you still remember
December's foggy freeze
when the ice that
clings on to your beard is
screaming agony.
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
with deep-sea-diver sounds,
and the flowers bloom like
madness in the spring.
2.Cross-Eyed Marу
Who would be a poor man
a beggarman, a thief
if he had a rich man in his hand.
Who would steal the candy
from a laughing baby's mouth
if he could take it from the money man.
Cross-eyed Mary
goes jumping in again.
She signs no contract
but she always plays the game.
Dines in Hampstead village
on expense accounted gruel,
and the jack knife barber
drops her off at school.
Laughing in the playground
gets no kicks from little boys:
would rather make it with a letching grey.
Or maybe her attention
is drawn by Aqualung,
who watches through the railings as they play.
Cross-eyed Mary
finds it hard to get along.
She's a poor man's rich girl
and she'll do it for a song.
She's a rich man stealer
but her favour's good and strong:
she's the Robin Hood of Highgate
helps the poor man get along.
3.Cheap Day Return
On Preston platform
do your soft shoe shuffle dance.
Brush away the cigarette ash that's
falling down your pants.
And you sadly wonder
does the nurse treat your old man
the way she should.
She made you tea:
asked for your autograph
what a laugh.
4.Mother Goosе
As I did walk by Hampstead Fair.
I came upon Mother Goose - so I turned her loose -
she was screaming.
And a foreign student said to me -
was it really true there are elephants and lions too
In Piccadilly Circus.
Walked down by the bathing pond
to try and catch some sun.
Saw at least a hundred schoolgirls sobbing
into handkerchiefs as one.
I don't believe they knew
I was a schoolboy.
And a bearded lady said to me
if you start your raving and your misbehaving
you'll be sorry.
Then the chicken=fancier came to play
with his long red beard (and his sister's weird:
she drives a lorry).
Laughed down by the putting green
I popped 'em in their holes.
Four and twenty labourers were labouring
digging up their gold.
I don't believe they knew
that I was Long John Silver.
Saw Johnny Scarecrow make his rounds
in his jet=black mac (which he won't give back).
Stole it from a snow man.
5.Wond'ring Aloud
Wond'ring aloud
how we feel today.
Last night sipped the sunset
my hand in her hair.
We are our own saviours
as we start both our herts beating life
into each other.
Wond'ring aloud
will the years treat us well.
As she floats in the kitchen,
I'm tasting the smell
of toast as the butter runs.
Then she comes, spilling crumbs on the bed
and I shake my head.
And it's only the giving
that makes you what you are.
6. Up To Ме
Take you to the cinema
and leave you in a Wimpy Bar
you tell me that we've gone too far
come running up to me.
Make the scene at Cousin Jack's
leave him to put the bottles back
mends his glasses that I cracked
well that's one up to me.
Buy a silver cloud to ride
pack the tennis club inside
trouser cuffs hung far too wide
well it was up to me.
Tyres down on your bicycle
your nose feels like an icicle
the yellow fingered smoky girl
is looking up to me.
Well I'm a common working man
with a half of bitter-bread and jam
and if it pleases me I'll put one on you man
when the copper fades away.
The rainy season comes to pass
the day-glo pirate sinks at last
and if I laughed a bit too fast.
Wall it was up to me.
7. My God
People - what have you done
locked Him in His golden cage.
Made Him bend to your religion
Him resurrected from the grave.
He is the God of nothing
if that's all that you can see.
You are the God of everything
He's a part of you and me.
So lean upon Him gently
and don't call on Him to save you
from your social graces
and the sins you wish to waive.
The bloody Church of England
in chains of history
requests your earthly presence at
the vicarage for tea.
And the graven image you-know-who
he's got him fixed
with His plastic crucifix
confuses me as to who and where and why
as to how He gets His kicks.
Confessing to the endless sin
the endless whining sounds.
You'll be praying till next Thursday to
all the Gods that you can count.
8. Hymn 43
Oh Father high in heaven - smile down upon your son
who's busy with his money games - his women and his gun.
And the unsung Western Hero killed an indian or three
and made his name in Hollywood to set the white man free.
If Jesus saves - well, He'd better save Himself
from the gory glory seeker's who use His name in death.
I saw Him in the city and on the mountains of the moon
his cross was rather bloody-He could hardly roll His stone
9. Slipstream
Well the lush separation enfolds you
and the products of wealth
push you along the bow wave
of their spiritless undying selves.
And you press on God's waiter your last dime
as He hands you the bill.
And you spin in the slipstream
tideless - unreasoning
paddle right out of the mess.
10. Locomotive Breath
In the shuffling madness
of the locomotive breath,
runs the all-time loser,
headlong to his death.
He feels the piston scraping
steam breaking on his brow
old Charlie stole the handle and
the train won't stop going
no way to slow down.
He sees his children jumping off
at stations one by one.
His woman and his best friend
in bed and having fun.
Crawling down the corridor
on his hands and knees
old Charlie stole the handle and
the train won't stop going
no way to slow down.
He hears the silence howling
catches angels as they fall.
And the all-time winner
has got him by the balls.
He picks up Gideons Bible
open at page one
Old Charlie stole the handle and
the train won't stop going
no way to slow down.
11. Wind Uр
When I was young, they packed me off to school
and taught me how not to play the game.
I didn't mind if they groomed me for success,
or if they said that I was just a fool.
So I left there in the morning with their God tucked
underneath my arm
their half-assed smiles and the book of rules.
So I asked this God a question and by way of firm reply,
He said - I'm not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.
So to my old headmaster (and to anyone who cares);
before I'm through I'd like to say my prayers
I don't believe you: you got the whole damn
thing all wrong
He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.
Well you can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday school
and have all the bishops harmonize these lines
how do you dare to tell me that I'm my Father's son
when that was just an accident of Birth.
I'd rather look around me = compose a better song
'cos that's the honest measure of my worth.
In your pomp and all your glory you're a poorer man
that me,
as you lick the boots of death born out of fear.
