After prog-rock band Jethro Tull released Aqualung in 1971, it became the band’s most successful album. And although its title track was never released as a single, it’s become one of the band’s most famous songs. It was written by frontman Ian Anderson and his then-wife, Jennie Franks.
A Photo Inspired the Song
Anderson was inspired to write the song after seeing a photo Franks took of a homeless man.
In the 40th anniversary reissue of Aqualung, Anderson elaborated on the song’s origins, writing, “It’s about our reaction, of guilt, distaste, awkwardness and confusion, all these things that we feel when we’re confronted with the reality of the homeless. You see someone who’s clearly in desperate need of some help, whether it’s a few coins or the contents of your wallet, and you blank them out. The more you live in that business-driven, commercially-driven lifestyle, you can just cease to see them.”
In the song, Anderson and Franks introduce us to a homeless man they call Aqualung. The lyrics are somewhat disturbing, particularly the opening verse, which describes a disheveled predator:
Sitting on a park bench
Eying little girls with bad intent
Snots running down his nose
Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes, hey, Aqualung
As the song continues, the lyrics portray a bleak picture of the man, but they also take a more compassionate turn. They describe a man who’s lonely and in pain as he goes through his day.
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 a 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
The lyrics also address the man’s nickname, Aqualung, which Anderson felt suited someone suffering from breathing trouble.
Hey and you snatch your rattling last breaths
With deep-sea diver sounds
A drawing of the character is on the album’s cover, and he also appears in the Jethro Tull track “Cross-Eyed Mary.”
The animated video for “Aqualung,” released in 2021, depicts its lyrics mostly literally and further addresses the song’s broader theme of homelessness with additional characters, including an American soldier.
Photo by Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images