"The Witch's Promise" is a song by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Jethro Tull, released as a single in January 1970, on the

Chrysalis A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages the ...

label. It reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, and was promoted by an appearance on the British chart show ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

was an alternate version of "

Teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

", which later appeared on the US release of the album '' Benefit''. In the U.S., the single was released on the

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any re ...

label.

Background

The song was recorded at Morgan Studios, London, on 19 December 1969. It was intended to be a follow-up to the band's two previous singles, " Living in the Past" and " Sweet Dream", which had been top ten hits. Musically, it developed from the style heard on the group's previous album, '' Stand Up'', discarding the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

influences that the band had started with, and steered towards

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that "Jethro Tull sounds strangely like a medieval Scottish troubador" and that "Ian Anderson's flute and vocal both excellent." The single was the first recording to feature keyboardist

John Evan John Evan (born John Spencer Evans; born 28 March 1948, in Derby, Derbyshire) is a British musician and composer. He is best known as the keyboardist for Jethro Tull from April 1970 to June 1980. Early life Evans' father was headmaster at a ...

, who would be an important member of Jethro Tull throughout the 1970s. He was sharing a flat with frontman

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...

at the time, and agreed to perform as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

. He played Hammond organ on "Teacher" and both piano and

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

on "The Witch's Promise". This led to an offer to join the band full-time. The track is one of the few recorded by Jethro Tull to feature the Mellotron, a tape replay keyboard that could emulate a

string section The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

, and the only single released by the band to feature the instrument. "The Witch's Promise" was intended to be the last standalone single from the band that was not taken from an LP. Anderson said the band would issue singles from future albums in order to gain radio play, but he was not particularly interested in promoting them. The song appeared as a remixed version on both the UK and US releases of the compilation album '' Living in the Past'' (1972).

Personnel

– vocals, flute * Martin Barre – guitar * Glenn Cornick – bass * Clive Bunker – drums Additional personnel *

– piano,

Covers

English rock band

All About Eve ''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story (and subsequent 1949 radio drama) "The Wisdom of E ...

covered the song on a 10" vinyl release of their 1989 single "December". Mostly Autumn side-project Odin Dragonfly covered the song as "Witches Promise" on their 2007 debut, ''Offerings''.

References

Citations Sources * * *

External links

"The Witch's Promise"
at 45cat.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Witch's Promise 1969 songs 1970 singles Jethro Tull (band) songs Songs written by Ian Anderson Chrysalis Records singles Song recordings produced by Ian Anderson Psychedelic folk songs Freak folk