"A Song for Jeffrey" is a song recorded by the English

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 their second single in the UK, and as 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 ...

to "

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" in the US. The "Jeffrey" of the title is

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 ...

's friend and future Jethro Tull bassist

Jeffrey Hammond Jeffrey Hammond (born 30 July 1946), often known by his former stage name Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, is an English artist and former musician best known for being the bassist of progressive rock band Jethro Tull from 1971 to 1975. With Jethro T ...

, who was "a slightly wayward lad who wasn’t quite sure where he was headed in life". The song starts off with a bass riff by

Glenn Cornick Glenn Douglas Barnard Cornick (23 April 1947 – 28 August 2014) was an English bass guitarist, best known as the original bassist for the British rock band Jethro Tull from 1967 to 1970. ''Rolling Stone'' has called his playing with Tull as " ...

before Ian Anderson's flute comes in. It then becomes a psychedelic blues tune, with guitarist

Mick Abrahams Michael Timothy Abrahams (born 7 April 1943) is an English guitarist, singer, and band leader, best known for being the original guitarist for Jethro Tull from 1967 to 1968 and the leader of Blodwyn Pig. Jethro Tull Abrahams was born in ...

playing slide guitar. Despite being similar in style to "My Sunday Feeling" and "Beggar's Farm", the instrumental section shows a greater influence of jazz rather than blues. The song was largely praised by music critics.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Bruce Eder called it "a superb example of commercial psychedelic blues" but did not consider it one of the album highlights.

George Starostin Georgiy Sergeevich "George" Starostin (; born 4 July 1976) is a Russian linguist. He is the son of the late historical linguist Sergei Starostin (1953–2005), and his work largely continues his father's. He is also known as a self-published mu ...

called it one of the "catchiest ditties the band ever did: the interplay between the bloozy guitar and the poppy harmonica is amazing and promptly digs itself into your memory". Despite the single not reaching the charts,

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wrote that it was "good enough to have made the Chart". The song was performed on the Rolling Stones Rock 'n' Roll Circus in December 1968, although only Ian Anderson's vocals and flute were amplified for the live performance; the rest of the band mimed their parts, but the sound was pre-recorded. This was the only Tull performance with guitarist

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...

during his two-week tenure with the band, and it has been suggested that he had not had time to learn his part and thus relied on Abrahams' recording. This version was officially released on the companion album to the film in 1996. A version of the song was recorded for play on BBC radio. "A Song for Jeffrey" was ranked the 25th best Jethro Tull song by Rock – Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song for Jeffrey Jethro Tull (band) songs 1968 songs Island Records singles Reprise Records singles Songs written by Ian Anderson Song recordings produced by Ian Anderson