The Secret Language Of Birds
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''The Secret Language of Birds'' is the third studio album by Jethro Tull 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 ...
, released in 2000. It is named after the dawn chorus, the natural sound of birds heard at dawn, most noticeably in the spring.


Track listing

#"The Secret Language of Birds" – 4:17 #"The Little Flower Girl" – 3:37 #"Montserrat" – 3:21 #"Postcard Day" – 5:07 #"The Water Carrier" – 2:56 #"Set-Aside" – 1:29 #"A Better Moon" – 3:46 #"Sanctuary" – 4:42 #"The Jasmine Corridor" – 3:54 #"The Habanero Reel" – 4:01 #"Panama Freighter" – 3:21 #"The Secret Language of Birds, PT. II" – 3:06 #"Boris Dancing" – 3:07 #"Circular Breathing" – 3:45 #"The Stormont Shuffle" – 3:20 # Extra Track Intro (unlisted) – 0:08 # "In the Grip of Stronger Stuff" (unlisted bonus track on US release. Recorded by Dutch TV for '2 Meter Sessies', 19 October 1999. Broadcast 23 December) – 2:50 # "Thick as a Brick" (unlisted bonus track on US release. Recorded by Dutch TV for '2 Meter Sessies', 19 October 1999. Broadcast 23 December) – 2:37


Introductions

To each track, Anderson wrote an introduction: * The Secret Language of Birds: "The big dawn chorus. Morning after a night before. Could turn out to be the special person. Everything's riding on this one." * The Little Flower Girl: "Sir William Russell Flint's fully clad but coquettish flower girl. Was it his favourite model Cecilia? Just showing up for another day's work. Hats off to one of the greatest technical watercolourists of all time." * Montserrat: "Been there. Between eruptions. Last gasp of colonial betrayal. Heart goes out. Dwarf Poincianas still growing strong, here at home. Ashfall wasteland where I picked them." * Postcard Day: "Holiday guilt. Having a simply wonderful time. Wish you were here, but sort of glad you're not." * The Water Carrier: "H2O at any price. No Delhi Belly. No regrets. No small change left. The best earthenware pots by Sir W.R.F. and Walter Langley. Would they have as lovingly executed the form and colour of the 1.5-litre plastic bottle? Of course." * Set-Aside: "Pointless and undignified prevarication." See
Set-aside Set-aside was an incentive scheme introduced by the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1988 (Regulation (EEC) 1272/88), to (i) help reduce the large and costly surpluses produced in Europe under the guaranteed price system of the Common Agricul ...
* A Better Moon: "Sultry and sub-tropical images of a Foweraker fantasy five thousand miles from home." * Sanctuary: "Last haven of zoo rejects and children wasted. Tricky one to try. Made me cry." * The Jasmine Corridor: "Nice place to say goodbye. Smells good, looks good, was good. Faces east. Always the optimistic light. Nothing ever really ends." * The Habanero Reel: "On a lighter note, I think quite a few people know that I'm keen on spicy food, particularly those who have visited our website. I use a lot of chilli peppers when I cook at home and the generally accepted number 10 strength killer is the habanero – in the Caribbean a close relative of this is the Scotch Bonnet, which I also refer to in this song. 'The Habanero Reel' is just an ode to
capsicum ''Capsicum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the Solanum, nightshade family Solanaceae, native to the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their edible fruit, which are generally known as "peppers" or "capsicum". Chili peppers grow on five s ...
, which gives off that excessive, burning heat. Of course, the best thing about it, as I say in the song, is that it is strictly legal!" * Panama Freighter: "
Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History 20th century Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen Wheeler, Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 19 ...
guide to traveller's romance. Pragmatism. Cynicism. You take U.S. dollar?" * The Secret Language of Birds, Pt. II: "Semantic set-aside. You with me?" * Boris Dancing: "I've always had a soft spot for
Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...
, I wrote the music to 'Boris Dancing' based on a visual image of a CNN news report from when Boris was seeking re-election. He was filmed in
Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', p=ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ) is one of the oldest and largest town square, squares in Moscow, Russia. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, along the eastern walls of ...
, sweating profusely, bright red in the face, boogieing frantically in front of a young Moscow rock band. He nearly died from a heart attack just a couple of days later. The song is in several rather difficult to follow time signatures, as when Boris was dancing he wasn't quite on the beat. 'Boris Dancing' is just a celebration of his strange, individual dance style." * Circular Breathing: "The deep breath that goes on forever. Strangely detached but objective view from a height.
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
's ' Learning To Fly' meets L.S. Lowry meets
Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...
's '
Pictures of Matchstick Men "Pictures of Matchstick Men" is the first hit single by British rock band The Status Quo. It was released on 5 January 1968. The Status Quo version The song reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart, number eight in Canada, and number 12 ...
'. Or not." * The Stormont Shuffle: "Peace, Love, Misunderstanding. Decommissioning the vipers' tongues. Two part tune: north and south, slippery Sams, moaning Minnies. Doublecross, double talk, double trouble."


Personnel

*
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 ...
– vocals,
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
,
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
,
bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...
,
acoustic bass guitar The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than, a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar ...
,
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
, percussion,
piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...
* Andrew Giddings
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
, piano, organ,
marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...
, percussion, electric bass, keyboards, orchestral sounds *
Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" (" Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, science ficti ...
– drums on "The Secret Language of Birds" and "The Little Flower Girl" * Darrin Mooney – drums on "Sanctuary" and "The Secret Language of Birds, Pt.II" * James Duncan Anderson – drums on "Panama Freighter" * Martin Barre – electric guitar on "Boris Dancing" and "The Water Carrier"


See also

* Circular breathing * Stormont Castle * Habanero chile


Notes

* ''The Little Flower Girl, Senlis'' is a painting by Sir William Russell Flint. * ''The Water Carrier'' is a painting by Walter Langley. * "A Better Moon" was inspired by the work of Albert Moulton Foweraker. * "Montserrat" refers to 18 July 1995 eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano. * "Lowry matchstick figures" refers to the work of L. S. Lowry. * "a Constable sky..." refers to painter
John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...
. * "Rousseau garden" refers to
Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Gug ...
. * US release 7 March 2000.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Language Of Birds, The Ian Anderson albums 2000 albums Albums produced by Ian Anderson Fuel 2000 albums