Anderson was born on 10th August 1947, the youngest of three children. He spent the first part of his childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was influenced by his father's big band and jazz records and the emergence of rock music, though disenchanted with the "show biz" style of early American rock and roll stars like Elvis Presley. His family moved to Blackpool, Lancashire in 1959, where he gained a traditional education at Blackpool Grammar School. He went on to study fine art at Blackpool College of Art from 1964 to 1966.
In 1963, he formed The Blades with school friends Barriemore Barlow (drums), John Evan (keyboards), Jeffrey Hammond (bass), and Michael Stephens (guitar). This was a soul and blues band, with Anderson on vocals and harmonica. At this time Anderson abandoned his ambition to play electric guitar, allegedly because he felt he would never be "as good as Eric Clapton". He traded his electric guitar in for a flute which, after some weeks of practice, he found he could play fairly well in a rock and blues style. He continued to play acoustic guitar, using it as a melodic as well as rhythmic instrument. As his career progressed, he added soprano saxophone, mandolin, keyboards, and other instruments to his arsenal.
His famous tendency to stand on one leg while playing the flute came about by accident. As related in the "Isle of Wight" video, he had been inclined to stand on one leg while playing the harmonica, holding the microphone stand for balance. During the long stint at the Marquee Club, a journalist described him, wrongly, as standing on one leg to play the flute. He decided to live up to the reputation, albeit with some difficulty. His early attempts are visible in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus film appearance of Jethro Tull. In later life he was surprised to learn of iconic portrayals of various flute playing divinities, particularly Krishna and Kokopelli, which show them standing on one leg.
While Anderson has recorded a small number of critically acclaimed projects under his own name, and frequently makes guest appearances in other artists' work, he has been identified in the public eye as the frontman of Jethro Tull for forty-four years. This is undoubtedly because a signature motif of Anderson's career has been a highly distinctive stage image, which has often been counter to the prevailing rock music culture. While he has habitually drawn inspiration from British folklore – at different times deploying stylistic elements of mediæval jester, Elizabethan minstrel, English country squire and Scottish laird – at other times he has appeared as astronaut, biker, pirate, and vagrant. His personae often involve a large degree of self-parody.
As a flautist, Anderson is self-taught; his style, which often includes a good deal of flutter tonguing and occasionally singing or humming (or even snorting) while playing, was influenced by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. In 2003 he recorded a composition called Griminelli's Lament in honour of his friend, the Italian flautist Andrea Griminelli. In the 1990s he began working with simple bamboo flutes. He uses techniques such as over-blowing and hole-shading to produce note-slurring and other expressive techniques on this otherwise simple instrument.
He has recorded several songs on which he plays all the instruments as well as carrying out all the engineering and production (such as 1988's "Another Christmas Song"). Anderson's music blends styles such as folk, jazz, blues, rock, and pop. His lyrics are frequently complex, (mostly) tongue-in-cheek criticism of the absurd rules of society and/or religion ("Sossity, You're a Woman"; "Hymn 43"; "Thick as a Brick"). He often combines lyrics with other leitmotifs such as folk, mythological, fantastic ("The Minstrel in the Gallery", "Jack-in-the-Green", "Broadsword and the Beast"). In the 1990s and 2000s, Anderson's songs often capture 'snapshots' of his daily life ("Old Black Cat", "Rocks on the Road").
Set-Aside
Ian Anderson Lyrics
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Frazzled oak silhouetted in her ivy dress.
Winter sun catches dog fox through thin hedges:
Throws his long shadow north to the emptiness.
Farmhouse in tatters; shuttered and battered.
Even lovers don't go there these last few years.
Spider-web windows on set-aside heroes
The Ian Anderson song Set-Aside, presents a desolate landscape, an image of the deterioration and abandonment of rural areas. The first line, "Hard black crows bobbing where once ran deep furrows" suggests the demise of farming, and the once fertile fields are now overgrown with weeds, indicated by the black crows. The second line, "Frazzled oak silhouetted in her ivy dress" implies that the once thriving oak tree is now decaying, and the ivy that now encases it is suffocating it.
The third line, "Winter sun catches dog fox through thin hedges" suggests the end of hunting and explains how the fox has made it through the hedgerow, whereas this may have been harder in the past, and the sun illuminates it through the thinning hedgerows. The fourth line, "Throws his long shadow north to the emptiness," speaks to the emptiness of the landscape, as there is no longer anything there for a shadow to fall upon.
The fifth and sixth lines, "Farmhouse in tatters; shuttered and battered. Even lovers don't go there these last few years," suggest the end of agriculture, and the dilapidation of a home, which no longer has a purpose. The seventh and final line, "Spider-web windows on set-aside heroes, standing lost in a landscape of tears," gives a sense of sadness and despair, as the abandoned heroes represent the once-great pastures and fields that are now overgrown and empty.
Line by Line Meaning
Hard black crows bobbing where once ran deep furrows.
The absence of crops from the fields has caused black crows to replace them, constantly moving up and down as if picking at the land that had rich, deep furrows in the past.
Frazzled oak silhouetted in her ivy dress.
An old oak tree stands out against the skyline, covered in ivy that makes it appear frazzled and worn out after years of enduring harsh weather and storms.
Winter sun catches dog fox through thin hedges: Throws his long shadow north to the emptiness.
The weak winter sun reveals a dog fox lurking behind sparse hedges, casting its long shadow towards the north, where there is cold vastness, perhaps representing the emptiness of life.
Farmhouse in tatters; shuttered and battered.
An old farmhouse is in ruins, with tattered walls and windows, battered by years of neglect and abandonment.
Even lovers don't go there these last few years.
The condition of the farmhouse is so deteriorated that even lovers, who once found the place charming, do not go there now, as it has lost all its appeal.
Spider-web windows on set-aside heroes Standing lost in a landscape of tears.
The windows of the old farmhouse are covered in spider-webs, symbolizing how time has frozen everything. The farmhouse is now standing among a landscape of tears, as it has been set-aside in neglect and abandonment, reminiscing about its former glory days when it was a hero in the community.
Contributed by Leah B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.