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").
Trains
Ian Anderson Lyrics
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With a cup of cold coffee
From the station buffet.
On Trains, on Trains I seem
To spend my life on Trains.
See the blue suit banker in the ticket line.
Got an Evening Standard with Playboy
On Trains, on Trains he seems
To spend his life on Trains.
Time after time
Was I just dreaming?
Did I help you aboard.
Full passenger service
Let me help with the door
Sit down take the weight off your feet.
There's a train-load of people I'd like
You to meet
On Trains, on Trains we love
To spend our lives on Trains.
Join the secret world of Trains.
Feel the pleasure.
Touch the pain.
Drift into yesterday.
Once and again
I was just thinking.
We could meet sometime
On the 17.30 where
I usually find
My friends at the end of the day.
May we pay your fare, lady?
We should like you to stay
In our train.
On Trains you'll have to spend your life
On Trains.
I hear there's an office party on the 18.05
You'll be home for Christmas if they
Take you alive from the Train
Those Trains, we have to spend our lives
On Trains.
Once and again
I was just thinking
We could meet any time
On number two platform
Where I usually find
My friends at the end of the day
On Trains, Trains, Trains.
In the song "Trains," Ian Anderson reflects on his experiences riding trains and observing others who also seem to "spend their lives on trains." The lyrics are full of vivid imagery, such as the blue suit banker with his hidden copy of Playboy, and the offer to pay the fare for a lady who might join the singer's train-bound social circle. Anderson captures both the pleasure and pain of train travel - the satisfaction of sitting down and taking the weight off your feet, but also the sense of being trapped in a monotonous routine.
The repetition of the phrase "on trains" creates a sense of the song's central theme - the way in which train travel can shape one's entire life. The singer invites listeners to join the "secret world of trains," as if to say that train travel can be an exclusive, almost cult-like experience. Ultimately, the song encourages listeners to embrace their train-bound existence, with the final line revealing that "Those trains, we have to spend our lives on trains."
Overall, "Trains" is a wistful and somewhat melancholy reflection on the way that trains can both connect and isolate people, offering both a sense of community and a crushing sense of routine.
Line by Line Meaning
Here I am at the end of the day
With a cup of cold coffee
From the station buffet.
I am at the station at the end of the day drinking cold coffee from the station's cafe.
On Trains, on Trains I seem
To spend my life on Trains.
I spend my life constantly riding trains.
See the blue suit banker in the ticket line.
Got an Evening Standard with Playboy
Hidden behind.
In the ticket line, there is a banker in a blue suit reading the Evening Standard with Playboy hidden behind it.
On Trains, on Trains he seems
To spend his life on Trains.
He too spends his life constantly riding trains.
Time after time
Was I just dreaming?
Did I help you aboard.
Full passenger service
Let me help with the door
Sit down take the weight off your feet.
There's a train-load of people I'd like
You to meet
I am helping passengers board, offering them full service, helping with luggage and seating, and introducing them to other riders.
On Trains, on Trains we love
To spend our lives on Trains.
Join the secret world of Trains.
We love spending our lives on trains and invite you to join our secret world.
Feel the pleasure.
Touch the pain.
Drift into yesterday.
Once and again
I was just thinking.
We could meet sometime
On the 17.30 where
I usually find
My friends at the end of the day.
May we pay your fare, lady?
We should like you to stay
In our train.
On Trains you'll have to spend your life
On Trains.
Come ride the train with us and enjoy its many pleasures and pains. Join us on the 17:30 train where we typically meet our friends. We'll even pay your fare and encourage you to stay with us on the train. Just know that once you're on this train, you'll be spending your life riding trains with us.
I hear there's an office party on the 18.05
You'll be home for Christmas if they
Take you alive from the Train
Those Trains, we have to spend our lives
On Trains.
There's an office party on the 18:05 train, and we joke about whether you'll make it home alive. But regardless, we know we'll have to continue spending our lives on trains.
Once and again
I was just thinking
We could meet any time
On number two platform
Where I usually find
My friends at the end of the day
On Trains, Trains, Trains.
I frequently think about meeting up with my friends on the number two platform, where we often gather at the end of the day to ride trains together.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: IAN ANDERSON, P. VETTESE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind