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Locomotive Breath
By: Jethro Tull
Album: Aqualung
Track No. 10
Tabbed By: Justin Mackovyak
Http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/5453
Piano Intro 5x
G---||--------------||---------------------------||
D---||--------------||*-------------------------*||
A---||--------------||*--------------5--7/7/7/7/*||
E---||--------------||---7--7--7--7--------------||
2x
G--------------------------||---------------------------||
D--------------------------||*-------------------------*||
A---------------5----------||*--------------5--7/7/7/7/*||
E---7--7--7--7-----7/7/7/7/||---7--7--7--7--------------||
G------------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D------------------|-----------------|-----------------|
A------------5--5--|-----------------|-----------------|
E---7--7--7--------|--3--3--3--3--3--|--5--5--5--5--5--|
G------------------|-------------------------||
D------------------|-------------------------||
A------------------|--------------5--7/7/7/7/||
E---7--7--7--7--7--|--7--7--7--7-------------||
=================================================================
== Created with a demo version of BUCKET O' TAB ==
== tablature creation software for Windows ==
== http://www.his.com/~gse/bucket ==
=================================================================
Taken from The BassMasta -- http://www.bassmasta.net
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No Picture
Walk3rkid Average |
#1 by Walk3rkid . at Jan 31, 1979 at 8:50 AM EST |
| This is what was listed at Cup of Wonder, a great Tull fansite: * "'Locomotive Breath' is another song about dying, but it's not so serious as 'Slipstream'. It's an analogy of the unending train journey of life; you can't stop, you've got to stagger on. But it's not that serious. All of the songs have an element of humour, and sometimes pure silliness". * Ian Anderson in Disc and Music Echo, 20th March 1971 * This song is about modern man ("the all-time loser"), who can hardly keep up with the pace of life in our society ("locomotive breath"). He suffers from all kinds of desillusions, alienation and solitude, cannot get hold of his own life and in the end resorts to religion: "he picks up Gideons Bible, open at page one", in the hope to find a solution. The verseline "The train won't stop going, no way to slow down" symbolizes his/our life that goes on and on without a pause until we inevitably die. At this place in the bible one will find the book of Genesis in which is described how the universe, the world and all living beings on it were created. Roland Tarmo points out that "old Charlie" is a reference to Charles Darwin and his evolution theory, that offered a scientific alternative for the unconditional belief in creation as worded in Genesis, thus questioning the self-evidentness of this belief. In other words: he "stole the handle", that for centuries had defined men's position. I assume that "the all-time winner" refers to God. "Gideon" is the organisation that aims at spreading the Bible by having it placed in public buildings like hotels. * Jan Voorbij | |
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No Picture
Adam Wanna Be |
#2 by Adam Spinelli at Apr 20, 1982 at 1:54 AM EST |
| I always thought it said sum thin bout watchin tai-bo or however u spell it | |
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No Picture
Flash Average |
#3 by Flash Jaxon at Mar 13, 1985 at 1:49 PM EST |
| the song is about two men who are best friends, one is the "all time winner" who gets everything he wants, including the "all time loser"'s wife. "loser" catches them in bed together and loses his mind. not knowing what else to do, he just picks up the bible and starts to read. "locomotive breath" refers to the huffing/puffing sounds made during sex "piston"=penis "steam"=sweat "children jumping off"=ejaculation the "train won't stop going" because the wife & friend were so into it they never heard him come in | |
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Keegan Average |
#4 by Keegan at Oct 2, 1992 at 1:14 PM EST |
| oh yeah...and im 18, was converted to liking oldies by my friend, who got his tastes from his parents, just like you guys. however...i dont like JUST oldies... | |
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No Picture
J. Wanna Be |
#5 by J. Stone at Jun 13, 1993 at 1:53 AM EST |
| A few things: Yes this song is about a man who is riding the train of life toward his death. He can't keep up, he panics. The faith in Heaven is gone because old Charlie(Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution) has stolen the handle and contradicted the beliefs of Christians. He now has to make a choice:Believe in Heaven, delude himself and not worry about it. Or he can Go with Darwinism, deal with his fear of death, be honest with himself, and face the end of his life. He obviously wants to believe in Heaven. Who doesn't? but the evidence is staring him straight in the face. he picks up gideons bible, hoping against hope that he will find something in there that will offer concrete proof of his beliefs. In the end, though, he is fooling himself. He is too afraid to die, but he knows that he can no longer believe in Heaven. This is their best song. the piano in the beginning, the guitar riffs in between lines, the flute solo, and Ian's lyrics, combine to form one of the best songs in Hard Rock 1 2 Next | |
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No Picture
cuac3 Wanna Be |
#6 by cuac3 jejeje at Aug 7, 1994 at 2:54 PM EST |
| Another spinoff off this song is the fact it is also about Organized religion. I can't remember the exact condentations of it but that seems to be another side of it. | |
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Jonathan Average |
#7 by Jonathan Mehlman at May 4, 2005 at 7:22 AM EST |
| This is a great song. The song is telling about a man who is a loser in a death spiral. He loses his wife and kids. As he rides this 'train' to his inevitable death, there is no way to slow down. | |
