Pop Song 381 of 500 'Locomotive Breath' Jethro Tull 1971

Pop Song 381 of 500 'Locomotive Breath' Jethro Tull 1971

Lyrically, "Locomotive Breath" was inspired by Anderson's concern regarding overpopulation. He explained, "It was my first song that was perhaps on a topic that would be a little more appropriate to today's world. It was about the runaway train of population growth and capitalism, it was based on those sorts of unstoppable ideas. We’re on this crazy train, we can’t get off it. Where is it going? Bearing in mind, of course, when I was born in 1947, the population of planet earth was slightly less than a third of what it is today, so it should be a sobering thought that in one man’s lifetime, our planetary population has more than tripled. You'd think population growth would have brought prosperity, happiness, food and a reasonable spread of wealth, but quite the opposite has happened. And is happening even more to this day. Without putting it into too much literal detail, that was what lay behind that song."

The song additionally features a train motif that Anderson has employed on many songs. Anderson later said, "Train songs have been with us ever since the blues began, and I have written my fair share of these. I keep being drawn back to the subject, because public transport is part of my life. I don’t drive, so rely on buses, trains and the like

In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath
Runs the all time loser
Headlong to his death
Oh, he feels the pistons screaming
Steam breaking on his brow
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train, it won't stop going
No way, it could slow down
He sees his children jumpin' off
At stations one by one
His woman and his best friend
In bed and having fun
So he's crawling down the corridor
On his hands and knees
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train, it won't stop going
No way, it could slow down
He hears the silence howling
Catches angels as they fall
And the all time winner
Has got him by the balls
Oh, he picks up Gideon's Bible
Open at page one
I thank God, he stole the handle
And the train, it won't stop going
No way, it could slow down
No way, it could slow down
No way, it could slow down
No way, it could slow down
No way, it could slow down
No way, it could slow down
No way, it could slow down