Jethro Tull- Slow Marching Band

[marta3t6fox2]

I love Jethro Tull, and this song is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing this special moment!!!!

[RadarRider1701]

I played this song at my father's memorial service. He was a singer and musician and a minstrel in the fine old Irish tradition, and I could only think that this was how he would have said good-bye had he had the chance. He would have bade us all to walk on slowly, and not look behind us...

Thanks for this.

[edelweiss1001]

@RadarRider1701

its a good song to leave on...also a good song to raise a glass to on all times to come.

[dave2806]

my funeral song ! fantastic track .

[KimStruebind]

Marvellous song ... so great!

[mynorthernsky]

Oh, and never mind the words

just hum along and keep on going.

Walk on slowly --- don't look behind you.

Don't say goodbye, love... don't say goodbye.

[Grendel650]

This is a great song from one of their finest Albums. I consider it one of the finest 'Goodbye' songs I have heard, following very neatly on from 'Flying Colours'.

always evocative lyrics from Tull...

and Ian Andersons voice is superb!

[makeascn37]

I've heard this song was written after Ian let several members of Tull go. It is obviously a great song for a funeral, and like many, i hope to have it played at my own. I use it in a play I wrote about dealing with the loss of a loved one. I wrote the play after losing my best friend. This is one of Tull's best albums in my opinion.

[edelweiss1001]

@makeascn37

play skating away on the thin ice of a new day.....tis your funeral, bugger them, or at least confuse them.

ok i', going for broadsword on my funeral, let them try for things they wont live up to (but might)

[farsah14]

if music was fork-tender this would be it. turns my restless night into a moment of true beauty. thanks aqualung1989.



[timetravellingone]

awesome song from ian

[66tull]

I notice a lot of people looking forward to their funerals.  May I suggest the song "Waiting for the Worms" ?

[groovyastrodude]

@66tull

Ah, but that song is talking about metaphorical worms- worms eating away at Pink's mind.

[Jewelrydude]

Thank You

My daughter just finished her high school band career, and this really had an impact on me.

[TheLEEM01]

I have been a Tull fan since 1970 & I have to tell this song all ways brings a tear to my eye, long live the TULL

[hoserintraining]

@TheLEEM01 me too.....

[kaylarblue]

First CD I bought, and still going strong

[valentine0591]

What fun to rediscover old favorites. I haven't heard this beautiful tune since the old turntable passed away. I've ordered the CD so I'll have it with me again. Thanks so much Aqualung1989

[kendonagasaki9]

Loved this song from the first moment I heard it... Ian's ability to create a lyric which touches the heart is amazing...

[Noelegy]

One of my favorites, not the least because I was in marching band in high school.

[kcupriest]

This final song made broadsword iconic...

[sicblades666]

I'm going through a rough time atm, and that song surprised my a little while ago on my mp3. Again I almost missed it listening to "Broadsword...". Ever since i've become addicted and it pretty much had me in tears tonight. Ian Anderson, you area god of music!

[bigrider2806]

my funeral song. lovely

[sm870621345]

Never mind the words, just hum along and keep on going.- I live my life by this lyric

[RedSomniaCela]

This song has been my favorite ever since my father sang it to me at a ren fair we were acting at. It was out of the blue and beautiful. Makes me cry whenever I hear it anymore. Its good to see others are recognizing it, too.

[AnarchyShogun]

oh, and this is one of a few Tull songs that WILL be played at my funeral. My dad has been a big Tull fan for a long time, and this is the music I was raised on.

[JediMagnusDelcarte]

This song is one of the best. Whenever you need a song to pick you up, this is it. And indeed, this is a song about some you love leaving... by any means... but there is hope in it, hope for their return, hope that you will see them again. It's unfortunate that you don't hear songs like this in the current times... makes me want to buy a record player to listen to this on my dad's old vinyl copy of Broadsword and the Beast. Cheers to you, A1989.

[Slashthsecond]

I don't know how to describe this... I heard this song for the first time, at my in-laws house, where my dad-in-law put it on and started singing (he sings really well). He was looking at my girlfriend with a look that kind of said "I don't want you to leave, when you grow up, but you have my support"... And it was like she understood, because she went to him and hugged him... That moment and this song reminds me of how much support from loved ones meens...

[hoserintraining]

My hat is off to the poster. Barely 20, but he understands. Thirty years his senior, I have the life experience that tells me this song says it all, with lyrics that communicate every father's wishes, while leaving the listener with an endearing optomism as a legacy for his loved ones. Well done, Aqualung 1989, well done Ian.

[elrhiarhodan]

@hoserintraining

It's not the age that gives understanding, but the listening.  I was him/her once.

[h15jkc]

Like many others on this forum have said, this will be played at my funeral, a statement I made when I first heard this song way back in 1982....

[rimula01]

Jethro Tull, only one word: FANTASTIC!!!!!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH IAN FOR YOUR MUSIC AND TALENT, IN ARGENTINA WE ARE WAITING FOR JETHRO TULL AGAIN

ELVIO, FROM ARGENTINA

[FenianandLimey]

Jesus Christ, excuse my language, I idolize Ian Anderson. Trying not to sound nutsy, I can imagine this for my beloved husband's funeral. I mean, he's perfectly fine, alive and well, but he was a Coldstream Guard in the British Army. Oh God, how black Irish am I being right now? This is absolutely beautiful.

[1955marko]

I am having it for my funeral defo

[lowlypeasant]

I've always thought of it as a funeral dirge but I would never have it be mine because I don't know any other Tull fan in person.

[boogerholewv1]

Through the countless years of listening to this and other Tull tunes (I have a fairly large collection) I've always thought this as close to a "love" song as Tull comes to. In fact, the words "love" or "I love you" rarely, if ever, appear in any of their tunes. One tune even declares, "This Is Not Love"

[AnarchyShogun]

@boogerholewv1 The song "Pibroch (Cap in Hand)" on the Songs from the Wood album is a pretty straight up song of rejected love.

[LizzyMoonful]

That's what I was thinking when I've heard that song the first time in my life. THIS IS my funeral song. So good, everything will be said. Thank you IA for that. Lve and groetjes !!!!

[vonnylouise]

Excellent, many thanks. Whoever arranges my funeral has to find a copy of this because it's in my living will that it's to be played when I've gone. A true Tull masterpiece.

[Lengsel7]

Why don't you just attach a CD copy of it to your living will?  And why don't you keep a copy for yourself, and listen to it when your still alive?

[yogaman1919]

im having this song played as well. along with wish you were here and when the tigers broke free both from pink floyed. :) maybe we'll rock together on the other side.

[rhythmingold]

@vonnylouise I want this played at my funeral, too.  This and A Passion Play.

[66tull]

@rhythmingold if they play passion play at your funeral you're going to start to stink a bit. it's so long!

[gooncomic]

Excellent!

[9496tull]

one of my fav's off this album.

[Aeradalia]

The song's about the ending of a relationship... particularly one of romantic inclinations... It's very general...

It has nothing to do with a band literally... uses the parade/band as an analogy to the relationship that is now ending..

[sselenak]

i only discovered this after i loaded my dad's considerably large jethro tull collection onto my iPod for their harder rock stuff, then i heard this on shuffle and had to make it special! i play this at least twice every night as im falling asleep.

i'm not entirely sure about the meaning, as the lyrics certainly sound like it's about a passing band member, but his voice seems to have an almost paternal love in it. this impression is added to by the word "love" placed after "goodbye"

[moblefay]

Nice Dad, sselenak.

[sselenak]

this is such a beautiful song, lyrics, piano, harmonies and everything. sometimes i think it would be cool to do a cover of this with violin simulating flute and synthesizer, and cello simulating ian anderson's voice, but then i think it would be disrespecting their musical genius if a handful of kids turned it into a bland amateur instrumental

[davebycraft]

lol lagerdalek. Im glad to hear that.

[luxfair]

This is one of the best Jethro Tull songs ever.

[Stormwatch153]

Fantastic and heart touching!

[st0nedallday]

just got the album and discovered this song, im very surprised i didnt know of it before hand, too underrated!

[chickenb0ne]

it was written for a band member that died

[cmongo4]

The best song on the entire album. It deserves more recognition...

[boxerjeep]

I was always amazed that this was never bigger then it was!! I use to listen to this song so much. My fav song on broadsword!!

[JDbarclay]

I have had the Broadsword CD for years in my car and never noticed this great song was in it! Now Broadsword has conquered slot 1 on my cd player!

[Aqualung1989]

quite understandable :)

[hopethehermit]

@Aqualung1989 I bought the CD less than a week ago and I could listen to this over and again

[hoserintraining]

@hopethehermit It only gets better.... be ready

[burnitupt5683]

@JDbarclay so it should be it's class

[dfcdfm]

Fantastic underated song. One of their best in an undertsated way.

[lagerdalek]

btw my wife, my cousin and my best friend are all different people :/

[Aqualung1989]

oh really? :P

[lagerdalek]

Hey, me too, my wife, my cousin and my best friend know what song to play at my funeral, and this is it!

[firstclassmaleuk]

I have chosen this as my funeral song. Lyrically, it is very suited. I'm not being morbid, I just love the track and yes, underrated but then is that not something Tull have suffered for years? Pure genius but how many in mainsteam have even heard of them! Glad that planetrock plays them and even more so that Ian Anderson is now part of the consortium that owns it.