Jethro Tull van saber sortir dels foscos vuitanta abans que acabés la dècada. L'any 1987 van enregistrar un dels seus millors discos, Crest Of A Knave. Aquell disc inclou "Farm On The Freeway". No és una cançó ecologista però és una cançó sobre paisatge feta tretze anys abans del Conveni Europeu del Paisatge i a càrrec d'un dels millors lletristes del segle XX:
Nine miles of two-strand topped with barbed wire
laid by the father for the son.
Good shelter down there on the valley floor,
down by where the sweet stream run.
Now they might give me compensation...
That's not what I'm chasing. I was a rich man before yesterday.
Now all I have got is a cheque and a pickup truck.
I left my farm on the freeway.
They're busy building airports on the south side...
Silicon chip factory on the east.
And the big road's pushing through along the valley floor.
Hot machine pouring six lanes at the very least.
Now, they say they gave me compensation...
That's not what I'm chasing. I was a rich man before yesterday.
Now all I have left is a broken-down pickup truck.
Looks like my farm is a freeway.
They forgot they told us what this old land was for.
Grow two tons the acre, boy, between the stones.
This was no Southfork, it was no Ponderosa.
But it was the place that I called home.
They say they gave me compensation...
That's not what I'm chasing. I was a rich man before yesterday.
And what do I want with a million dollars and a pickup truck?
When I left my farm under the freeway.
4 comentaris:
Adore a Ian Anderson y a sus muchachos a finales de los 70 cuando todo el mundo escuchábamos sus obras magnas Thick as a Brick, Aqualung y Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die. Luego mis oídos me llevaron por otros derroteros. Quizás sea el momento de recuperar su época ochentera.
De su época ochentera, Broadsword and the Beast (1982) està bien, Crest Of A Knave (1987) és sensacional, y Rock Island (1989) es casi igual de bueno. Pero yo te recomendaría especialmente Catfish Rising (1991). J-Tull Dot Com (1999) es irregular pero tiene algunas canciones magníficas.
L'incombustible Ian Anderson continua escrivint grans cançons. Una de les veus més atractives del rock/folk progressiu dels 70.
I tant.
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