Monday 21 March 2011

"Now is the Solstice of the year..."

[* Silly nature boy - while I was busy blogging about the summer solstice below, it was of course THE VERNAL EQUINOX! The solstices are the longest and shortest days and the equinoxes, as their Latin-originating name suggests, are the two days in Spring and Autumn when the day and night are each 12 hours long. I was wishing away the Spring, clearly, in anticipation of Summer's delights - apologies to any confused readers. In fairness to my friend Mark, it was him who noticed... smarty pants... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the Jethro Tull! *]


"Now is the Solstice of the year": So sang Ian Anderson in Jethro Tull's track "Ring Out Solstice Bells", from their album "Songs from the wood", a pretty unashamed celebration of nature. not surprisingly, it is one of my favourite rock records. As last night was the Summer Solstice, it seems a fitting time to share the video below, even although it is about the Winter Solstice...).

According to the comments about this on YouTube, it was produced by the BBC to support showing of this track on some long-forgotten TV rock show. We, however, can still enjoy the mighty Tull, lie back and think about the increasing day length and encroaching Spring (I heard a chiffchaff this morning, a little summer visiting warbler, fresh arrived from Africa!).
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3 comments:

  1. My wife once took me to a Tull concert - sorry but it was dreadful - I think Anderson was piddled. He certainly sung as flat as a pancake. Just dire......

    She's still a fan though. Then again she is going to the Unthanks next month.

    Without me - thankfully!

    Certainly a change in the weather today......

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  2. Solstice!, love this time of year,
    warmer days,
    everything starts growing,
    and lighter evenings!

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  3. Hello boys - thanks for that - see my addition above - apologies for the confusion...

    Al - last time I saw Tull (in Perth last year), Anderson's voice was completely shot. Such a shame as instrumentally, the band is tighter than ever, including his multi-instrumentalism.

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