Song 128 (Jethro Tull--"Crazed Institution")

I have been picking songs from each of the Jethro Tull eras from beginning to end on Sundays; The other picks can be found in this blog on songs: 100, 107, 114, and 121.

Anyway, the 5th 'Tull era for me consists of one album in 1976; the music from this album was originally supposed to be a musical. The musical was to be about 18 songs long and sung by pop singer Adam Faith and was about people from different walks of life, however it never came to fruition.
Ian had all of this music written, so they decided to make it the new album: Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die! It consisted of 12 of the original tracks and they decided to base it around an aging rock star named Ray Lomas. In the story Ray is a '50s-60s greaser that is dutifully keeping up his old image while seeing his compatriots sell out to what is in or settling down. After a motorcycle wreak he comes out of a coma and finds that styles have come back around and he is "in" again.
As far as the band line up, Jeffrey Hammond left and my favourite bass player of the band replaced him: John Glascock.
At first I, (like many other Tull fans), did not like this album, but after listening a few of times I found the album's charm and I actually came to like it. Many tracks on this album are really good, the standouts for me are: Quizz Kid, Crazed Institution, Big Dipper, Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll..., and the song Chequered Flag is my favourite on the album.
This song, Crazed Institution, has some of the best lyrical content; I love the use of metaphor as well as the "tongue-in-cheek" lyrics; the subject matter is the overblown egos and lifestyles of celebrities. My favourite part of the song is the second verse:

"Crawl inside your major triad, curl up and laugh
as your agent scores another front page photograph.
Is it them or is it you throwing dice inside the loo awaiting someone else to pull the chain.
Well grab the old bog-handle, hold your breath and light a candle.
Clear your throat and pray for rain to irrigate the corridors that echo in your brain filled with empty nothingness, empty hunger pains.
And you can ring a crown of roses round your cranium, live and die upon your cross of platinum. Join the crazed institution of the stars. Be the man that you think (know) you really are."

Here is the studio version on YouTube.
Here is the promotional music video with an alternate recording along with the song Quizz Kid on YouTube. Crazed Institution begins at the 5:00 mark.

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