Song 163 (Jethro Tull--"Said She Was a Dancer")

For the last little bit I have been picking a song from each of the Jethro Tull eras from beginning to end on Sundays. The earlier eras can be found in this blog on songs: 100, 107, 114, 121, 128, 135, 142, 149, and 156.


For me, this era, the 10th, is known as "the comeback era" and also one of my favorites. For me, it consists of two albums: Crest of a Knave and Rock Island; from about '86 to 89. Crest of a Knave was their big comeback after the album Under Wraps and Rock Island was the continuation. Most 'Tull fans love these albums, but not as much as other albums, however I like them a lot. During this period Ian's voice was damaged and the music was recorded in a lower key than usual to compensate.
During this time there was a lot of movement with personnel. In Crest of a Knave they had two drummers: Doane Perry and Gerry Conway, they also used electronic "canned drums" as well in a couple of tracks; Ian also took over on keyboard playing as well. On Rock Island, Doane Perry remained on drums. Peter-John Vettese and Martin Allcock both played keyboards on different tracks.
The are really no weak tracks on Crest of a Knave in my opinion; even the ones that might be weaker have a lot of good qualities. The songs on Rock Island are very good as well, the standouts for me are: "Kissing Willie," "Ears of Tin," "Rock Island," and "Heavy Water." The musicianship and songwriting during this period was quite mature compared with their previous works; they weren't too flashy, but precise.

To me, this song is about how people perceive each other. The lyrics of the song are very intricate and tell a story of a man from the Cold War West and a Woman from The Cold War East getting to know one another in a bar. Probably the bast part of the song is Martin Barre's guitar solo, which in my opinion is one of his best. Every aspect of this song does not disappoint at all.

Here is the music video on YouTube.

+