"Mother Goose" is a song by the British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band Jethro Tull. It is the fourth track from their album '' Aqualung'' which was released in 1971.

Background

"Mother Goose" was written by Jethro Tull frontman

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...

. Anderson, who recalled writing the song in the summer of 1970, singled out the song as one of the earliest written for the band's 1971 album, '' Aqualung''. He also noted the song as being somewhat atypical of his writing style, commenting, "I tend to be more in social realism, in terms of subject matter, but I do stretch to the more whimsical, surreal songs like 'Mother Goose'." Anderson, who has also called the song a "surrealistic pastiche with summery motives", views the song as an expression of visual art:

Lyrics and styles

The lyrics are a

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

figures based on images that

wrote with the same abstract ideas as "

Cross-Eyed Mary "Cross-Eyed Mary" is a song by the British progressive rock band Jethro Tull from their album '' Aqualung'' (1971). The song is about "Cross-Eyed Mary", a schoolgirl prostitute who prefers the company of "leching greys" over her schoolmates. ...

". The song is mostly acoustic, like "Cheap Day Return" or "Slipstream". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine has put it as "Elizabethan madrigal" musical style. Anderson would return to the Mother Goose character on Jethro Tull's 1973 album ''

A Passion Play ''A Passion Play'' is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released in July 1973 in both the UK and US. Following in the same style as the band's previous album ''Thick as a Brick'' (1972), ''A Passion Play'' is ...

''.

Release

"Mother Goose" was first released on the band's 1971 studio album '' Aqualung''. The song has since appeared on several Jethro Tull compilation albums, including '' The Best of Jethro Tull - The Anniversary Collection'' (1993), ''

The Best of Acoustic Jethro Tull ''The Best of Acoustic'' (2007) is a greatest hits album by Jethro Tull. It includes some of the band's biggest acoustic hits from 1969 to 2007. Track listing #"Fat Man" - 2:51 #"Life is a Long Song" - 3:18 #"Cheap Day Return" - 1:22 #"Mothe ...

'' (2007), and ''

50 for 50 ''50 for 50'' is a three-disc compilation album by the English progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released in 2018. Released to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary, the collection includes 50 tracks, selected by frontman Ian Anderson himself ...

'' (2018). The song also appears in live form on ''

Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull ''Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull'' is a live album and DVD by Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson, featuring the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt, conducted by John O'Hara. The DVD was recorded at the Rosengarten in Mannheim on 8 Decem ...

'' (2005) and ''

Aqualung Live ''Aqualung'' is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 19 March 1971, by Chrysalis Records. It is widely regarded as a concept album featuring a central theme of "the distinction between religion and God", ...

'' (2005).

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted how "the fable imagery of 'Mother Goose' ... serve notice of Anderson's willful iconoclasm." In a retrospective review of ''Aqualing,'' ''

The Tufts Daily ''The Tufts Daily'', known on campus as ''the Daily'', is the student newspaper of record at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. The paper covers news, arts and sports both on campus and in the greater Boston area and allows members of th ...

'' praised the song as "an absolutely mesmerizing track". ''Louder'' magazine praised the song for "providing the light relief" on the album, amongst songs like "

Locomotive Breath "Locomotive Breath" is a song by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull from their 1971 album, '' Aqualung''. Written as a comment on population growth, "Locomotive Breath" was meant to replicate the chugging rhythm of a train. In addition to ...

" and the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...

. Anderson made a similar point in an interview, noting the combination of the "amusing surreal moments" of acoustic songs like "Mother Goose" and "Up to Me" balanced with the album's more "dramatic" material.

Personnel

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Martin Barre Martin Lancelot Barre (; born 17 November 1946) is an English guitarist best known for his longtime role as lead guitarist of British rock band Jethro Tull, with whom he recorded and toured from 1968 until the band's initial dissolution in 201 ...

: acoustic and electric

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

, percussion *

Jeffrey Hammond Jeffrey Hammond (born 30 July 1946), often known by his former stage name Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, is an artist and retired musician best known for being the bassist of progressive rock band Jethro Tull from 1971 to 1975. With Jethro Tull, Ha ...

alto recorder The alto recorder in F, also known as a treble (and, historically, as consort flute and common flute) is a member of the recorder family. Up until the 17th century the alto instrument was normally in G4 instead of F4. The alto is between the s ...

(Credited on ''Aqualung'' album as Jeffery Hammond-Hammond) *

Clive Bunker Clive William Bunker (born 30 December 1946) is a British drummer. Bunker is best known as the original drummer of the rock band Jethro Tull, playing in the band from 1967 until 1971. Never a self-professed technical drummer, Bunker engaged ...

John Evan John Evan (born John Spencer Evans; born 28 March 1948, in Derby, Derbyshire.) is a British musician and composer. He is best known for having played keyboards for Jethro Tull from April 1970 to June 1980. Evans' father was headmaster at a De ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

The Mellotron was replaced by the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

on the ''Aqualung Live'' album played by

Andrew Giddings Andrew Giddings (born 10 July 1963) is an English musician. He primarily plays keyboard instruments and is best known as a former member of British rock group Jethro Tull, for whom he was the longest serving keyboardist. Early life Giddings ...

References

External links

Mother Goose on AllMusic
{{authority control Jethro Tull (band) songs 1971 songs Songs written by Ian Anderson Song recordings produced by Ian Anderson Reprise Records singles Island Records singles