Thick as a Brick — Explanation
Foreword
This 44 minute masterpiece of a song, composed by Jethro Tull is a response to the critics for their previous album, Aqualung. While Aqualung was widely appreciated and really respected by everyone as a masterstroke and Ian Anderson was showered encomiums for his musical poweress, the critics considered the album a ‘Concept Album.’ This was something the band never intended. Yes, the songs were connected by a common theme of penury but that was all the concept that existed. Thus, was written Thick as a Brick, a parody of a concept album, just an year after Aqualung.
Album Art
The album art for this song is of utmost importance and really helps the listener contextualise the whole song.
This clipping of a fictional newspaper talks about a fictional little boy, named ‘Little Milton.’ He is the one who is credited for the lyrics of the song as well and the newspaper says that his poem, thick as a brick has been disqualified in the annual literary competition organised by Society of Literary Advancement and Gestation(S.L.A.G) for its antichristian views. Instead of him, the award is given to a girl, Mary who wrote a piece on Christian Ethics. To make matters worse, Little Milton is also advised of a psychiatric treatment.
On the bottom left corner is another paparazzi news snippet about a new movie,‘Biggles and the snake women.’ Biggles is a comic book character from 1932. He is a fictional pilot and adventurer, and a war time hero. The comic deals with his adventures. Biggles is referred to in the song as well.
Concept & Theme
Thick as a Brick is a very common saying in England to mock someone’s intellect. In the song, the phrase has been used 3 times and represents a strong philosophical paradox which shall be explored in the later sections of the song. The song is intended as a parody of a concept album (concept explored in the last section), mocking the critics and a lot other things along the way.
On the outside, the song seems like an ensemble of turmoil every growing up human has to go through, but in reality it is a take on a person’s perspective and how capricious humans are, it also tackles the issue of the societal expectations off of them. The song explains the emotions when young look at the old, and the old looking at the young. The song talks about how political philosophies are outgrown, and how there are soldiers that fight, and there are artists like poets and the painters. The song also talks about how there exist only two types of people, the doers and the thinkers.
The song has 2 parts, with 4 chapters in each song. Each chapter has a particular significance in the composition and adds up beautifully into this byzantine discombobulating mellifluous piece. Interestingly, the first chapter and the last chapter of both the parts resemble each other, with chapter 8 being a reprise of chapter 4 and chapter 1 and chapter 5 sharing similar titles (except for a word). {Read the following part while listening to the song}
You can find the song on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Prime, YT Music
1. Really Don’t Mind / See There a Son Is Born (0:00–5:00): This part starts with a dialogue with the listener lambasting their ability to understand music. This is intended to be a terse dig at the critics who could not understand their previous album, yet called themselves musical luminaries. The line, and the wise men don’t know how it feels, to be thick as a brick means that how you over complicate simple things when you become wise. It also has a philosophical interpretation that if you become very wise, you will never be able to understand the perspective of a stupid person, implying that your vision is not all encompassing anymore, thus, are you really wise? The second verse of the part introduces you to the theme of the song where they tell how the virtues and morals are similar to that of a stand castle and shall be swept away by the tidal destruction of the upcoming generation. In the next two verses, the singer regresses to childhood and uses those verses as a build up for the final verse of the song which talks about a boy getting born and the societal expectations that begin to haunt him the moment he cries his first tear.
2. The Poet and the Painter (5:00–10:29): The second chapter deals with the two types of people that exist in this earth. The doers and the thinkers. A running theme of this chapter to elucidate the point of the binaries is that there is a war going on that the soldier is fighting and the poet and the painters are writing about the war. The interesting thing here is how the poets and their words change as the war moves forward and how at one point they glorify the war and the soldiers and at one point they condemn them.
3. What Do You Do When the Old Man’s Gone? / From the Upper Class (10:29–15:54): This chapter deals with what the son would do when he lost his father. Will he try to fill his father’s shoes or will he try to be his own man. This ethical dilemma takes a different shape after the instrumental bridge, during which he accepts the role of his father and inherits his place. Once he becomes that person, a member of the upper class, he starts preaching the lower class as to how they should live. The chapter ends with another paradox, “I’ll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me.” How we judge people so easily and look down upon people who judge us.
4. You Curl Your Toes in Fun / Childhood Heroes / Stabs Instrumental (15:54–22:40): This chapter expresses the political opinions of a young boy and their utopic nature. How you, a mirthful chap sees the world and how you wish everybody was nice and everybody cared for everyone. The utopic nature of his thoughts are best expressed when he says ‘We’ll have Superman for President, let Robin save the day.’ The same line is also laced with another paradox where if we have given Superman the responsibility of a president, he will be unable to defend the world anymore and his duties will fall into the hands of the much under accomplished Robin. This shows the, have the cake and eat it too approach the young adolescents take towards life, far away from the real world considerations. This is also the time you thank me for explaining the album art to you (Biggles smiles at you and me).
5. See There a Man Is Born / Clear White Circles (00:00–5:58) : If you notice the name of the chapter, you will see that it resembles the first chapter, just that, in place of a boy, there is a man. This part of life is about coming to peace with things around you and accepting things for as they are. The chapter also includes a spoken verse that talks about the mundane nature of adulthood and the kind of responsibilities a man faces in this very phase of life. Personal note: Musically, I found it to be the least involving and I started losing myself a bit in the middle of this chapter.
6. Legends and Believes in the Day (5:58–12:25): This chapter talks about reaching senescence and how a person deals with it. Now, the same person, who was fighting about resisting the old system and bringing in new reforms, finds himself to be the old system. The chapter deals with the understanding of this fact. At this age, his perception of the poet, the painter, the soldier, and the wise man, they all change and this very change is wonderfully explained in the final verse of the song.
7. Tales of Your Life (12:25–17:49): When you come of age, all you can offer to the world is your own fables and share all the experiences that you have collected. That is the only contribution you can make to the world at this age. The line ‘So! Come all ye young men who are building castles!’ will only be appreciated if you remember the first chapter. ‘And the sand-castle virtues are all swept away’. This line actually is directed to the ones who consider themselves to be the pioneers of the society that the castles of virtues that they are building will only be made of sand.
8. Childhood Heroes Reprise (17:49–21:10): This chapter is a reprise of chapter four and since all of it is discussed beforehand only, I will not say much about it except for the fact that the reprise symbolises the cyclic nature of life and how the thoughts, that you once had when you were just a young boy start feeling so right all over again when you are about to die.
The Parody
Now that you are done listening to the song, you will understand how the song is so disjointed, yet so seamless. There is no particular story to it, yet, there is a running theme, but that is too disconnected for it to be called a concept album. However, this is not a concept album, this is just a song. With this, Ian asks his critics, what do you call a concept album?
This song is probably one of the greatest songs I have ever come across. A Change of Seasons is a far second. The musical complexity, the individual talent on display in this song, and the ability to express so much with so little is what makes this song stand out the most to me.