What do you think Locomotive Breath means?

Jethro Tull: Locomotive Breath Meaning

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Album cover for Locomotive Breath album cover

Locomotive Breath Lyrics

In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath,
Runs the all-time loser,
Headlong to his death.
He feels the piston scraping --
Steam breaking on his brow --
Old Charlie stole the handle and
The train won't stop going --
No way to slow...

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  1. anonymous
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     Jul 18th 2011 !⃝

    I seem to be the only one who thinks that the 'All Time Loser' has his own self to blame for his misfortune. Like most critics, I see a man whose life is all but completely out of control, but why?

    Answer: He didn't obey the Lord's commandments.

    'Old Charlie stole the handle, And the train, it won't stop going
    No way to slow down.'

    'Thou shalt not steal'



    'He sees his children jumping off, at stations one by one.'

    'Honor thy father and mother'




    'His woman and his best friend, in bed and having fun'

    'Thou shalt not commit adultery'



    'He's crawling down the corridor, on his hands and knees.'

    Vicious sarcasm. Good Christians are supposed to show deference to God, but his posture is not quite the same as kneeling. To put in American terms, there is a difference between showing someone respect and 'kissing his ass'.

    'Thou shalt not worship a graven image'




    So far 'The Loser' is only guilty of breaking one commandment, if any at all, if you score the last line as true deference. But here is my point:


    'He picks up Gideon's Bible, open at page one.'

    Now, I hand you a book that you're not familiar with, and I ask you to read it. What page do you turn to?

    Answer: The first page, of course.

    My point: If 'The Loser' had read the book in the first place, he wouldn't be in his dilemma. The important theological question is whether or not it is already too late to save his soul, since the train us already out of control, and, presumably, the end of the line is Hell.

    Since he thanks God in the end, we suppose that even a 'blamed heathen' can find salvation, if he is willing to repent.

  2. anonymous
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     Mar 18th 2011 !⃝

    This song could very well fit the experience of the left behind spouse of a woman in midlife crisis. The feelings of betrayal and lack of control and complete devastation along with the loss of the familty unit.

  3. anonymous
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     Feb 19th 2011 !⃝

    No it's not.

    (Talk about reading waaaaay to much into a song! lol)


    Agree with themes explained in earlier posts. About some guy whose life seems to be falling apart around him.
    "[This is going wrong....and [that's] going wrong...." and life's becoming a metaphoric runaway train. Instead of accepting resposibility or attempting to do something about it, he's looking for someone (the colloquial "Charlie")to blame the whole mess on. In the end he ends up blaming God for all his woes.

  4. anonymous
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     Oct 7th 2010 !⃝

    The song begins with the writer referring to a “shuffling madness” which is easy enough to comprehend - but who’s madness is the bigger question. Once the song becomes more apparent, we learn it belongs to God. The “locomotive breath” (mentioned only once in the entire song) is in fact the Crucifixion of Christ. God’s shuffling madness - an oxymoron.

    Ian Anderson, with his effortless, blaspheming ways describes Christ being betrayed, abused and tortured to death by everyone, including His father, God. Christ, who introduced the world to grace, spirituality, and eternal life, was crucified for his kindness and goodness. The writer refers to this most unfortunate man as the “All Time Loser”.
    As Christ carries His cross, he is “headlong to his death”. Being nailed to the cross, “He feels the pistons [or spikes] scraping” against His bone. Now on the cross, He feels His own hot blood (steam breaking on His brow) from the Crown of Thorns.
    The writer makes it very clear that Ol’ Charlie is calling the shots here. Later, he is referred to as the “All Time Winner”, and in the end - God. As Christ dies on the cross, the writer begins to imply that Christ has been forced to die for our sins by reporting God “stole” the only way to postpone (slow down), or stop His torture.

    Christ recalls His experience as He begins to die. “He see His children jumping off” refers to His disciple’s, who bailed on Him; through their interrogation processes, fear and humanness (stations), they denied Him “one-by-one”. He is devastated by His disciple’s lack of faith - It’s like His “woman and His best friend” stabbing you in the back! He sees Himself carrying His cross; “crawling down the corridors, on His hands and knees”.
    But God has big plans for his greatest creation (us), and knows what must take place tonight - that Christ must die, and ascend so we may have eternal life! So God does nothing. On the Cross, Christ is at the point of His human death as He “hears the silence howling”. His angels are fainting over grief and disbelief. As Christ begins to ascend, He can see them, and in true Christ style, spiritually “catches angels as they fall”. Now the writer innocently, implies that God has Christ right where He wants Him – but it’s not “by the balls” as written, Ian, but in Paradise.

    God’s plan worked out perfectly! In His pride God picks up a Gideon’s (Holy) Bible, and only has to open to page one to validate His greatness! He reads: God holds (stole) the handle! God calls the shots! And there’s nothing you, or any one thing, can do about it! Thanks Ian.

  5. anonymous
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     Jul 13th 2010 !⃝

    if you listen to the whole song aqualung it's about a man who is going crazy and is no homeless, locomotive breath is when he first starts going crazy after his wife cheated on him(his woman and his bestfriend), "his children jumping off the station one by one" i think refers to his wife giving birth, the train refers to his mental insanity"the train won't stop going no way to slow down"

    and if you look at the lyrics to aqualung it's about him as a pedophile hobo
    "Sitting on a park bench
    eyeing little girls with bad intent.
    Snot running down his nose
    greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes.
    Drying in the cold sun
    Watching as the frilly panties run.
    Feeling like a dead duck
    spitting out pieces of his broken luck."

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
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     Jul 28th 2008 !⃝

    Sort of on the right track above; about an "all-time loser", seems to be hard up on luck. But I think it leans more in the direction of this character looking for someone to blame.

    "Charlie" (I imagine) would be too modern a term for cocaine, which wasn't all that widely used at the time. It most certainly ISN'T in reference to VC! It can, though, be used in the slang sense of just meaning *someone*, as in "so-and-so" or "some bugger". In the context of the song, that's how I take it to mean.

    And that certainly fits with the last verse where he picks up the Bible and - "I think that God, he stole the handle...".

  7. anonymous
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     Mar 30th 2008 !⃝

    Why would Ian Anderson care about the stupid wars that the united states wages?

  8. anonymous
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     Feb 10th 2008 !⃝

    I think this song is about the Vietnam war. It's about a man at war in Vietnam, a war that can't be won, he's stuck in it, the all-time loser. Charlie is a term for the Vietcong, they've stolen the handle and the war can't be won. Meanwhile, back home, as he crawls across the jungle, his wife sleeps with his best friend, and his children jump off at the station, which may mean his children are protesters of the war and do not support the fighting soldiers. The all time winner is The US, and it has him by the balls, forcing him to fight in an unwinnable war. The soldier sees no end to the war, no way to slow the train, no way to stop his life from falling apart at home and overseas. I don't know, that is just my interpretation.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. anonymous
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     Sep 15th 2007 !⃝

    Old Charlie... Charles Darwin

  10. Sandra
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     Sep 1st 2006 !⃝

    I think the train is just a metaphor for life and in this song it’s the life of the “all-time loser”, who had nothing but bad luck in his life. He lost control over the train so it’s too fast and it will take him to his end. His children leave him and his wife’s sleeping with his best friend. There is no way to get out of this because “old charlie” has stolen the handle. That’s the most important part of the song, for it’s all “old charlie’s” fault that he lost control over his life. The name ‘charlie’ is used for cocaine, so that’s his problem: drugs.

    This part is not very difficult to figure out. But it takes a lot more imagination to find out who’s the “all-time winner” who has “got him by the balls”.
    In my opinion it’s god, for during his last moments he gives him a sermon, which he definitely doesn’t want to hear (for they sing “thank god he stole the handle”). But of course it can be anybody whom he dislikes and who just came at the height of his misery to say: “i told you so.”

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