"Ring Out, Solstice Bells," Jethro Tull
Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin said it for all time . . . sooner or later, everyone wants to make a Christmas record. Even Jethro Tull leader Ian Anderson.
Anderson wrote the Tull song "Ring Out, Solstice Bells for 1977's Songs From the Wood, the first of three successive Jethro Tull albums that emphasized the band's English folk roots in a stylistic lean toward bands such as Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. "Ring Out, Solstice Bells," a song about the start of winter on December 21 that invokes Christmas music, was issued as the dominant track of an EP ahead of Songs From the Wood's February 1977 release. The song is interesting for being written and recorded in a 7/4 time signature. It reached number 28 on the British pop chart.
This clip, my Christmas Music Video Of the Week, is a video of the 1976 Jethro Tull lineup - Anderson, Martin Barre on guitar, John Glascock on bass, John Evan on keyboards and Barriemore Barlow on drums - presenting "Ring Out, Solstice Bells" on the BBC pop show "Top of the Pops" on December 9, 1976. Enjoy.
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