Jethro Tull Release New Animated Music Video for ‘Aqualung’

Jethro Tull has released a new animated video for their 1971 classic, “Aqualung.”

The video was directed by Sam Chegini and begins with the famous illustration of the old man on the Aqualung album cover before expanding into a stark and often devastating meditation on homelessness, from those living on city streets to refugees displaced around the world. Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson also makes a cameo in the clip, appearing via the rotoscope animation effect.

“At the suggestion of my pal, Jakko Jaksyzk of King Crimson, I contacted a young Iranian videographer/director, Sam Chegini,” Anderson says of the video. “He delivered a unique rendition of the ‘Aqualung’ song with abstract and documentary-type footage. A talented young man with a bright future in the music arts.”

Earlier in March, Jethro Tull celebrated the 50th anniversary of Aqualung with a special livestream event during which Anderson walked through the entire album track-by-track. This year, Jethro Tull are also celebrating the 40th anniversary of their album A, with a three-CD, three-DVD box set that’s set to arrive April 16th.

Capping it all off, Anderson is prepping a new book, Silent Singing, which will compile all his lyrics from 1968’s This Was to Jethro Tull’s as-yet-unreleased new album, The Zealot Gene. The book is set to arrive in June, although a release date for the album has yet to be announced. The Zealot Gene marks Tull’s first album in nearly 20 years, their last being a Christmas album that arrived in 2003.