The name of an album by the British rock group
Jethro Tull, and also the name of the only song on that album. Released in 1973, A Passion Play was (according to
j-tull.com) the last of Tull's albums to reach
#1 in US charts. The song itself is approximately 45 minutes long, and contains a wide variety of
very odd music. The lyrics (as you shall see) are chock full of
Christian references. This makes sense, because a
Passion Play is a play depicting the
Crucifixion of
Christ, the name of which is in turn taken from the
Passion of
Christ, a which refers to the time between
Christ's
Last Supper and his
Crucifixion (See
Webster 1913's definition of
Passion). The lyrics describe the
death of a man, his travel to the
afterlife, and his eventual
rebirth. Most outside sources seem to agree that the man is named
Billy Pilgrim, although I am rather unclear as to
why. It is a possible reference to the main character of
Slaughterhouse Five, a book by
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., which was published only a few years before A Passion Play.
You will also notice that the word 'ever' is used to modify an adjective
many many times in the lyrics. There's 'Ever-passion Play', 'ever-smile', 'ever-dying sign', 'ever-burning fire', 'ever-door', 'ever-life', 'ever-day' and 'Ever-passion Play' once more. I don't know why they do it. I just think it's pretty neat.
(Lyrics removed for copyright reasons. -Ed.)
If you want an annotated version of the lyrics (as opposed to this Everytingated version), head over to http://www.elfhill.com/leighann/pplay.html