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