Locomotive Breath

Anderson said the song was about the runaway train of population growth and capitalism. The rhythm was designed to chug like a train. The band could not make it work playing together, so it was assembled by overdubbing. John Evan recorded the piano intro, Anderson clicked two drum sticks and played hi-hat and bass drum, Clive Bunker then added toms and cymbals, and Anderson put on the rhythm guitar. Martin Barre played electric guitar and Jeffrey Hammond bass.

A censored edit was released as a US single in 1971 with "Wind-Up" on the B-side and did not chart. A 1976 reissue backed with "Fat Man" reached 59 on the Billboard chart and 85 in Canada. Ultimate Classic Rock named it Tull's third best song and Rock - Das Gesamtwerk ranked it fourth.

Live

It has been the band's live encore since 1972 and sometimes ran into the finale of Pomp and Circumstance. setlist.fm lists it as the most played Tull song, at 2,067 performances.