The Who – Boris The Spider

This was Jimi Hendrix’s favorite song of The Who…which didn’t amuse Pete.

This was the first Who song written by bass player, John Entwistle. Pete Townshend asked him to write a song for their second album…A Quick One. A common story about the song is that “Boris the Spider” was written after John had been out drinking with Bill Wyman. They were making up funny names for animals when Entwistle came up with Boris the Spider.

The song became a huge concert favorite because it was so fun and offset many of their more serious songs. Also, the popularity of the song eventually wore off on Entwistle himself, and he began ritualistically wearing a spider medallion on stage.

Pete Townshend had this to say about the song: Politics or my own shaky vanity might be the reason, but ‘Boris The Spider’ was never released as a single and should have been a hit. It was the most-requested song we ever played on stage, and if this really means anything to you guitar players, it was Hendrix’s favorite Who song. Which rubbed me up well the wrong way, I can tell you. John introduced us to ‘Boris’ in much the same way as I introduced us to our ‘Generation;’ through a tape recorder. We assembled in John’s three by ten-foot bedroom and listened incredulously as the strange and haunting chords emerged. Laced with words about the slightly gruesome death of a spider, the song had enough charm to send me back to my pad writing hits furiously.”

From Songfacts

Entwistle was afraid of spiders as a kid. He wrote this about seeing a spider crawling from the ceiling and squishing it.

Entwistle wrote this as a joke, but it became a concert favorite. It is a fun song that offset many of the more serious Who songs.

This was the only song from the album that they continued to play live.

In the UK, the album was called A Quick One. It was changed to Happy Jack in the US to avoid being offensive.

After he wrote this, Entwistle started wearing a spider medallion at concerts.

Boris The Spider

Look, he’s crawling up my wall
Black and hairy, very small
Now he’s up above my head
Hanging by a little thread

Boris the spider
Boris the spider

Now he’s dropped on to the floor
Heading for the bedroom door
Maybe he’s as scared as me
Where’s he gone now, I can’t see

Boris the spider
Boris the spider

Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly

There he is wrapped in a ball
Doesn’t seem to move at all
Perhaps he’s dead, I’ll just make sure
Pick this book up off the floor

Boris the spider
Boris the spider

Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly

He’s come to a sticky end
Don’t think he will ever mend
Never more will he crawl ’round
He’s embedded in the ground

Boris the spider
Boris the spider

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

31 thoughts on “The Who – Boris The Spider”

    1. Yea that was Hendrix poking at Townshend I’m sure…it is funny. That caught me off guard…Townshend was right though…it should have been a single.

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      1. NO. Never. I had no idea this song existed. But, I did enjoy watching Entwistle work that bass, tho. He plays it like a harp.

        While I was listening, I was picturing the spider…🕷🕸

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      2. Pete pressured John into writing soemthing and he had no clue what to write so out it came.
        He ended up writing some cool songs. Everyone loved this one.

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      1. Really?!? Was it you who posted something about LedZep being into the occult? When you call in the darkness don’t be surprised when you’re followed by a dark cloud…

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      2. Jimmy Page was yes. He even bought Aleister Crowley’s mansion and artifacts.
        I’m doing a book review on it this weekend. Plant and Jones were nice guys…Bonham was when he wasn’t drunk…when he was he was a terror…Not a Moon type fun guy but a beast…that was his nickname…The Beast.

        They were great musicians though.

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      3. Makes you wonder if Jimmy did one of those Robert Johnson deals… Nothing earthly could ever be worth the price! I remember the symbols they used on the Zoso album meant something… Plant seemed like a laid back hippy type.

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      4. That has been the rumor about him. Yea that is what Plant was…a hippy type. After all of that stuff happened to him though I think he thought of karma…starting in 75…car wreck nearly killing his wife and put him in a wheel chair for months…then in 77 his young son dying while Plant was on tour…then his best friend Bonham dying in 80…. I think there is a reason Plant refused to reunite and tour.

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      9. Whatever he was talking to has to be…him and Kenneth Anger…
        Every time I start reading I’m interrupted. I had planned on a Saturday…I cant have any distractions reading it…that is why I haven’t “liked it”…I wouldn’t know which ones.

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      11. Trying to read your Chris Thomas posts…I wandered off again?
        Kenneth Anger he was trying to make a film in the seventies called Lucifer Rising…Page was doing the score but then he dropped out.

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      12. 🤣 I swear. You crack me up. Do I need to organize a search party? 😆

        I was wondering who Kenneth Anger was. I had to read up on the Lucifer Rising mess. Geez…

        Lucifer…now that is another piece of nonsense. Talk about convoluted writings, mistranslations & misunderstandings. 🙄

        Honey, I have been working with the CT material for six years, now. It is very intense and will rock your world. And, you have to WANT to read it. You can’t force yourself to get it. I was seeking answers to many things so I had a natural hunger for it. And, it is not of the new-agey, wishy-washy stuff. Chris had a sharp scientific mind and his stuff reads more like a technical manual than an intriguing story. He can get wonky, esp. in his three healing books.

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      13. Yes because I’m permanently lost.

        I was going to say it does read like a “how to put this stereo together” manual. The thing is you can’t be rushed. I tried that and it doesn’t work.

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      16. The same race that has been responsible for ALL channeling that has taken place over the last 20 years and, quite a bit of channeled info prior to that…the Velon. There are six distinct groups (or factions) of them…Mila, Oa, Johnaan, Jjundaa, Hathor and, the most notorious…the Annunaki of Ancient Aliens fame. Troublemakers that will tell you anything you want to hear if you have psi abilities.

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      17. It’s some bad stuff. Basically drink and be merry.
        Inscribed on Led Zeppelin III near the label… ““So Mote Be It”” and “Do What Thou Wilt”

        Crowley’s verbiage.

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      18. Well, there is nothing wrong with being merry…or drinking. Anything can be warped out of shape and overdone. People who take things to extremes in any given category are merely trying to free themselves from trauma in this life or a past one. Crowley’s open-mindedness wasn’t the problem. The entities he was talking to, were. Talk about misleading & purposeful obfuscation.

        The Velon parked their butts outside of our solar system about 250 years ago, roughly. Chris had an extremely difficult time getting information on them because they knew what he was doing and attacked him, psychically, non-stop. They studied us…and all of our religions. They thought for sure that we would kill each other off and they would claim Earth. So, far we haven’t managed to do that…yet.

        Most of the Velon left when they discovered that Earth was inhabited. But, a few remained as, honestly, they had nowhere else to go. Their solar system was dying and they actually brought along their solar system consciousness and…a planet consciousness. Yes. I know. That sounds totally crazy but, if you think in terms of everything being conscious on some level… Our Earth is a consciousness.

        Anyway, one of the things the Velon picked up on was the Lucifer thing from our religions. Lucifer and/or Satan from religious teachings doesn’t actually exist. ‘Lucifer’ is a mistranslation between Greek & Latin, of the word phosphorus. ‘Satan’ is actually the title of an inquisitor that was part of the religious sect that Jesus, his parents, his brothers and Magdalene belonged to. ‘Satan’ was the person tasked with making sure the people were adhering to their rules. And, Archangels are also titles in the same sect. ‘Angel’ means messenger. ‘Archangels’ are chief messengers. NONE of them are beings with wings, playing harps. Everything has been distorted over time…and the Velon took advantage.

        Imagine, if you will (using Rod Serling’s voice), a solar system-sized entity taking over a human body (most of that energy would never fit but, work with me) and having the power to do many things ordinary humans couldn’t do. And, imagine if that entity took over the Illuminati at its inception…and called himself Lucifer. He…IT would be considered a GOD and people would do its bidding.

        He was banished later on (betrayed by his own kind) and, the vacuum left behind was filled in with the rich & powerful, operating in a framework already established. That us where we are, now.

        The Velon have been banished by all in the Universe for multiple free will/free choice violations but, unfortunately, there are enough dumb ass humans that want them to stay.

        I will stop here as your brain may need a rest. 😳🤪🤯

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