I felt like a pickled priest
Who was being flambed
No one writes like Pete Townshend…bless him. I’ve come to really like Eminence Front but when this album came out, this is the song that I drawn to at first.
The song was written about actress Theresa Russell who Pete had a crush on that the time. He did a demo at the time called “Teresa for the Face Dances Album. She was then going with Nic Roeg. By the time The Who came to record the song for It’s Hard, Teresa Russell had wed Nic Roeg. The guitarist was nervous about publicly naming his crush so he renamed it “Athena.” What Pete’s then-wife Karen Astley felt about this we don’t know.
The song reached #28 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, and #40 in the UK in 1982.
Roger Daltrey felt that concealing the subject of the song’s true identity was a mistake. “Pete was talking to me about Nick Roeg’s girlfriend and how he fancied her, and that song was written about her – but then it changed into ‘She’s a bomb’.
Roger Daltrey: I’ve got a psychological problem with it,” “It’s a great record; there’s so much energy on that thing, but I still don’t think there’s a center to that song. The fact that he changed the title in that and didn’t stick to what it was supposed to be lost its center to me.”
Pete Townshend: The song was written after I had been to see The Wall with my friend Bill Minkin and the actress Theresa Russell who was about to marry the film director Nic Roeg with whom I hoped to work on a new version of Lifehouse. I got drunk as usual, but I had taken my first line of cocaine that very evening before meeting her and decided I was in love. When I came to do the vocal on the following day I was really out of my mind with frustration and grief because she didn’t reciprocate
From Songfacts
Pete Townshend wrote this song the day after he was knocked back by American actress Theresa Russell.
The guitarist told TheWho.net how he went to see The Wall with his friend Bill Minkin and Russell. (The actress was engaged to the film director Nic Roeg with whom he was planning to work on a new version of Lifehouse.) “I got drunk as usual, but I had taken my first line of cocaine that very evening before meeting her and decided I was in love,” Townshend explained. “When I came to do the vocal on the following day [February 15, 1980] I was really out of my mind with frustration and grief because she didn’t reciprocate.”
Teresa Demo
Athena
I had no idea how much I need her
In peaceful times I hold her close and I feed her
My heart starts palpitating
When I think my guess was wrong
But I think I’ll get alone
She’s just a girl
She’s a bomb
Athena
All I ever want to do is please her
My life has been so settled
And she’s the reason
Just one word from her
And my troubles are long gone
But I think I’ll get along
She’s just a girl
She’s a bomb
She’s a bomb
Just a girl, just a girl
Just a girl, just a girl
Just a girl, just a girl
She’s just a girl
Athena
My heart felt like a shattered glass in an acid bath
I felt like one of those flattened ants
You find on a crazy path
I’d have stopped myself to give her time
She didn’t need to ask
Was I a suicidal psychopath
She’s just a girl
She’s a bomb
She’s just a girl
She’s a bomb
Consumed
There was a beautiful white horse
I saw on a dream stage
He had a snake the size of a sewer pipe
Livin’ in his rib cage
I felt like a pickled priest
Who was being flambed
You’ve got me requisitioned blondie
She’s just a girl
She’s a bomb
I’m happy
She’s a bomb
I’m ecstatic
Just a girl, just a girl
Just a girl, just a girl
Just a girl, just a girl
Just a girl
Look into the face of a child
Measure how long you smiled
Before the mem’ry claimed
How long would children remain
How long could children remain
Athena
You picked me up by my lapels
And screamed “leave her”
I felt like waking up in heaven
On an empty meter
And now you’re stuck
With a castrated leader
And I hate the creep
I didn’t mean that
She’s a bomb
I just said it
She’s a bomb
Please She’s a bomb
Athena
I had no idea how much I need her
My life has been so settled
And she’s the reason
Just one word from her
And my troubles are long gone
Ooh but I get along
She’s just a girl
She’s a bomb
She’s just a girl
She’s a bomb
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I’d forgotten this song. I like it, one of the more commercial of theirs, but I don’t think that’s a terrible thing.
Good track. Did they even play this on their first Farewell Tour back in 82? lol. If I ever come across this album cheap I would pick it up.
I’ve seen a few live versisons on youtube but they didn’t play it the two times I saw them.
They probably plugged it when it was a single than when it slid off the charts but probably went Meh! lol
I saw them on the Its Hard tour when Athena was a current hit, but they did not play it. No one seemed disappointed.
Athena goes from being a bomb, to just a girl, to a creep in this song, and I guess that is what love does to all of us when we get rejected.
I remember this one but never took a close look at it before. Good feature for today.
I always liked this song too, though I prefer Eminence Front. Eminence Front has that great soulful, R&B vibe that I just love.
I see where Daltrey’s coming from with his criticism, but I thing the Just a girl, Just a girl bridge, chorus, whatever it is, is brilliant. It just cuts through so pure and easy, like the song Pure and Easy which, consequently, I love.
I can understand why he changed it considering the circumstances. Pete’s writing is unique to say the least. The one crazy thing I noticed is his use of the word “sewer” in this and Who Are You…within a few years of each other.
I like Pure and Easy also.
His writing is unique and brilliant. He writes with sharp elbows, the same way I use to play basketball. Ha!
Good one Pam.
I can understand why. I’ve seen Black Widow, Physical Evidence and Impulse. Theresa is/was a stunning woman. I found her fascinating.
As soon as I read her name, I knew exactly who Pete was in a tremble over.
He devotes quite a few pages toward that deal in his book. You can tell he still regrets it didn’t work out.
I’d heard Athena, before but, it has been YEARS. I remember liking it. Thanks for the re-visit. I’m not fond of Townsend’s version. I guess it’s because I actually prefer Daltrey’s voice and the previous/original music mix.
This is one of those songs that have not been chewed up by classic radio… Yea I do like the song because it’s still fresh.
Good point. “Chewed up by classic radio…” I gotta remember that line.
Well thank you Vic…everytime you do think of me and …. I expect a 50 cent royalty to come rolling in lol.
LOL! The proverbial check is in the proverbial mail!
Hey…dammit Vic…my comments on other sites are going to the spam filter again I think. I’m going to comment on yours really quick…lets see what happens.
I typed the comment with your flower picture post
I got it…just now. I’ve been busy cooking. Your comment didn’t got into my SPAM folder. I was just doing other things.
Dude. You have to check this blog out:
https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/16994924
OMG.
It looks really cool…I’ll check it out tomorrow…thanks…I will go through it. I’ve bookmarked it
Interesting bit of trivia about the inspiration.
He devoted a lot of space to it in his book. I’d forgotten about it.
Pete Townshend undoubtedly has a gift for writing catchy songs and this is one of them. Though I would say the crown jewel on that album is the epic “Eminence Front”!
Yes that one is the better song on this album…no argument with that…this one is more accessible I think right away…It’s Hard to me was one of their weakest albums but it did have a few good songs.
On Neil Young’s liner notes for Decade, he said his wife wasn’t thrilled about ‘Cinnamon Girl’.
Yea I can see that. I know mine would frown on it to say the least.
My younger daughter’s name means cinnamon, so I would claim it was about her.
That is one way out! Ironclad alibi
Not the best who album, but this song is pretty good.
I like the parts of it that sound like their earlier stuff (‘she’s a girl’) but find the sort of up down of it a bit much. I love Eminence Front, though!
‘Pickled’ is Southern English slang for ‘drunk’. Very drunk.
Crazy path probably refers to crazy paving (in other words, fragmented, mixed up):
https://www.blockpavinganddriveways.co.uk/crazy-paving/
Oh cool…I like those driveways. I had never heard of them.
It’s not the best song but I liked it right off the bat…it didn’t stick as long as the others. Over all though I didn’t like the album as much.
Of coarse I lime this. Im a Who fan