I posted a song from Face Dances a little while ago and Deke brought up a song on that album called The Quiet One. I really like that song also. It was written by who I think was the best bass player in rock ever…John Entwistle.
When I bought the album this is one of the songs I zeroed in on. I’ve always liked John’s writing that got overshadowed by Pete. John had had some black humor and wit in his songs.
This song was the B side to the hit You Better You Bet released in 1981. On their farewell tour in 1982 he replaced his older song “My Wife” with this one on stage. In the later tours, this song was never played again… “My Wife” was brought back.
John Entwistle: “It’s me trying to explain that I’m not really quiet. I started off being quiet and that’s the pigeon hole I’ve been stuck in all these years. It started when I heard Kenney playing a drum riff and I thought ‘that would be really great for a song and give Kenney a chance to play that on stage.’ So I got Kenney to put down about three minutes of that and I worked along with it and came up with the chorus of ‘The Quiet One.’ I wrote ‘Quiet One’ especially to replace ‘My Wife’ onstage. I had gotten tired of singing that and ‘Boris the Spider.'”
The Quiet One
Everybody calls me the quiet one
You can see but you can’t hear me
Everybody calls me the quiet one
You can try but you can’t get near me
I ain’t never had the gift of gab
But I can’t talk with my eyes
When words fail me you won’t nail me
My eyes can tell you lies
Still waters run deep so be careful I don’t drown you
You’ve got nothing to hear I’ve got nothing to say
Sticks and stones may break your bones
But names can never down you
It only takes two words to blow you away
Everybody calls me the quiet one
But you just don’t understand
You can’t listen you won’t hear me
With your head stuck in the sand
I ain’t never had time for words that don’t rhyme
My headd is in a cloud
I ain’t quiet – everybody else is too loud
Still waters run deep so be careful I don’t drown you
You’ve got nothing to hear I’ve got nothing to say
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But names can never down you
It only takes two words to blow you away.
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Thanks Pal for the shout out!
This is such a killer track and I love the fact on the live version it shows you the power of The Who. That Toronto vid you posted is killer. Love Pete with that 1982 hair do…
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No problem Deke… he had a powerful voice and if it wasn’t for being in the same band as Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey he would have been a little more known.
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Ox always wrote some great rock tracks. My Wife is another great one.
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My Wife is probably my all time favorite by him….it’s funny as hell also.
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The lyrics are hilarious and true! lol
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Great tune and The Ox forever!
I feel fortunate to have seen the man once, an experience I will never forget. He was just a beast of a bass player – and nearly motionless on stage while playing the craziest bass runs! Meanwhile, Pete was windmilling like a crazy man, while Roger engaged in wild microphone acrobatics. It was almost surreal!
Sadly, that show at New York’s Madison Square Garden was during John’s final tour with The Who. Six months later or so, he passed away in Vegas.
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That must have been shocking for the band when John Entwistle died in a hotel room in Las Vegas in 2002 before the band was scheduled to begin an extensive North American Tour.
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Yes and No…they knew he was in bad shape and my guess knew about his drug habit…bad heart + cocaine + stripper…probably not good combinations.
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a new one to me, but outside of singles, most Who tunes are… I heard “You better, You Bet” on radio while driving this week…. not one you oft-hear unless you’re cuing up The Who on your own playlist I guess.
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This one I gravitated to when I got the album becasue it was John…and I’m a huge fan of his stuff. He was a good songwriter but being in a band with Pete….it’s hard to get noticed.
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When I was at university I bought Quadrophenia from a second hand CD store. When I got home I showed my sister and she told me that one of the members had just died in a Las Vegas hotel room.
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Yea that was bad and should have been avoided. How he passed the insurance part of the tour is beyond me…a bad heart, cocaine, and a stripper is not the breakfast of champions.
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I can see why he would be tired of My Wife and Boris the Spider. Something different.
Roger was bouncing around. Does he play an instrument…ever?
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Yes…Eminence Front he plays guitar
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Entwistle could have had a solid rock career on his own.
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I love how they jump right into this one. Rocks hard.
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His voice on this one is pure rock and roll.
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