Who – Substitute

I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south

America missed out on The Who’s great early singles. Some didn’t hear their 60’s singles until after they hit with Tommy and released Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy in 1971. It’s one of my favorite compilation albums. This one has a raw power to it and it’s pushed by John Entwistle and Keith Moon driving the song along.

Great song by The Who. The song peaked at #5 in the UK charts in 1966. The twelve-string guitar opening riff kicks into one of The Who’s best singles. This was a flop in the US, partly because it wasn’t promoted well. It was the only Who song released on Atco Records.

Townshend’s favorite song at the time was “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. Townshend loved the way Smokey sang the word “substitute” so perfectly “Although she may be cute she’s just a substitute ‘Cause you’re the permanent one” that he decided to celebrate the word with a song all its own. The song was also influenced by 19th Nervous Breakdown by the Rolling Stones. Townshend admitted to getting the riff from that song. Townshend also got his trademark windmill from watching Keith Richards warm up with his arms going above his head.

This was the first single The Who released after breaking their contract with their manager and producer, Shel Talmy. As part of the deal, Talmy got royalties from this and the other Who records over the next 5 years, which turned out to be albums that old-time producer Shel Talmy would never have produced. The albums were Tommy, Who’s Next, and  Quadrophenia.

After listening to a recording of the song, Keith Moon began to become paranoid, insisting that it wasn’t him drumming and that the band had gone behind his back and gotten another drummer. John Entwistle refuted this paranoia as ridiculous – he could hear Keith screaming on the recording as he did a difficult fill.

Substitute

You think we look pretty good together
You think my shoes are made of leather

But I’m a substitute for another guy
I look pretty tall but my heels are high
The simple things you see are all complicated
I look pretty young, but I’m just back-dated, yeah

(Substitute) your lies for fact
(Substitute) I can see right through your plastic mac
(Substitute) I look all white, but my dad was black
(Substitute) my fine linen suit is really made out of sack

I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south
And now you dare to look me in the eye
Those crocodile tears are what you cry
It’s a genuine problem, you won’t try
To work it out at all you just pass it by, pass it by

(Substitute) me for him
(Substitute) my coke for gin
(Substitute) you for my mum
(Substitute) at least I’ll get my washing done

I’m a substitute for another guy
I look pretty tall but my heels are high
The simple things you see are all complicated
I look pretty young, but I’m just back-dated, yeah

I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south
And now you dare to look me in the eye
Those crocodile tears are what you cry
It’s a genuine problem, you won’t try
To work it out at all you just pass it by, pass it by

(Substitute) me for him
(Substitute) my coke for gin
(Substitute) you for my mum
(Substitute) at least I’ll get my washing done

(Substitute) your lies for fact
(Substitute) I can see right through your plastic mac
(Substitute) I look all white, but my dad was black
(Substitute) My fine-looking suit is really made out of sack

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, 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. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

38 thoughts on “Who – Substitute”

  5. Easily one of my favorite early Who tunes! I had not heard about Mooney going looney over that song. I guess he truly was a special character! If I’m not not mistaken the dude manning the skins in the second clip looks like Moon, or did they use a doppelganger substitute?

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      2. They were all fighting at this time with each other…and even kicked Roger out for a little while because he would/could beat the others ones up lol.
        The drugs and drink probably made him paranoid…like any other drummer would have sounded like him.

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  6. Pre-Tommy Who were awesome. Hard to believe this didn’t chart in any country it was released. I haven’t seen any polls or anything, but surely this must rank in the Top 50, maybe less, iconic rock songs of all time?

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  8. Townshend said that “Substitute” was meant as a parody on “19th Nervous Breakdown,” he even tried to sing like Jagger on a demo version. But the song was more than just a copy in every way.

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  10. There are a number of bands who are really celebrated here in the UK who I think never really fully translated beyond these shores: The Kinks, The Jam, The Pistols, Blur, and probably a few others including Oasis and The Who. There is something very British in their music and lyrics that doesn’t quite have the same resonance in other countries. Strange, as other Brit bands have really made it abroad, like the Beatles, Stones, Clash. I’d love to hear your view on why that is? Cheers!

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    1. Another band would be Slade and T-Rex…why they didn’t make it over here I don’t know. I’ve heard that “Too British” a lot and just don’t understand it. Bruce Springsteen is Too American but he is big over there.
      The Who probably made it better than the rest of the ones you mentioned…from Tommy on they were big. It’s pre-Tommy where they get lost in the shuffle.

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    2. I’ll dive in if I may Max; Yes, Kevin, there is a Britishness that comes through on, to my ear, especially early Who, Kinks all eras and the Jam all eras too. ‘Magic Bus’- ‘You’ll be an Inspector, have no fear,’
      Kinks ‘Dedicated Follower Of Fashion’ ‘When he pulls his frilly nylon panties up he feels a dedicated follower of fashion’ The Jam- damn near every line in ‘Thats Entertainment.’ Those three really sound so Brit. I wonder if it was an unintentional American backlash from the earlier British Invasion?
      (Sorry Max- I’ll go sit in the corner quietly now before I get a detention.)

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      2. Thanks for your contribution! What I find strange is that we Brits love, as Max says, Springsteen because he is so typically American, similarly REM and all the NYC bands like the Ramones and Talking Heads. That’s something we just don’t have. So why doesn’t it work the other way with The Jam and, as Max says, T. Rex?

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      3. I would love to know myself. I should have added The Jam. The Beatles and Stones…I think the big difference with them including Zeppelin is that they sounded American with their singing….Personally…you cannot get too British for me Kevin.
        It also extends to TV Shows. Life On Mars…one of the best shows I’ve ever watched…The BBC version of course…but America just had to make their own…they should have just showed the John Simm show over here.

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  11. Great early Who song- the early stuff is by far my preference for their work. By the mid 70s I lost interest. The early simple stuff works though. ‘I’m A Boy’ ‘Magic Bus’ ‘I Can See For Miles’ etc.

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  12. I had no idea this song didn’t chart in the US. I’ve heard it since I was little, so I know the college towns played it. The lyrics are brilliant, imo. They’ve always pulled me in from the first line.

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  13. I love the early Who: this, I’m a Boy, I Can See for Miles, Pictures of Lily, My Generation of course… But I can see why they became big in the US when they beefed up their sound in the early 70s. Those songs are good, but they don’t do it for me as much.

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  14. Max this may be the first “non airplay” Who tune I ever heard. It was on a compilation of some kind that I think the husband of the woman I used to babysit for had (the one with the fabulous record collection.) I’ve always loved this song. Do you think it was drugs or mental illness that made Keith paranoid?

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    1. This comment is what I love about music and memory- it highlights moments of the past. Without the song making its mark I suspect Lisa probably would have forgotten the whole Baby Sitters Drudgery long ago?

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      1. I didn’t consider that babysitting job drudgery at all. It got me away from my horrific household situation, the kids I watched were outside all of the time except for meals, and I had a kickass stereo system, a bunch of kickass albums, and a superior set of headphones to listen to them with.

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    2. He was only around 20… so I would guess Purple Hearts or other speed most of them (except Roger) were taking at this time.
      You can even hear him scream something when he hit a drum in the song that was picked up.

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  15. I’m also team-60s for The Who, that was the classic era, and this was a great single, and a top 10 UK hit all over again in late 1976 just as Punk was about to break through – and bands like The Jam were about to wear that Mod-era badge proudly.

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    1. They did evolve into something else after those early singles. They helped invent Arena Rock with Who’s Next….but yea I love these early singles.

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    1. That is really cool Jeff. I’ve heard from many people who never heard them until…I Can See For Miles and My Generation. When Tommy came out of course it bust opened. Thanks for sharing that. At least they got some airplay even if the early ones didn’t chart.

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