Who – The Seeker

People tend to hate me
Coz I never smile
As I ransack their homes
They wanna’ shake my hand

Good Who song that was not as well known as some of their others. In 1999 it was featured in the movie “The Limey”. This was The Who’s first single released after Tommy. I first heard it in the early 80s and it helped me become a huge Who fan. 

Like most of Townshend’s songs around this time it was influenced by spiritual teachings and figures such as Meher Baba. It was recorded at IBC Studios in London during the sessions for Who’s Next but wasn’t included on that album. It’s been covered by Rush, The Smithereens, Joe Lynn Turner, Leslie West, and Nick Piunti.

The song was released as a single only at the time. After that, it was on the great album Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy released in 1971.  It’s one of my favorite compilation albums. That album introduced me to pre-Who’s Next music. This one has a raw power to it and it’s pushed by Pete’s riff and Keith Moon driving the song along.

In 1970 The Seeker peaked at #44 in the Billboard 100, #19 in the UK and #21 in Canada.

Pete Townshend: “It sounded great in the mosquito-ridden swamp I made it up in – Florida at three in the morning, drunk out of my mind. But that’s where the trouble always starts, in the swamp.”

The Seeker

I’ve looked under chairs
I’ve looked under tables
I’ve tried to find the key
To fifty million fables

They call me The Seeker
I’ve been searchin’ low and high
I won’t get to get what I’m after
Till the day I die

I asked Bobby Dylan
I asked the Beatles
I asked Timothy Leary
But he couldn’t help me either

They call me The Seeker
I’ve been searchin’ low and high
I won’t get to get what I’m after
Till the day I die

People tend to hate me
Coz I never smile
As I ransack their homes
They wanna’ shake my hand

Focusing on nowhere
Investigating miles
I’m a seeker
I’m a really desperate man

I wont get to get what I’m after
Till the day I die

I learned how to raise my voice in anger
Yeah but look at my face ain’t this a smile

I’m happy when life’s good and when its bad I cry
I got values but I don’t know how or why

I’m lookin’ for me
You’re lookin’ for you
Were lookin’ at each other and we don’t know what to do

They call me The Seeker
I been searchin’ low and high
I wont get to get what I’m after
Till the day I die

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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.

36 thoughts on “Who – The Seeker”

      1. You’re the man…I’m freelancing with a media company out of Maryland now helping out with news (with the promise that I’ll be writing about Maryland sports there in the spring) stories which means that I have to watch hours upon hours of the state’s assembly meetings (House & Senate) before I can start writing political stories. So, I’m inundated myself…keep up the high quality stuff!

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  5. interesting back story on what Pete was thinking and how that Baba and his teachings probably inspired it. I guess I’ve heard it a couple of times but I don’t remember ever hearing it back then, surprised it was a single and charted… at least in the ’70s I’d occasionally hear old ones by them like ‘I Can See For Miles’ or ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ or ‘Tommy’ itself but not this one. Yet another credit for Nicky Hopkins eh? Man, he played on a lot of impressive records!

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    1. Yea this was the theme song for a movie called The Limey. It reintroduced people to this period. This is the period they did a lot of singles like this one, Join Together, and Long Live Rock.

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  6. when I first heard the Seeker was as a youth listening to a late night show on an Edmonton FM station back whan AM as still king here in the boonies….it was late Friday night on a show that I think was called something like the Midnight Special (yes like the TV show) that night I was introduced to Savoy Brown’s Boogie Brothers album, and Dioato…and I dn’t know if it was the same evening, but that show floored me with a Jimi Hendrix instrumental (beginnings)…but the Seeker was a good introduction beyond what I was already familar with from the Who….

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  7. First off. I’m not asking Tim Leary shit about anything. Im with the Who on that one. Heard the song a zillion times but have never caught the video. Love Pete’s work in this one. Every time you post a Who thing it always reminds me of how much I like their music. I was thinking of them yesterday when I was finishing up my latest take. How much they influenced certain bands with their raw energy and how well they could play. Good way to start the day. Later, off seeking some answers and maybe a little Big Foot hunting on the side.

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    1. When I think of bands they influenced…the very first band to come to my mind is The Jam for some reason.
      Oh I love that video…that close up feeling.

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      1. Im humbled (A hard thing to happen). That is so cool and thought full. We never know how we effect people. Nice when it’s in a positive creative way. Someday i will let you in on the Babyhead genesis and the photo. Thank you Lisa

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  10. Very good song that I first heard on the Meaty, Beaty etc. compilation too . I think that is the best original collection of their early singles. Of course there have been so many released since, they mostly overlap. I’ve never seen that video. Nice document of that time frame. What trouble is Pete referring to?? Never mind, maybe it’s better not knowing.

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    1. Graham…there is a newer band…for me anyway…that started in 2010 called The Cults…I was wondering if you heard anything by them like “Go Outside”? Just curious

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