Tag: The Who

Pete Townshend – Face the Face

Pete Townshend will always be best known as the guitarist and songwriter for The Who, but he has made some great solo music as well. This song is one of my favorites. It came from his 1985 album White City: A Novel, which was a concept album about growing up in a working-class neighborhood in London and what happens to the people who live there. The song has a completely different feel from The Who’s music. It has a driving beat, a big brass section, and an almost danceable sound. When the video came out, it was hard to miss. Pete was running around the stage while the horns and backing musicians kept the whole thing moving.

The song was released as a single in 1985 and became one of Townshend’s best-known solo recordings. It features a cool horn arrangement and backing vocals, giving it a sound that was very much of the mid-eighties without losing Pete’s personality. He had been experimenting with synthesizers and electronic sounds for years. He brought them into The Who in a big way on the 1971 Who’s Next album. Here he mixed them with horns and a strong rock rhythm. The result is catchy, energetic, and a little different from what people expected from him.

What I like about this is that Pete didn’t simply try to make another Who song without Roger, John, and Keith/Kenney. He went in a different direction and made it work. The song has a great groove, and the horns make it stand out. Townshend’s solo work deserves attention. He was one of rock’s great songwriters, and songs like this show that he could step outside the band and still come up with something memorable.

The album peaked at #26 on the Billboard Album Charts, #10 in Canada, #20 in New Zealand, and #70 in the UK in 1985.

The song peaked at #26 on the Billboard 100, #17 in Canada, #11 in New Zealand, and #89 in the UK.

Face the Face

Face the face, got to face the face
Face the face, got to face the face

You must have heard the cautionary tales
The dangers hidden on the cul-de-sac trails
From wiser men who’ve been through it all
And the ghosts of failures spray-canned up on the wall

We’ve got to judge the judge
Got to find the finds
We’ve got to scheme the schemes
Have to line the lines
We must stake the stakes
And show the shown
We must take the takes
And know the known
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face.
We got to face the face
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face
Face the face, got to face the face.
Face the face, got to face the face.

Got to
Got to

You must have tried and defied belief
Maybe found futility in insular grief
I need your hunger you need mine
A million appetites can swallow up time.

We’ve got to fool the fools
We got to plan the plans
We got to rule the rules
We got to stand the stands
We got to fight the fight
We must fall the falls
We got to light the light
We got to call the calls
We must race the race
So we can face the face
We got to race the race
We must race the race
So we can face the face
Face the face
We got to face the face
We got to race the race
We got to

Keep looking…
New York! Chicago!
London and Glasgow!
Keep looking!

Keep on looking
Keep on cooking
Gotta stay on this case
Study the pix
Watch the flix
We’ve got to find the face.
Face the face ,got to face the face
Watch the flix
Got to

We’ve got to judge the judge
We got to find the finds
We’ve got to scheme the schemes
We got to line the lines
We got to fight the fight
We got to fall the falls
We got to light the light
We got to call the calls
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face.
We got to face the face…
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face.
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face.
Keep looking, keep looking
We must race the race
So we can face the face.
We got to race the race
We must race the race.
So we can face the face
We got to face the face
We got to race the race

Who – Quadrophenia …album review

I’ve always loved concept albums when they’re done right, and The Who’s Quadrophenia is one of the best. Released in 1973, it was their sixth studio album and their second full-scale rock opera after Tommy. Pete Townshend wrote the album around a young Mod named Jimmy, who is trying to figure out who he is and where he belongs in 1960s Britain. He has problems with his parents, his friends, his girlfriend, and just about everything else. The music captures all of that frustration perfectly. This is one of those albums I like to hear from beginning to end because the songs work together to tell the story.

One of the things I love most about Quadrophenia is how Townshend connected Jimmy’s four personalities to the four members of The Who. Each member has his own musical theme. Roger Daltrey represents the tough guy, John Entwistle the romantic, Keith Moon the lunatic, and Pete Townshend the troubled, introspective side. Those themes appear throughout the album and eventually come together in the instrumental Quadrophenia and again in The Rock. It’s a clever idea, and it gives the album something extra beyond just a collection of great songs.

There are so many good songs here. The Real Me (my favorite on the album)opens things up with some incredible bass playing by John Entwistle. That bass is practically a lead instrument. 5:15 is another favorite, with its horns and driving rhythm. Then there’s Bell Boy, where Keith Moon gets to sing as the former Mod hero Jimmy once admired, now working as a hotel bellboy. I love the contrast between Roger’s powerful vocals and Keith’s almost comical delivery. And of course, Love, Reign O’er Me is one of Roger Daltrey’s greatest vocal performances ever! By the time that song comes around, Jimmy has been through just about everything, and you can hear it in Roger’s voice.

I have a hard time choosing between Who’s Next and Quadrophenia as my favorite Who album. Who’s Next may have more individual songs that I love, but Quadrophenia is a complete experience. Pete Townshend took a story about a confused young man and turned it into something much bigger. Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon were all at the top of their game, and the production gives the music a huge sound without losing the band’s power. It’s an album about growing up, feeling lost, and trying to find your place in the world. More than fifty years later, I think it still holds up as one of the best albums The Who ever made.

The four personality themes are associated with specific songs...Helpless Dancer (Roger), Is It Me? (John), Bell Boy (Keith), and Love, Reign O’er Me (Pete). I will say this as a huge Who fan: this album is their last great album, to me anyway. That’s not saying The Who By Numbers, Who Are You, and the rest are bad, but they never reached the level of this album again.

The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, and #2 in the UK in 1973.

Who – Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere

These sixties singles by the Who are so exciting. They sounded different from their peers and were cutting their own path. This was The Who’s second single. It was the follow-up to I Can’t Explain. When this was sent to their American record label to distribute, they sent it back, assuming the feedback meant there was something wrong with it.

Townshend turned what most engineers considered a mistake into an instrument. Those piercing squeals and roars mid-song weren’t accidents; they were the sound of pop music evolving in real time. The Who didn’t want to sound clean or polite; they wanted to sound like the inside of a jet engine, and they nailed it.

The Who’s early singles like Can’t Explain, The Kids Are Alright, Substitute, I’m A Boy, and A Legal Matter don’t get the airplay that their later music does. They were innovative at the time with feedback, distortion, and Moon’s aggressive drumming.

Townshend later said the song was about personal freedom, and that’s exactly what it feels like. The right to be loud, to be different, to not apologize for who you are. You can trace the line from this track straight through to everything that came after: The Jam, The Clash, The Raspberries, Big Star… all carrying that same spark of defiance.

This song was written by Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey. It was one of the few times they wrote together. Super session man Nicky Hopkins was on the piano.

The song peaked at #10 in the UK in 1965.

Roger Daltrey: ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’ was the first song when we attempted to get that noise onto a record and that was a good deal of time before Hendrix had even come to England, the American pressing plant sent it back thinking it was a mistake. We said, ‘No, this is the f—ing noise we want. CUT IT LOUD!'”

“We were doing this feedback stuff, even before that. We’d be doing blues songs and they’d turn into this freeform, feedback, jazzy noise. Pete was getting all these funny noises, banging his guitar against the speakers. Basically, the act that Hendrix is famous for came from Townshend, pre-‘I Can’t Explain.'”

Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere

I can go anyway, way I choose
I can live anyhow, win or lose
I can go anywhere, for something new
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose

I can do anything, right or wrong
I can talk anyhow, and get along
Don’t care anyway, I never lose
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose

Nothing gets in my way
Not even locked doors
Don’t follow the lines
That been laid before
I get along anyway I dare
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere

I can go anyway, way I choose
I can live anyhow, win or lose
I can do anything, for something new
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose

(Oooh) anyway
(Oooh) Anyway I choose, yeah
(Oooh) Anyway I want to go
(Oooh) I want to go ‘n do it myself
Do it myself
Do it myself, yeah
Anyway, way I choose
Anyway I choose
Yeah, yeah
Ain’t never gonna lose the way I choose
The way I choose
The way I choose

Who – Who Are You

This song is for Song Lyric Sunday for Jim Adams’s blog. This week, the theme is to find a song that is based on reality. A prompt inspired by Badfinger (Max) of PowerPop. Whoever that crazy guy is. 

Great song by The Who and one of the first Who songs I knew. Keith Moon was not in the best shape by this time, but his drumming on this is still fantastic. The song helped define classic radio along with its siblings Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again. Unlike some 80s synth sounds, these synths of those three songs still sound fresh today.

Pete Townshend wrote it in the aftermath of a meeting with some industry suits, wandered into a Soho pub, ran into some of the Sex Pistols, and came out very drunk with a bruised ego and the chorus to one of The Who’s most iconic late-period tracks. Rock bottom, meet the charts. This song, released in August 1978, was the title track to what would turn out to be Keith Moon’s final album. He died three weeks after its release, and that ghost haunts the band to this day. 

This isn’t the mod, youthful energy of My Generation anymore, it’s the sound of grown men staring into the abyss of their own legend. The Who had spent a decade writing operas, smashing instruments, and becoming arena rock icons. And suddenly they were competing with punk bands they helped inspire.

Townshend once said, Who Are You was a cry of frustration, about the music industry, about the punk movement, about himself. Many of Townsend’s songs are about real-life events.  The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100 and #18 in the UK in 1978. The album Who Are You peaked at #2 on the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, and #6 in the UK. 

Pete Townshend: “I’d like to think that where the song came from wasn’t the feet that I was drunk when I did the demo, but the fact that I was f–king angry with  Allen Klein, and that the song was an outlet for that anger.”

Roger Daltrey: “We were getting incredible accolades from some of the new Punk bands. They were saying how much they loved The Who, that we were the only band they’d leave alive after they’d taken out the rest of the establishment! But I felt very threatened by the Punk thing at first. To me it was like, ‘Well, they think they’re f—ing tough, but we’re f—ing tougher.’ It unsettled me in my vocals. When I listen back to ‘Who Are You?’ I can hear that it made me incredibly aggressive. But that’s what that song was about. Being pissed and aggressive and a c—!”

Who Are You

Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

I woke up in a Soho doorway
A policeman knew my name
He said “You can go sleep at home tonight
If you can get up and walk away”

I staggered back to the underground
And the breeze blew back my hair
I remember throwin’ punches around
And preachin’ from my chair

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
I really want to know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
‘Cause I really want to know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

I took the tube back out of town
Back to the Rollin’ Pin
I felt a little like a dying clown
With a streak of Rin Tin Tin

I stretched back and I hiccupped
And looked back on my busy day
Eleven hours in the Tin Pan
God, there’s got to be another way

Who are you?
Ooh wa ooh wa ooh wa ooh wa

Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
I really want to know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
‘Cause I really want to know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

I know there’s a place you walked
Where love falls from the trees
My heart is like a broken cup
I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole
Yet still receive your kiss
How can I measure up to anyone now
After such a love as this?

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
I really want to know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
‘Cause I really want to know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

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

Who – Christmas

The Who isn’t exactly known for traditional Christmas tunes, but they do have a song that fits the season. 

This song is on the album Tommy about the deaf, dumb, and blind kid. This is not a Christmas song you will hear on the radio at this time of year…it’s just part of the story of Tommy. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album along with Sally Simpson.

Tommy’s father has concerns about his son on Christmas morning. Tommy is deaf, dumb, and blind, and doesn’t appear to have much of a future, but that Christmas, he gets a game of pinball and his life changes when he becomes the Pinball Wizard. This was written by Pete Townshend and it fits perfectly on that album.

It’s the backup vocals that always catch my attention. Also the drums by Mr. Moon plus Townshend’s slashing guitar. They also go into the refrain of “Tommy Can You Hear Me” and “See Me Feel Me.” The song is powerful and also very catchy. I always listen to it around Christmas.

I don’t think any band in rock could have touched them during this time live. On the tour of Tommy is where Live At Leeds came from and it is the tightest I’ve heard a rock band.

Tommy peaked at #2 in the UK, #4 on the Billboard 100, and #6 in Canada in 1969.

Christmas

Did you ever see the faces of children
They get so excited.
Waking up on Christmas morning
Hours before the winter sun’s ignited.
They believe in dreams and all they mean
Including heavens generosity.
Peeping round the door
to see what parcels are for free
In curiosity.

And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is.
Doesn’t know who Jesus was or what praying is.
How can he be saved?
From the eternal grave.

Surrounded by his friends he sits so silently,
And unaware of everything.
Playing poxy pin ball
picks his nose and smiles and
Pokes his tongue at everything.
I believe in love
but how can men who’ve never seen
Light be enlightened.
Only if he’s cured
will his spirits future level ever heighten.

And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is.
Doesn’t know who Jesus was or what praying is.
How can he be saved?
>From the eternal grave.
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
How can he be saved?

[Tommy:]

See me, feel me
Touch me, heal me.
See me, feel me
Touch me, heal me!

Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
How can he be saved?

Eddie Cochran – Summertime Blues

In my love for the Who, I never posted this version of this great song. I found out about Eddie Cochran through the movie The Buddy Holly Story where he was played by Jerry Zaremba. I then remember him in La Bamba when Brian Setzer played him to a tee. 

After that, I heard The Who’s version of this song and our band played it that way. I then heard Cochran’s version and loved it just as well. The song that really made me connect to Cochran was Twenty Flight Rock when I heard the Stones do it. 

Eddie Cochran was a huge influence on the up-and-coming British guitar players of the sixties. Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, John Lennon, and Pete Townshend. He was huge in the UK. He was one of the big 50s guitar heroes. He broke through with this song Summertime Blues in 1958 peaked at #8 on the  Billboard 100, #10 in Canada, and #18 in the UK. He also did well with C’mon Everybody. He was never really big in America… he was a bigger star in Europe.

He didn’t use his guitar as a prop like some did…he played it and played it well. He also worked as a session musician. He helped bring rock guitar along in more ways than just his playing. He was one of the first to modify his pickups and he did away with the wound G string on the guitar. He replaced it with an unwound string which made it easier to bend. Many future musicians were paying attention, sitting on the front row of his British tour.

In 1960, Cochran and Gene Vincent were in a hired car and it  hit a lamp post and Eddie was thrown from the car and suffered a head injury and died in a hospital. He was only 21 years old. Gene Vincent received injuries to his already bad leg and walked with a limp after the crash. Eddie was the only one to die.

Eddie’s girlfriend Sharon Sheeley was a songwriter. She wrote Ricky Nelson’s first hit “Poor Little Fool” and a couple of songs (Love Again and Cherished Memories) for Cochran. She also got injured in the crash. 

Summertime Blues

I’m a-gonna raise a fuss
I’m a-gonna raise a holler
About a-workin’ all summer
Just to try to earn a dollar

Every time I call my baby
Try to get a date
My boss says, “No dice, son
You gotta work late”

Sometimes I wonder
What I’m a-gonna do
But there ain’t no cure
For the summertime blues

Oh, well, my mom and papa told me
“Son, you gotta make some money
And if you wanna use the car
To go a-ridin’ next Sunday”

Well, I didn’t go to work
Told the boss I was sick
“Well, you can’t use the car
‘Cause you didn’t work a lick”

Sometimes I wonder
What I’m a-gonna do
But there ain’t no cure
For the summertime blues

I’m gonna take two weeks
Gonna have a fine vacation
I’m gonna take my problem
To the United Nations

Well, I called my congressman
And he said, quote
“I’d like to help you, son
But you’re too young to vote”

Sometimes I wonder
What I’m a-gonna do
But there ain’t no cure
For the summertime blues

Who – Shout and Shimmy

If this song doesn’t get you up nothing will! I’ve probably covered The Who more than any other band but I’ve missed this excellent cover they did back in 1965. In this post, we will look at the song and the original drummer of The Who. 

This is a cover of a lively James Brown original from 1962. The Who recorded in 1965, it was on their My Generation album. It was also part of their appearance on the music show Ready, Steady, Go! alongside the song Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere. Shout and Shimmy did not achieve widespread fame, it reflects the band’s devotion to R&B and soul, influences that heavily shaped their early sound. They also covered the Marvelettes song Heat Wave which was a part of the Mod culture. James Brown wrote and released Shout and Shimmy in 1962.

The Who’s rendition captures the raw energy of their early sound. Keith Moon in the live cut of this is a blur on drums. He was 19 years old and joined The Who the year before replacing The Who’s original drummer Doug Sandom.

Sandom was a good guy and a solid drummer but he was 34 in 1964 and considered far too old for The Who by the record company. Pete Townshend wrote a moving forward to Sandom’s book in 2014: Had we continued together back in 1964 with Doug on drums we may never have become as successful as we are today. Keith Moon was a born publicist as well as a highly eccentric performer. But I have no doubt that personally, I would have been happier as a young man. Partly because I think we would have continued to put music and friendship first in our band because that was Doug’s way. With Doug as my friend, I believe I could have been a better man.

Doug drummed for them as The Detours and The Who. He had this to say about The Detours changing to The Who: “We were setting up our gear when the Ox arrived and told us there was another band called The Detours and they’d already been on TV so we had to change our name. That night we all went back to a friend of Pete’s – a wonderful chap called Richard Barnes (an author and has worked with the Who for decades), or Barnsy, to try to find a new name.

Barnsy initially suggested The Group and Pete favoured The Hair. Someone else suggested No One until we imagined a compere on stage saying: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome No One.’ We’d have been a laughing stock. It was Barnsy who came up with The Who. Pete tried to compromise by suggesting The Hair And The Who until it was pointed out that it made us sound like a pub. Anyway, Roger came round to mine the next day and said it was to be The Who.”

On one of their recording dates, Townshend and Sandom were not in good moods and Sandom retold it: “He had a terrible go at me, snarling, ‘What’s wrong with you? If you can’t get it right then you’re out.’ I just got up from my stool and said, ‘That’s it, I quit.’ It was the biggest mistake of my life.

Sandom stayed in touch with the band until he passed in 2019 at the age of 89 years old. 

I always try to give a studio and live version…but in this case…live is the way to go. Around 1:29 is where Moon kicks in. 

Shout and Shimmy

Do you feel alright? Well do you feel alright children? Do you feel alright?You know you make me want to shout shimmy, oh yeah you gonna shout shimmy,Oh yeah you gonna shout shimmy, oh yeah you gonna shout shimmy,Oh yeah you know I walk up to the front, I try to do the flop,I walk up to the back, and I move on side to side,Then I stop, oh yeah and then I drop,Oh yeah and then I drop, oh yeah and then I do a little thing ?????,Do you feel alright? Do you feel so good? Do you feel so good?Do you feel alright? Do you feel alright? Tell me now, tell me now,Do you feel alright? Do you feel alright? Everybody do you feel so good?You know I feel alright, you know you make me want to shout shimmy,Oh yeah you gonna shout shimmy, oh yeah you gonna shout shimmy,Oh yeah you gonna shout a little bit soft, shout a little bit quieter,Shout a little bit soft, come on soft, shout a little bit soft,A little bit soft, cool down, cool down, come on, cool it down,I feel so good, I feel alright, drum on, drum on, drum on drummer,Everybody everybody everybody clap your hands, come on clap your hands,Clap your hands, a little bit harder, a little bit louder,A little bit harder, a little bit louder, a little bit louder,Come on and shout, everybody, come on and shout, come on and shout baby,Come on and shout baby, do you feel alright? Do I feel so good?Do you feel alright? Do I feel so good? Call a doctor, call a doctor,Do you feel alright? Do you feel alright? Do you feel alright?Do you feel alright? Do you feel alright?You know I feel so good I’m gonna shout and shimmy all night,I feel all, you know I feel alright.

 

 

 

…

Bo Diddley – Road Runner

The bands I was in always did this song. I didn’t know this version at the time though…it was The Who’s version that we went by. That riff was a powerful guitar riff that kicked in after edging down the strings.

This song was written by Bo Diddley who came up with the ultimate riff with the song Bo Diddley. This song was released in 1959 and it peaked at #20 in the Billboard R&B Charts and #75 on the Billboard 100. It has been covered by many artists over the years and featured in various movies, TV shows, and commercials.

Bo Diddley was born Ellas Bates. He had his name changed to Ellas McDaniels when he was adopted. He took his stage name from a one-stringed Deep South instrument, the Diddley Bow.

You can be cool… but not Bo Diddley playing his square guitar cool… he was a great guitarist and showman.

Bo Diddley guitar

I always loved his square guitar. He built a guitar that looked like no other. He designed and constructed a custom-built square-shaped guitar for himself, he then commissioned Gretsch Guitars and Kinman Guitar Electrix to build further custom-built square-shaped models for him.

Road Runner

I’m a road runner honey,Beep! Beep!

I’m a road runner honey,And you can’t keep up with me,I’m a road runner honey,And you can’t keep up with me,Come on, let’s race,Baby baby, you will see,Here I come,Beep! Beep!

Move over honey,Let me by,Move over baby,Let this man by,I’m gonna show you baby, look out your head,Gonna put some dirt in your eye,Here I go!

Oh yea, how am I doin?Beep! Beep!

Take my hand baby,I’m gonna prove to you that I’m a road running man,I wanna show you something,That I’m the fastest in the land,Now let me by,Beep! Beep!Oh yea, you said you’s fast,But it don’t look like you gonna last,Goodbye! I’ve got to put you down,I’ll see you some day,Baby, somewhere hangin’ around.

…

Who – Pictures of Lily

Starting with The  Who’s Tommy album…everything after that gets noticed. Their brilliant early singles sometimes get criminally overlooked. Personally, and I know I am in the minority, I think many of their early singles trump both the Beatles’ and Stones’s early singles. The Who and Kinks didn’t have the quality of the sound of those bigger bands…but that was the point. Those singles were exciting and raw…a few experimental. Paul McCartney was influenced heavily by The Who when he wrote Paperback Writer and Helter Skelter.

On July 8, 1989, I traveled to Atlanta Georgia to see The Who for the first time. Nashville at that time had no place really big enough for them to play. Vanderbilt wasn’t allowing rock concerts at their stadium at that time. I’ll never forget when The Who played this song that night. Roger forgot the words to it and said “I don’t know the bloody words to this song.” I found the clip and I’ll have it below.

The only part of that concert that bothered me was the volume or the lack of really. Entwistle had to turn down his volume and they carried a brass section with them because of Pete’s tinnitus. It sounded great of course but not as in your face as when I saw them in Nashville in 2016. My only guess is now the PA equipment is better because The Who were much louder in 2016 than when I heard them in 1989.

Describing The Who’s next new single (Pictures of Lily)…Pete Townshend coined the term “Power Pop” to describe this song before it was released. It made it to #4 in the UK Charts, #60 on the Billboard 100, and #36 in Canada in 1967. The song tells the story of a father giving his son risque pictures of a woman taken in the 1920s…and after a while, the son finds out that she had died many years ago.

It is a song about the lust of a teenage boy…we will keep it at that. John Entwistle played the French Horn on this that he later didn’t like.

Pete Townshend: On Karen’s (his future wife) bedroom wall were three Victorian black-and-white postcard photographs of scantily dressed actresses. One was the infamous Lily Langtry, mistress of Prince Edward, later King Edward VII, and one sunny afternoon while Karen was at work I scribbled out a lyric inspired by the images and made a demo of ‘Pictures of Lily’. My song was intended to be an ironic comment on the sexual shallows of show business, especially pop, a world of postcard images for boys and girls to fantasise over. ‘Pictures of Lily’ ended up, famously, being about a boy saved from burgeoning adolescent sexual frustration when his father presented him with dirty postcards over which he could masturbate.

John Entwistle:  “The thing I hate about ‘Pictures Of Lily’ is that bloody elephant call on the French horn. I also hated the backing vocals, the mermaid voices, where we’d sing all the ‘oooooohs.’ I hated ‘oooooohs.'”

Below is the concert I was at when Roger forgot the words. It’s around the 1:36 mark. 

Pictures Of Lily

I used to wake up in the morningI always feel so gladI got so sick of having sleepless nightsI went and told my dad

He said, “Son, now here’s some little somethings”And stuck them on my wallAnd now my nights ain’t quite so lonelyIn fact I don’t feel bad at all (I don’t feel bad at all)

Pictures of Lily that make my life so wonderfulPictures of Lily that let me sleep at nightPictures of Lily that solved my childhood problemPictures of Lily, they make me feel alright

Pictures of Lily (pictures of Lily)Pictures of Lily (Lily, oh Lily)Pictures of Lily (Lily, oh Lily)Pictures of Lily (pictures of Lily)Pictures of Lily, pictures of LilyPictures of Lily, pictures of Lily

And then one day things weren’t so fineI fell in love with LilyI asked my dad where Lily I could findHe said, “Don’t be silly”

“She’s been dead since 1929”Oh, how I cried that nightIf only I’d been born in Lily’s timeIt would have been alrightThere were always pictures of Lily to help me sleep at nightPictures of Lily to help me feel alright

‘Cause me and Lily are together in my dreams (my mind)And I was wonderin’, mister, have you ever seen?

Pictures of Lily to help you sleep at nightPictures of Lily to help you feel alright

‘Cause me and Lily are together in my dreamsAnd I was wonderin’, mister, have you ever seenPictures of Lily?

Who – Christmas

This song is on the album Tommy about the deaf, dumb, and blind kid. This is not a Christmas song you will hear on the radio at this time of year…it’s just part of the story of Tommy. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album along with Sally Simpson.

Tommy’s father has concerns about his son on Christmas morning. Tommy is deaf, dumb, and blind, and doesn’t appear to have much of a future, but that Christmas, he gets a game of pinball and his life changes when he becomes the Pinball Wizard. This was written by Pete Townshend and it fits perfectly on that album.

It’s the backup vocals that always catch my attention. Also the drums by Mr. Moon plus Townshend’s slashing guitar. They also go into the refrain of “Tommy Can You Hear Me” and “See Me Feel Me.” The song is powerful and also very catchy. I always listen to it around Christmas.

I don’t think any band in rock could have touched them during this time live. On the tour of Tommy is where Live At Leeds came from and it is the tightest I’ve heard a rock band.

Tommy peaked at #2 in the UK, #4 on the Billboard 100, and #6 in Canada in 1969.

Christmas

Did you ever see the faces of children
They get so excited.
Waking up on Christmas morning
Hours before the winter sun’s ignited.
They believe in dreams and all they mean
Including heavens generosity.
Peeping round the door
to see what parcels are for free
In curiosity.

And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is.
Doesn’t know who Jesus was or what praying is.
How can he be saved?
From the eternal grave.

Surrounded by his friends he sits so silently,
And unaware of everything.
Playing poxy pin ball
picks his nose and smiles and
Pokes his tongue at everything.
I believe in love
but how can men who’ve never seen
Light be enlightened.
Only if he’s cured
will his spirits future level ever heighten.

And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is.
Doesn’t know who Jesus was or what praying is.
How can he be saved?
>From the eternal grave.
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
How can he be saved?

[Tommy:]

See me, feel me
Touch me, heal me.
See me, feel me
Touch me, heal me!

Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
How can he be saved?

Max Picks …songs from 1971

1971

This year may be the best ever for albums. You had Who’s Next (My number one), Led Zeppelin IV, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On, and so much more.

We will start off with what I think is the greatest rock song ever played in a concert environment. I’ve seen The Who play Won’t Get Fooled Again twice and of all the concerts I’ve gone to… I’ve never heard anything this powerful live.

Roger Daltrey’s Scream is considered one of the best on any rock song. It was quite convincing…so convincing that the rest of the band, lunching nearby, thought Daltrey was brawling with the engineer.

Now let’s visit Led Zeppelin and they released IV or Zoso a few weeks after The Who released Who’s Next. Stairway To Heaven…this song is considered by some as the best song in rock history. The song was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

Marvin Gaye released this great song and it came off the album of the same name. A powerful song from a powerful performer. The song was written by Al Cleveland, Renaldo Benson, and Marvin Gaye.

The Moody Blues released the album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and this song was on it. It may be my favorite song by them. Story In Your Eyes.

Great melody in this song. I bought the album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour just because of this song and I ended up liking the album a lot. The song peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100 in 1971. The song was written by Justin Hayward.

This is almost a perfect song…by the one and only Janis Joplin. There are few artists who give everything they have all the time. Bruce Springsteen is one…Janis was one. On film it comes through…she gives everything she has and more. It was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster.

She would die on October 4, 1970. Her nickname was Pearl and that was the name of her last album. She left $2,500 for her wake…. 200 guests were invited with invitations that read…”Drinks are on Pearl”…

…

Who – Summertime Blues

I wrote this for Dave’s site when he asked a group of bloggers to pick a song that signifies “summer” to you. Now summer is starting to wind down…I thought I would post this one.

I first heard this song by The Who. The Who’s version is a good one for bar bands to play but it’s hard to keep it under control in a bar setting. It must be loud before it works…although it’s fun to see some patrons with their hands over their ears…it’s best to limit that.

Eddie Cochran wrote Summertime Blues with his friend Jerry Capehart and released it in 1958. Capehart helped Cochran get a record deal. Capehart said: “There had been a lot of songs about summer, but none about the hardships of summer.” With that idea and a guitar lick from Cochran, they wrote the song in 45 minutes.”

The song was going to be a B side of the Cochran single “Love Again” written by Sharon Sheeley. The record company wisely made the decision to make Summertime Blues the A side. In 1960 Sheeley was his girlfriend and was in the car that crashed killing Cochran. She died in 2002 five days after having a cerebral hemorrhage.

I like the Cochran version…and the Who version…and they are completely different. I’ve always loved the way The Who covered Summertime Blues. If I had a time machine… The Who would be a stop to see them live at this time. The version they released in 1970 was on their album Live At Leeds…a great rock live album.  The song peaked at #27 on the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, and #38 in the UK in 1970.

Live at Leeds would be my pick for the best rock live album ever. The album peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, and #3 in the UK. It’s raw, raucous, and in your face…in other words, a great rock song!

Summertime Blues

Well, I’m a gonna raise a fuss, I’m a gonna raise a holler
I’ve been working all summer just to try and earn a dollar
Well, I went to the boss, said I got a date
The boss said “No Dice, son, you gotta work late”

Sometimes I wonder, what am I gonna do
There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues

Well, my mom and poppa told me, “Son you gotta earn some money
If you want to use the car to go out next Sunday”
Well, I didn’t go to work, I told the boss I was sick
He said “You can’t use the car cause you didn’t work a lick”

Sometimes I wonder, what am I gonna do
There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues

Gonna take two weeks, gonna have a fine vacation
Gonna take my problems to the United Nations
Well, I went to my congressman, he said, quote
“I’d like to help you son but you’re too young to vote”

Sometimes I wonder, what am I gonna do
There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues

Max Picks …songs from 1965

1965

All of these songs are stone-cold classics. The first two are probably the best-known in their catalog by their respective artist…and that statement is saying a lot. These are in no order but we will kick it off with the song that Keith Richards wrote the riff in bed and then turned over and went to sleep. Luckily he had his tape recorder running and the next morning he listened to his riff and him snoring for hours. The Rolling Stones‘s Satisfaction.

Bob Dylan has his mega vindictive hit Like A Rolling Stone. It’s been voted in some polls as the best rock single ever. I picked a live version backed by the future Band at the Royal Albert Hall the following year.

The Beatles released their second soundtrack album in 1965. The album would bridge Beatlemania to Mid Beatles. It was one of John Lennon’s personal favorite songs he wrote. How they did those great backup vocals without proper monitors is beyond me.

The Who released My Generation in 1965. It wasn’t a top seller in America but it would become one of their best-known songs. They would release brilliant singles throughout the 60s and then help to invent arena rock in the 70s. A band we will be hearing more from.

This fifth spot was hard. I’m being open and honest…it was between Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and The Byrds. This whole thing is based on what I like the most…well, I like Tracks of My Tears and Mr. Tambourine Man around the same. I’m going to include Smokey coming up.

I loved those glasses that Mcguinn wore so much that in 1987 I tracked a pair down. No, they were not easy to find in the eighties. Parachute pants? One white glove? Hair spray? yes…but not the out-of-style small rectangle glasses.

Johnny Kidd and the Pirates – Shakin’ All Over

Cool titles will pull me into songs. This is a pure gritty rock song from the early sixties. Pete Townshend said it was a major influence on The Who.

This is one of my favorite pre-Beatles UK songs. Great rocker with a cool guitar riff. Johnny’s name was Frederick Heath and he formed his first skiffle group in 1957 called The Five Nutters (great name). He then joined Alan Caddy (guitar), Tony Docherty (rhythm guitar), and Ken McKay (drums) in early 1958 and formed Johnny Kidd & the Pirates who were signed by EMI Records.

Heath went on playing with the Pirates and the New Pirates until he was killed in a car crash on October 7, 1966. Johnny Kidd wrote this song after seeing a beautiful girl…hmmm never heard that before! “Beautiful girl” has been used as a muse since music began.

Shakin’ All Over peaked at #1 in the UK charts in 1960. The Who would later do a version on their great live album Live At Leads. Another band covered this song and was a big hit in Canada.

Chad Allan and the Expressions recorded the song in 1964. The group’s label Quality Records credited the artist as Guess Who? in an attempt to disguise their origin and hint that the group might be a British Invasion act. The actual name was revealed a few months later, but radio DJs continued to announce the artist as “Guess Who?”. That version peaked at #1 in Canada and  #22 on the Billboard 100 in 1965. From that time on they were The Guess Who

The Who started to hit around this time so The Guess Who got constant requests for My Generation. They didn’t like their name but the record company insisted they keep it. Things worked out for both bands. They eventually became friends and hung out with each other when they crossed paths on tour.

The Pirates bass player Brian Gregg: “Wally Ridley’s (the producer)’s assistant, Peter Sullivan said, ‘We’re going to do the old trad tune, “Yes Sir That’s My Baby”, and you can have the B-side.” The day before the session we were in the Freight Train coffee-bar in Berwick Street and we said, ‘Let’s write any old rubbish’. There was Johnny, the guitarist Alan Caddy and myself. We didn’t have any instruments and we sang the parts to ‘Shakin’ All Over’. We got up early in the morning, had a run through in my front room- not plugged in, and we went to the studio and recorded it. We thought it would be a B-side but Jack Good loved it and pushed it on his new programme, Wham!: And it went straight up the charts.”

Shakin’ All Over

When you move in right up close to me
That’s when I get the shakes all over me
Quivers down my back bone
I’ve got the shakes down the kneebone
Yeah, havin’ the tremors in the thighbone
Shakin’ all over

Just the way you say goodnight to me
Brings that feeling on inside of me
Quivers down my back bone
I’ve got the shivers down the thighbone
Yeah, the tremors in my back bone
Shakin’ all over

Quivers down my back bone
Yeah, I have the shakes in the kneebone
I’ve got the tremors in the back bone
Shakin’ all over

Well, you make me shake and I like it, baby
Well, you make me shake and I like it, baby
Well, you make me shake and I like it, baby