1968 was something of a transitional year for The Who. After 1967’s The Who Sell Out didn’t do as commercially well as the band – especially songwriter and guitarist Pete Townshend – thought it would, the group went straight back to work on making another album. That record, obviously, never saw the light of day – but some of the songs that were made for it (‘Glow Girl’, ‘Faith in Something Bigger’) were eventually released on Odds & Sods, a compilation of rarities and outtakes released in 1974. Others, like ‘Dogs’ and ‘Call Me Lightning’ were released as standalone singles.

‘Little Billy’ was due to be a single in that year too. The track was written for the American Cancer Society, I’m guessing so the band would prosper from advertisements and association with the company, but when it was taken to their executives it was swiftly forgotten about and left in an office for a number of years. Not very nice that that happened, as the track probably deserved more than nothing at all. It’s a peppy tale about the titular character who gets teased by his classmates for being fat. As they all grow older Billy stays somewhat healthy in comparison to those children who once teased him, who ‘one by one’ pass away due to cancer caused by smoking. Billy, being the ‘big man’ inside and out that he is, takes in the kids whose parents have died as his own. It’s a very cheery song but has quite dark lyrics – it works very well.

Got great vocal harmonies shared by Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and John Entwistle that were quite typical in ’60s Who recordings. And Keith Moon goes crazy on the drums and at one point gets a bit lost when carrying out the fills, before somewhat getting into the beat again. Above is the 1996 mix of the track, but the original 1974 release seems to be somewhat faster and in a higher key. I’ll put that down below. By the end of 1968, The Who were in the studio making Tommy and that worked out very well for them.