Tag Archives: quadrophenia

My iPod #512: The Who – Helpless Dancer

The eighth track on The Who’s second rock opera Quadrophenia is “Helpless Dancer”, a piano led march that is meant to represent the ‘tough guy’ persona of the album’s central character Jimmy. It is also one of the four themes present that portrays one of the members of The Who, in this case the song is the theme for Roger Daltrey. The narrator is angered by the unfairness and injustice within the society around him; Jimmy gives up on it, and his ‘dancing’ and naivety are brought to a sudden halt.

The aforementioned piano boldly begins the track and its chords simmer throughout the introduction, which continues to build as acoustic guitars and a French horn courtesy of bassist John Entwistle enter the mix. The melody provided by the horn is something of a motif, appearing at crucial points in the album’s storyline.  It is soon after this slow build that the track’s marching rhythm starts, led by a vamping piano which blasts out chords whilst Roger Daltrey’s passionate vocals pan regularly pan from one ear to the other. Acoustic flourishes by Townshend appear within its second verse to give the track a further boost, and the way the guitar is played is mirrored again by Keith Moon and his drums later during “The Rock” (which I actually just noticed while writing this).

The piano and French horn end “Dancer” just how it started, but a nice little snippet of “The Kids Are Alrightreally closes the song off – maybe to lift a weight off the serious subject matter.

My iPod #303: The Who – Drowned

For me, “Quadrophenia” was very difficult to absorb initally. At an hour and twenty minutes fit to burst with long instrumental passages on some songs and the whole concept made the listening process very complicated. Or maybe it was me thinking about it too much. Upon further listens I realised that everything you hear is essential to the story throughout the album. You are taken on a journey with the tragic lead character of Jimmy. In “Drowned”, we find him in a desperate state as he contemplates…. drowning himself in the sea. Although, out of the album’s context it is a tribute to Meher Baba who Townshend admired for his spiritual teachings.

“Drowned” is a great track. A roaring vocal take by Daltrey, that rolling piano phrase throughout, that slick musical reference to 5:15 in the middle…… the final jam at the end which seems to carry on forever before fading into a clip of Townshend singing “Sea and Sand” on the beach…. Those are just the little things I can pick out from memory at the moment. But they are the little things that add to the album’s cohesion. I’m blabbering on a bit; I will leave it there.

All in all, another wall of melodious noise and relentless rhythm provided by The Who.

My iPod #286: The Who – Doctor Jimmy


Happy Easter everybody.

The first post today marks the start of the “Doctor” trilogy. This particular song is not about someone who is in that line of work. The second post coming later on today, and tomorrow’s are. Maybe tomorrow, ’cause I’ll be at my friend’s place. The next three songs all have the word ‘Doctor’ in them, basically.

“Doctor Jimmy” is the longest track on The Who’s album “Quadrophenia“, coming in at a hefty 8 and a half minutes. It only contains three verses and the “Is It Me?” segment that is meant to represent John Entwistle’s personality. Apart from that are some rather long instrumental passages where the band jam and play off one another.

In terms of the album’s concept, Jimmy – the main character – is pissed off with everything. The Mod life he believed in was all a lie. He starts drinking gin to see if it can ‘hold [him] down’, but instead the alcohol brings out the absolute worst. A bit like that story by Robert Louis Stevenson.

In the midst of it, he is still able to think about which one of the four personalities he possesses is actually his – hence the “Is It Me?” part. Overall, it’s all too much to take so he steals a boat, heavily intoxicated and sails off into the sea.

Dramatic stuff.  Very tense.

Instrumentally, so much happens in the track that I don’t think I could even describe it to you. It’s The Who really, what more do you need.

My iPod #279: The Who – The Dirty Jobs


Maybe I should have tweeted that there wasn’t going to be a post yesterday. It would save time in having to explain why. I was out, and for anyone that was desperately waiting for that usual update in their Twitter feed…. I am sorry. Dreadfully sorry. But it’s here now, and will be followed by another one soon.

Here’s one random question I want to ask….. Is it wrong to be young and really like The Who? This randomly came up as a thought when I was listening to The Who on shuffle, when I was on the train back to university from Liverpool. I think The Who are amazing (or were); “My Generation” through to “Who Are You” speak for themselves. But I’ve never met in person or seen on the internet anyone my age who feels the same way. I feel as if The Who’s the kind of band who are only listened to by middle-aged men trying to make their name in the rock music business or something. You see, hear or research about new bands who say that they are influenced by The Beatles…. or material that the members went on to produce in their solo careers. But you never really see any new and talented vocalist say they are inspired by Roger Daltrey, or a bass player inspired by John Entwistle. I stress that this is new bands that I’m talking about here. There are loads of bands I listen to who admire each and every member. But…. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a generation thing….. That pun wasn’t intentional.

That’s something you guys can think upon.

But enough of that. Today’s track is “The Dirty Jobs”, a song from the band’s second ‘rock opera’ “Quadrophenia“. At this point in the album’s ‘plot’, the narrator has left home and meets these workers who do ‘the dirty jobs’, such as looking after pigs and driving the miner bus. The narrator criticises them for not sticking the middle finger up to ‘the man’. That sums the song up lyrically.

It’s astonishing how though in this song – hell, through the whole album – it is the four members of The Who who play every instrument you hear. Except for the piano part that’s played a session musician. I brick-walled the track using Audacity (something I still have polarizing feelings about now). It’s very loud, mostly thanks to the constant cymbal thrashing and drum pounding from Keith Moon, but I can’t listen to it any other way. Just everything about the song is brilliant. Awesome. Great. Fantastic. Can’t think of superlatives to emphasise how good the track is.

Actually, just listen to “Quadrophenia”. You must. You won’t forgive yourself if you don’t. Arguably The Who’s creative peak as a group.

My iPod #227: The Who – Cut My Hair

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“Cut My Hair” is the fourth track on The Who’s sixth album and second ‘rock opera’ “Quadrophenia”. It is sung by the main songwriter and guitarist Pete Townshend with lead vocalist Roger Daltrey providing melodies in the chorus.

“Quadrophenia” got me through some lonely times. Hearing it in Summer 2010 and being bored due to staying in my house all the time made me take pointless walks around the local area. Sometimes I would go to the shops or go to my aunt’s house around the corner and just chill there until I felt like I wanted to get back home again.

Weather-wise, I distinctly remember that summer not being very great. Rain or slight overcast that turned into dark and gloomy clouds, and I would sing this song all the time when I went on my excursions. It got me through it.

Townshend decribed the song as: “A domestic interlude. The boy recalls a row with his folks that culminated in his leaving home. We also hear a news broadcast mentioning riots in Brighton between Mods and Rockers, events at which he was present the previous week.”

I can say I cannot relate to any of that, I like my family a lot. The latter relates to the concept/context of the album which I won’t go into. It’s too much.

But yeah, the song’s good. Have a listen. I’ll be back tomorrow.