The Who released “Baba O’Riley”

Baba O’Riley The Who

Writer(s): Pete Townshend (see lyrics here) Released: October 23, 1971 First Charted: -- Peak: 1 CL, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 1.0 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 123.28 video, 580.85 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: After the Who found success with their 1969 rock opera Tommy, Pete Townshend embarked on another rock opera, “a wildly ambitious science-fiction” SS project called Lifehouse. However, Townshend nearly suffered a nervous breakdown for being too ambitious and dissension amongst the band halted the project. UCR The best tracks, though, survived to resurface on the more conventional Who’s Next album. The lead track, “Baba O’Riley,” was originally nine minutes in the context of the Lifehouse project. TC It is “a beautiful ode to that painful, lost feeling known as adolescence.” TM It has also been called “a bitter remonstrations towards a society that seemed hell-bent on hanging an entire generation of kids out to rot.” DT It is is often referred to as “Teenage Wasteland” because of the chorus. The song was inspired by Meher Baba, an Indian spiritual guru “who advocated divine love, spiritual understanding, and selfless service to mankind.” SS Townshed was also interested in integrating “the kind of repetitive, modal sounds produced by minimalist composer Terry Riley” TM – hence the song title. Riley’s influence is particularly apparent in “Baba O’Riley” via “a dramatic flurry of notes from ARP synthesizer, then a very new instrument that Riley was teaching the Who guitarist to play.” TC It “expanded the range of sounds and tempos that could be created by the guitarist/composer.” SS The song is also marked by a “smashing violin solo [and]…Roger Daltrey’s powerful lead vocals juxtaposed beautifully with Townshend’s softer voice on the famous ‘Don’t cry; don’t raise your eye’ segment. Together with Keith Moon’s explosive drum work and John Entwistle's rumbling low end, it all adds up to one mammoth rock anthem.” UCR Moon also suggested the fiddle solo at the end RS500 in “what can only be described as an Irish romp.” TM Most notable, though, is how the song “expanded the Who’s power-trio sound with synthesizer.” RS500 The opening loop “works as an immediately ear-catching hook, but it was no mere gimmick, also serving as the fundamental foundation of the song. Townshend's cyclic synthesizer rhythm track was considered unprecedented at the time, with his work on this…track pre-dating Stevie Wonder’s similar experiments by nearly a year.” UCR Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Who TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 212. RS500 Rolling Stone (2004). “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 492-3. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 270. TM Time magazine (10/24/2011). “All Time 100 Songs” UCR UltimateClassicRock.com (6/20/2013). “Top 100 Classic Rock Songs” Related Links: Last updated 4/30/2024.