“Baba O’Riley” – The Who
(Words/music: Pete Townshend, available on Who’s Next, RCA 1971)
The first line of the Who’s biography on the Allmusic guide states that few bands “were riddled with as many contradictions as the Who,” and few tracks better blend these disparate parts than “Baba O’Riley.” For example, its origins lie in a sound collage Pete Townshend crafted on a synthesizer. The original intent was to program Townshend’s spiritual guru Meher Baba’s biography into a synthesizer and output it in the style of minimalist composer Terry Riley. His inspiration relates to his ambitious Lifehouse project (summarized here, as I’m not going to attempt to summarize it myself). While Townshend turned narratives into music on several earlier projects, this found him literally turning people into music.
Then there’s the “Teenage Wasteland” side of the song – the primal foil to Townshend’s cerebral origins. The final version of the song marries Townshend’s synthesizer experiment with the cymbal and power chord crunch that fills the verses. This is minimalist music blown out to its maximal output, and it’s this paradox that makes “Baba O’Riley” sound vital nearly fourty years later. Even if its chords spread over arpeggiators and guitars and keyboards, the song’s heart remains in its three chords. Over the five minutes, the Who pull these three chords to their limits. By subjecting the song to this stress test, we find the beauty in the brutality of a chord structure stretched to its extremes.More on The Who: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm
By far my favorite Who song ever and, interestingly enough, a topic of discussion today! Just could resist the urge to repost. Thanks, somesongsconsidered!
