Baba O'Riley

"Baba O'Riley"
Single by The Who from the album Who's Next
B-side	"My Wife"
Released	November 1971
Format	45
Recorded	May 1971 at Olympic Studios in London, England
Genre	Rock
Length	5:05
Label	Decca (US) Polydor (UK)
Writer	Pete Townshend
Producer	The Who Glyn Johns

"Baba O'Riley" is a song by the British rock band The Who, written by Pete Townshend, lead guitarist. As with most Who songs, it is sung primarily by Roger Daltrey. However, as usual for Who songs during this era, Townshend sings the middle eight: "Don't cry/don't raise your eye/it's only teenage wasteland".

History

"Baba O'Riley" was originally written by Pete Townshend for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera that was to be the follow-up to The Who's 1969 opera, Tommy. Townshend derived the song from a nine minute ARP synthesizer demo, which the band reconstructed. "Baba O'Riley" was going to be used in the Lifehouse project as a song sung by Ray, the Scottish farmer at the beginning of the album as he gathers his wife Sally and his two children to begin their exodus to London. When Lifehouse was scrapped, many of the songs were released on The Who's 1971 album Who's Next. "Baba O'Riley" became the first track on Who's Next. The song was released as a single in several European countries, but in the US and the UK was only released as part of the album. Drummer Keith Moon had the idea of inserting a violin solo at the coda of the song, during which the style of the song shifts from crashing rock to an Irish folk-style beat. Dave Arbus, of East of Eden, plays viola in one of the most recognizable solos in popular music. In concert, lead singer Roger Daltrey replaces the violin solo with a harmonica solo. The Who have produced a live version of the song with a violin, provided by Nigel Kennedy, during their 27 November 2000 concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Noted for its innovative fusion of the Who's hard rock sound and early electronic music experimentation by Townshend inspired by minimalist composer Terry Riley, and for its crashing chorus coupled with repeating F-C-Bb power chords, the song has been a perennial favorite on classic rock radio stations as well as a concert staple for the band. It has often been mistakenly called "Teenage Wasteland" by many casual fans -- that was in fact the title for a different but similar song by Townshend, which is slower and features more lyrics. (A version of "Teenage Wasteland" is featured on The Lifehouse Chronicles, a six disc set of demos planned for the Lifehouse project.) Pete Townshend states that the song is not about getting wasted, but about waste in general. He was inspired to write the song when the people around him complained about all of the world's problems but did nothing about them.

Trivia

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• Many people guessed at what "Baba O'Riley" is actually about, and at a concert on November 25, 2006 in Philadelphia, PA, Pete Townshend said that even he doesn't know.
• Although they never actually did it in concert, The Who considered pulling a person from the audience and programming their vital statistics into a synthesizer that would, in effect, translate that person into a musical theme around which a song could be built (an idea recently resurrected as the Lifehouse Method). Instead, Townshend discussed using the life information of Meher Baba, whose philosophy had been a great personal and artistic influence on the band's chief songwriter. Ultimately, however, the "synthesizer" part was actually created using special arpeggio effects on a Lowrey home organ.
• The name of the song is derived from this combination of the song's philosophical and musical influences: (Meher) Baba (Terry) O'Riley.
• During a concert it is commonplace for the audience to sing the middle eight section along with Townshend
• During the final concert of U2's Vertigo Tour at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii, lead singer Bono sang the line "Out here in the fields" during the opening chords of their song "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses". He then commented that "that's where he (The Edge) must have ripped it off from."
• Pearl Jam often play a live cover of "Baba O'Riley". At Rock Werchter 2007, Eddie Vedder invited Queens of the Stone Age's singer Josh Homme on the stage to sing the bridge.

Cover versions

The following groups have covered the song in concert or on record:

• Pearl Jam
• The Slip
• Blue Man Group and Tracy Bonham (featured on The Complex Rock Tour Live DVD and their "How to be a Megastar 2.0" tour)
• Guided by Voices
• Grateful Dead
• Ils (2006)
• Umphrey's McGee
• Psychedelic Deja Vu
• Marah
• Blink
• Dread Zeppelin
• Dropkick Murphys
• Mr. Big
• Racer X
• The Picketts
• Waco Brothers
• Cain and Abel
• Nirvana (Featured on Volume 2 of the Outcesticide Bootleg Series)
• They Might Be Giants
• Sooner Than Later
• Deluxe
• Starbelly
• The Flaming Lips
• Those Darn Accordions on the 1996 album No Strings Attached, with the opening sequencer passage replicated on multiple accordions
• Lt. Dan Band in one of their USO concerts.
• You Am I with Wolfmother at Falls Festival, Lorne, 2006/07.
• 33RPM
• The Amazing Journey (Mike Portnoy's (from Dream Theater) Cover Band)
• Tubes
• Low Strung
• Frizmicozbee
• Memorial Day
• The Trews
• Bethnal
• The Dear Abbeys (on the album Abbeys Road)
• Xero/G (on the album Are You Weightless?)
• Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (usually performed as a medley with "Girly")
• Stir (on the unreleased album "Untitled, Unmastered, and Unemployed")

Soundtrack

Film

• Trailers for American Beauty.
• Trailers for A Bug's Life.
• Appears in trailers and at the end of The Girl Next Door.
• Is featured in the 1997 film Fever Pitch.
• An orchestral version is featured at the start of the movie Slackers, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
• The song appears in The Zero Skateboards 1998 skateboarding film Misled Youth in Jamie Thomas' part.
• Trailer for the film Invincible.
• At the start of Luciano Ligabue's 2001 movie Da zero a dieci.
• Plays in the Spike Lee movie Summer of Sam with Adrien Brody's character performing a pornographic stage show that culminates with his destruction of a stuffed mannequin with glimpses of the Son of Sam killer murdering each of his victims.
• Appears in the movie Prefontaine starring Jared Leto.

TV series and commercials

• Pre-credit sequence in the Miami Vice episode "Out Where the Buses Don't Run".
• Promo commercial for TNT's series Saved (June 2006).
• An edited version appears as the theme song in CSI: New York. The fourth season premiere has a remixed version.
• In the 2005 episode "Control" of House, House plays air piano and air drums to the song before a verbal standoff with the chairman of the board of his hospital. The song also appears on the official soundtrack for the show.
• Pilot episode of What About Brian (April 2006).
• Used as the soundtrack for HP ad "Constant Change" directed by David Fincher.
• Appears in a Nissan commercial promoting the 2000 Pathfinder.
• In the episode "Kiss" of Dawson's Creek, Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams) is dancing to it.
• Featured in King Of The Hill's episode "Tankin' It To The Streets". In the same episode Bill says how he used to have "hair like Roger Daltrey".
• Appears prominently in the first episode of Life on Mars.
• Sung on Rock Star: INXS by Jordis Unga (during week 1 and also appears on the CD), as well as on Rockstar: Supernova by Dana Andrews (during week 5) and Ryan Star (during week 9).
• Networking company Cisco Systems uses it for one of their Fall 2006 commercials.
• Appears in the Hyperlite wakeskate video for Shawn Murray wakeboard montage.
• Edited version with instrumentals is used in the fourth of four episodes of the miniseries The Drug Years on VH1.
• Featured as the promotional song for the 2006 film Invincible.
• It was mentioned in the short-lived series Freaks and Geeks, wherein Lindsay is corrected by Ken for calling the song "Teenage Wasteland."
• Teenage Wasteland, inspired by this song, was the original title for popular sitcom, That 70's Show. Due to the negativity & inherent drug speculations, the creators were forced to change the title at the behest of the FOX network.
• Featured at the end of the One Tree Hill episode "Pictures of You".
• Featured at the opening of American Idol season 6.
• Is the theme of the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series.
• Featured in the season finale of the second season of My Name Is Earl.
• It is used to introduce the "Teenage Wasteland" feature segment on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• It was also given a cameo in the children's television show The Wild Thornberrys as the title of Debbie Thornberry's favorite magazine.

Sports use

• Hull F.C. rugby league team plays it as the team runs out for home games at the KC Stadium.
• The University of Georgia football team uses it after the coin toss just prior to the opening kickoff of home games at Sanford Stadium.
• The Oakland Athletics use it as the music for a highlight video that is shown before home games at the McAfee Coliseum.
• The New York Yankees would play it as the entrance music as former right fielder Paul O'Neill took at-bats in Yankee Stadium.
• The Toronto Blue Jays play this song during the away team's batting practice session before games at the Rogers Centre.
• The New Jersey Devils used the song to play with the montage on the opening night of the Prudential Center

Accolades

• It appears at #340 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
• It is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for being one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.^[1]

References

External links

• Lyrics