The Who’s Pete Townshend wrote many famous songs in his career, but there’s one song that made him feel embarrassed, as he disclosed in the liner notes of the 2003 ‘Tommy’ reissue.
Although the track did well in sales and was a constant favorite at concerts among Who fans because of its catchy pop style and familiarity, the musician was not satisfied with ‘Pinball Wizard’ from the band’s 1969 rock opera album, ‘Tommy.’ He said the following about the song:
“The most clumsy piece of writing I’ve ever done. I’m embarrassed. This sounds like a Music Hall song. ‘Sure plays a mean pinball.’ I scribbled it out, and all the verses were the same length, and there was no kind of middle eight. It was going to be a complete dud, but I carried on.”
He further detailed how he came up with ‘Pinball Wizard,’ explaining:
“I attempted the same mock baroque guitar beginning that’s on ‘I’m a Boy,’ and then a bit of vigorous kind of flamenco guitar. I was grabbing at ideas. I knocked a demo together and took it to the studio, and everyone loved it.”
In another account, as they were finishing up the recording of ‘Tommy,’ Townshend played the songs they had so far to rock journalist Nik Cohn. Cohn loved pinball, and he wasn’t thrilled with the album. To win him over, the guitarist had a plan. He told Uncut in 2004:
“I just remember saying to him, with maybe an element of sarcasm, ‘So, if it had pinball in it, would you give it a decent review?’ He went, ‘Of course I would. Anything with pinball in it’s fantastic.’ And so I wrote ‘Pinball Wizard,’ purely as a scam.”
This song is popular at Who concerts and has been played at almost every one since May 2, 1969. They usually stick to the original version when playing it live, with an occasional jam at the end that might lead to another song.
You can listen to it below.
