The Who’s Pete Townshend: Not the Left’s Fool
Being a college student in the early ’70s, The Who was right up there on our “must see” concert list. I have often thought of them in the last few years, as their famous lyrics “won’t get fooled again” continued to pop up in my mind (usually on a daily basis.) For me, that one line resonates more than any other.
Seeing them on the Superbowl half time stage commanded my full attention and arose me from my football-and-queso-dip coma. They were playing my song! I knew what it meant to me, but I have often wondered what Townshend had intended when he wrote it. I decided to Google it this morning.
Apparently, John J. Miller had discussed this very song back in 2006 for National Review. At the time, he said:
The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naïve idealism once and for all.
Townshend heard about it, and this was his response, from an interview in the Pennsylvania Times Leader:
National Review magazine called “Won’t Get Fooled Again” the greatest conservative rock song of all time. Townshend says that’s “on the money.” The self-described “working musician” who sees his job as “helping the audience to forget themselves,” says he never really bought into “all that hippie (expletive) I so despise.”
And, Townshend says, “when people say ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ is not about rebellion, it’s the exact opposite of that, I say they’re right.”
I love the great observation made by Thomas Ryan from American Hit Radio:
Some were offended by his inability to lay back and accept the hippie agenda at face value, but time may have proven Townshend to be the wiser. Once the smokescreen of rhetoric and posturing dissipated, the politics of youth were revealed to be as one-dimensional and muddled as the values they were rallying against. In 1967, the dream was fresh and new, but by 1970 it had become little more than a deceitful memory.
Reading over the complete lyrics of the song, you can take a lot from it. For me, as I keep plugging along, trying to keep from getting disillusioned with the daily influx of insanity coming from this radical administration and the progressives now in office, I’ll try to bring the song up in my mind, the new anthem to keep me going.
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
—
Michelle is a small business owner in south Texas.
Yes. To everything you said!
I will think of Pete Townshend a little differently now.
What a great spokesman for the conservative cause Pete would be except for that pesky child porn charge. Oh well……
There's some question about the validity of that charge; see…
http://www.current-movie-reviews.com/music/2010/0...
Read the comments after the article. Looks like Pete was exonerated.
nick you should research the child porn charge further – townshend is innocent and a voice for the children – he was doing research and after accessing the site he immediately reported what he saw to the authorities – during this time he was supporting child abuse charities and the such – its a shame what happened to the man.
My favorite line is the last one: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Hey Nick,
Islam built a religion around a known pedophile & murderer but that seems to get a pass from you and it's billion plus followers. How odd?
Wait, wait, you didn't understand! That charge is what the left will jump on to denigrate any ideas Pete may have! I'm totally with you!
I just want to add that I can speak with a bit of authority on Pete Townsend's character here.
I actually did trust Pete Townsend with my little son over the New York run of "Tommy" – with, of course, no problems whatsoever.
Pete has been genuinely concerned about child molestation – check out the scene "Fiddle About" from "Tommy" if you doubt this.
They'll still accuse him of any dirt they can sling, of course.
Just remember, folks – it's their own garbage they're throwing, not his.
Pete's finest political moment was at Woodstock. Between songs, Abbie Hoffman got up on stage and started ranting about John Sinclair. Pete clobbered him with his guitar, then shoved him off the stage, saying, "F*** of my stage!" Accounts vary of the incident, but there is an audio recording of it.
I read the National Review piece (and was telling someone about it on Sunday) when it was first published. I had always wondered what Pete's take on it was. I'm glad to know that he agreess.
That's one of my favorite songs too. I find myself singing it a lot, not thinking too much about the words, but what prompts the tune to get started again in my mind again is usually the same sentiment.