Pinball Wizard
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| “Pinball Wizard” | |||||
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| Single by The Who from the album Tommy |
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| B-side | "Dogs, Part Two" | ||||
| Released | March 7, 1969 | ||||
| Recorded | February 7, 1969 at Morgan Studios, London, UK | ||||
| Genre | Rock Hard rock |
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| Length | 3:01 | ||||
| Label | Polydor Decca (U.S.) |
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| Writer(s) | Pete Townshend | ||||
| Producer | Kit Lambert | ||||
| The Who singles chronology | |||||
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| Tommy track listing | |||||
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"Pinball Wizard" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the English rock band The Who, and featured on their 1969 rock opera Tommy. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached #4 in the UK charts.
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[edit] Story
The lyrics are written from the perspective of a pinball champion, called "Local Lad" in the Tommy libretto book, astounded by the skills of the opera's eponymous main character, Tommy Walker: "That deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball", and "I thought I was the Bally table king, but I just handed my pinball crown to him."
Townshend once called it "the most clumsy piece of writing [he'd] ever done"[1]; nevertheless, the song was a gigantic commercial success and one of the most recognized tunes from the opera. It was a perpetual concert favorite for Who fans due to its pop sound and familiarity.
[edit] Position on the album
The song was introduced into Tommy as an afterthought[citation needed]. In late 1968 or early 1969, when The Who played a rough assembly of their new album to critic Nik Cohn, Cohn gave a lukewarm reaction. Following this, Townshend, as Tommy's principal composer, discussed the album with Cohn and concluded that, to lighten the load of the rock opera's heavy spiritual overtones (Townshend had recently become deeply interested in the teachings of Meher Baba), the title character, a "deaf, dumb, and blind" boy, should also be particularly good at a certain game. Knowing Cohn was an avid pinball fan, Townshend suggested that Tommy would play pinball, and Cohn immediately declared Tommy to be a masterpiece[citation needed]. The song "Pinball Wizard" was written and recorded almost immediately.
[edit] Covers
The song was featured in a medley with another song from Tommy ("See Me, Feel Me") in a recording by the British easy-listening pop group The New Seekers in 1973. This version reached #16 on the UK charts.
The song was performed by musician Elton John in Ken Russell's 1975 theatrical adaptation of Tommy. This version was released as a single in 1975 in the US, and in 1976 in the UK, where it reached #7 in the latter year. Elton John's version uses a piano in the place of the acoustic guitar in the original, and features additional lyrics specially written for the movie by Townshend, as well as a short sample of The Who's earlier "I Can't Explain". John continues to perform the song in his Las Vegas Red Piano Show and on tour. To date, it is the only cover of a Who song to reach the top ten.
Rod Stewart performed the song for the 1972 orchestral version of Tommy, and it is included on several of Stewart's greatest hits compilations. According to the book The Duh Awards by Bob Fenster, Rod Stewart asked Elton John if he should accept an offer to sing in Tommy. Elton told him no way, "Don't touch it with a barge pole." A year later, The Who asked Elton John to sing the same song. Elton grabbed his barge pole and took the offer. "I don't think Rod's quite forgiven me for that," he commented years later.
The song was also performed by Tenacious D as the closing song at shows on their 2006-2007 tour, usually as part of a medley of Tommy songs.
On the TV show Rock Star: Supernova, Storm Large sung Pinball Wizard as her opening song on the first Live week as well as being the First to Sing
McFly covered the song in 2005. It was given a video and used as a b-Side.
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
A live version of the song, sung by Pete Townshend, aired on The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite Radio. During the song, Howard Stern commented, "Poor bastard can't even sing his own songs. But there's something cool about him not being able to do it and trying." Howard's sidekick, Robin Quivers, agreed, "Yeah, it makes him human," Adding, "But, Roger really rocks this!" (referring to Roger Daltrey the lead singer for The Who) [2]
On a 1999 episode of the children's science program ZOOM on PBS, it was played on one of the children playing pinball on one of the videos and used the song over it.
In the Elton John film clip of the Pinball Wizard song (featuring The Who playing on the stage with Roger Daltry as Tommy), Elton is playing a Gottlieb "Buckaroo" from 1965, while Tommy (Roger) is playing a Gottlieb "Kings and Queens", also from 1965. The Buckaroo has an animated mechanical horse in the backglass, a glimpse of which can be seen towards the end of the song. Elton's Buckaroo has been customised with a keyboard mounted on the lockdown bar.
This is one of Karl Pilkington's favourite songs as he only likes a 'song with a story'. Pinball Wizard was featured on the Ricky Gervais radio show on XFM, although, he doesn't see how a 'deaf, dumb and blind kid' plays pinball. He says he wouldn't even know he was playing pinball. Why put money in the machine? [3]
On the 21st of April, 2007, Pinball Wizard was the group song on the reality TV show Any Dream Will Do.
The song is referenced in Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's song "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", with the lyrics "And the wizards play down on Pinball Way on the boardwalk way past dark".
The song was also featured during the Toronto Argonauts home games every time Running Back Michael "Pinball" Clemons was involved with an important play.
Brice Mellen of Sioux City Nebraska is a real-life analog to the Tommy character. Blind since birth from Leber's disease, Mellen excels at a variety of video games and plans to study video-game design in college. [1]
[edit] References
- ^ Remaster Liner Notes to Tommy "Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy" by Richard Barnes
- ^ The Howard Stern Show, Sirius Satellite Radio, 17 April 2007
- ^ The Ricky Gervais Show, XFM London, 18 June 2005: http://www.pilkipedia.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=18_June_2005
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