| "Baba O'Riley" | ||||||||||
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| Single by The Who | ||||||||||
| from the album Who's Next | ||||||||||
| B-side | "My Wife" | |||||||||
| Released | November 1971 | |||||||||
| Format | 45 R.P.M. | |||||||||
| Recorded | May 1971 at Olympic Studios in London, England[1] | |||||||||
| Genre | Hard rock | |||||||||
| Length | 5:05 | |||||||||
| Label | Decca (US) Polydor (UK) |
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| Writer(s) | Pete Townshend | |||||||||
| Producer | The Who, Glyn Johns | |||||||||
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"Baba O'Riley" is a song written by Pete Townshend for the English rock band The Who. Roger Daltrey sings most of the song, with Pete Townshend singing the middle eight: "Don't cry/don't raise your eye/it's only teenaged wasteland". The title of the song is derived from this combination of the song's philosophical and musical influences: Meher Baba and Terry Riley.[2]
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Townshend originally wrote "Baba O'Riley" for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera that was to be the follow-up to The Who's 1969 opera, Tommy. The song was derived from a nine minute demo, which the band reconstructed.[3] "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 United States and the United Kingdom 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 plays a violin in the studio recording. 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.
The violin solo in the coda of the song is based on Indian classical music as homage to Meher Baba, the Indian mystic who inspired this song.
The song's backing track was derived from deep within the Lifehouse concept. Townshend wanted to input the life information of Meher Baba into a synthesizer, which would then generate music based on that information. That music would have been the backing track for "Baba O'Riley," but in the end, the frenetic sequence - which resembles the clattering of a Roulette wheel - was played by Townshend on a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ using its marimba repeat feature.[4] This modal approach used for the synthesizer track was inspired by the work of minimalist composer Terry Riley. The names of Riley and Meher Baba were incorporated into the song title as a tribute by Townshend. 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 later resurrected as The Lifehouse Method).
"Baba O'Riley" was initially 30 minutes in length and was planned to be used during the concerts at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England. When Who's Next was being arranged "Baba O'Riley" was edited down to only the "high points" of the track.[5] The other parts of the song appeared on the third disc Pete Townshend's Lifehouse Chronicles as "Baba M1 (O'Riley 1st Movement 1971)" and "Baba M2 (2nd Movement Part 1 1971)".
"Baba O'Riley" is often mistakenly called "Teenage Wasteland" after the phrase repeated throughout the song. "Teenage Wasteland" was in fact a working title for the song in its early incarnations as part of the Lifehouse project, but eventually became the title for a different but related song by Townshend, which is slower and features more lyrics.[6] A version of "Teenage Wasteland" is featured on the Lifehouse Chronicles, a six disc set of music related to the Lifehouse project, and on several Townshend compilations and videos.
It is the official theme song of competitive eater, Joey Chestnut.
"Baba O'Riley" appears at #340 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[7] The song is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for being one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.[8] A remixed version of the song was used as the theme song for the popular TV program CSI: NY. Each CSI show used a Who song as its theme; the song was also used in one episode of House MD. "Baba O'Riley" is played during player introductions for the Los Angeles Lakers during home games at the Staples Center.[9] The song is played prior to live UFC events during a highlight package showing some of the most famous fights in the mixed martial arts company's history.[10]
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Singles Chart | 11[11] |