| "Won't Get Fooled Again" | ||||||||||
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| Single by The Who | ||||||||||
| from the album Who's Next | ||||||||||
| A-side | "Won't Get Fooled Again" | |||||||||
| B-side | "I Don't Even Know Myself" | |||||||||
| Released | 25 June 1971 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" Vinyl record | |||||||||
| Recorded | April–May 1971, Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, Stargroves, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom and Olympic Studios, London, England | |||||||||
| Genre | Rock | |||||||||
| Length | 8:32 3:38 (single edit) |
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| Label | Polydor (UK) MCA (USA) |
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| Writer(s) | Pete Townshend | |||||||||
| Producer | The Who, Glyn Johns (associate producer) | |||||||||
| The Who singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Won't Get Fooled Again" is a song by the rock band The Who which was written by Pete Townshend The original version of the song appears as the final track on the album Who's Next. The 1971 single release (a drastically edited version at three-and-a-half minutes in length) reached #9 on the UK Singles Chart, #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #14 on the Australian Singles Chart (Go-Set).[1] It is a perennial favorite on classic rock radio stations and concert staple for the band.
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The song originally appeared on the 1971 album Who's Next and has since appeared on various other recordings, including the live compilation soundtrack for The Kids Are Alright and its 1979 documentary film. The film performance of the song, which occurred on 25 May 1978 in Shepperton Studios, was also the last song the original lineup ever performed together, as Keith Moon died four months later.
The song was performed both at Live Aid and 20 years later at Live 8. Townshend also collaborated on a celebrated, live, acoustic duet version of the song with leading classical guitarist John Williams for the 1979 Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979). The Who's Next deluxe edition (released in 2003) contains an early session tape of this song with a different structure featuring Mountain's Leslie West on lead guitar.
Numerous live versions of this song have appeared on albums. In addition to The Kids Are Alright soundtrack, the most notable ones are on the Who's Next deluxe edition from the 1971 Young Vic show and on the Live At The Royal Albert Hall album (from a 2000 show with Noel Gallagher guesting). The band's performance of the song at 2001's The Concert for New York City was considered a highlight of that show.
Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle and Townshend have each performed the song at solo concerts. Townshend has most radically rearranged the song several times, using instrumentation varying from acoustic to techno.
The song was covered by Van Halen on their live album Live: Right Here, Right Now in 1993 and made it to number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. It was also covered by heavy metal guitarist Axel Rudi Pell and his band for their 2007 album Diamonds Unlocked.
The Who (featuring surviving original members Daltrey and Townshend) closed their set during the halftime show of Super Bowl XLIV with this song on February 7, 2010.
It is famous for its angular organ part set against guitar power chords, leading up to an extended synthesizer break into a drum entrance followed by a long scream by Daltrey. Townshend is playing block chords spread between the two keyboards of the 1968 Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ. The output of the organ is fed into the audio input of the EMS VCS 3 mk1 synth. The first bit of processing to be applied to the organ sound is a low-frequency oscillator (LFO) controlling the frequency of a voltage-controlled filter (VCF), using a sine or triangle wave shape. In other words, the synth is turning the tone of the organ from mellow to bright, up and down automatically. There are pictures of Townshend playing this instrument, as well as a video of Pete Townshend demonstrating how the sound was produced.[2] John Entwistle used a Fender Precision Bass that he made out of 5 other bass guitars, appropriately christened "Frankenstein".[3]
The song ranges from eight to nine minutes depending on the version; the original album version is approximately 8:32. A heavily shortened and edited single (3:38) was released for use on broadcast radio and appeared on some hit collections such as Who's Better, Who's Best.
Townshend stated in 2006 that: "It is not precisely a song that decries revolution – it suggests that we will indeed fight in the streets – but that revolution, like all action, can have results we cannot predict. Don't expect to see what you expect to see. Expect nothing and you might gain everything. The song was meant to let politicians and revolutionaries alike know that what lay in the centre of my life was not for sale, and could not be co-opted into any obvious cause. [...] From 1971 – when I wrote Won't Get Fooled Again – to 1985, there was a transition in me from refusal to be co-opted by activists, to a refusal to be judged by people I found jaded and compliant in Thatcher's Britain."[4]
Director Michael Moore wanted to play the song over the closing credits of Fahrenheit 9/11, but Townshend refused to allow him to do so, saying "[o]nce I had an idea what the film was about, I was 90% certain my song was not right for them." [5]
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 7 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 8 |
| UK Singles Chart | 9 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 15 |
In an April 2006 editorial for Time magazine, retired Lieutenant General Greg Newbold referenced the song, incorrectly labeling it an "antiwar anthem" that "conveyed a sense of betrayal by the nation's leaders, who had led our country into a costly and unnecessary war in Vietnam."[6] In 2004 it was ranked number 133 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
During the 2000 Republican convention, a record briefly played 'Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)', presumably as a taunt against its use by the 1992 Clinton campaign. The record then screeched to a halt, to be replaced by 'Won't Get Fooled Again' - or at least the refrain chorus. More cynical lyrics later in the song were not played.
The song, along with "Who Are You", formed part of The Who's Live 8 line-up, which they performed in Hyde Park, London on 2 July 2005 to over 200,000 onlookers. It was also performed at the original Live Aid in 1985, along with "My Generation," "Pinball Wizard" and "Love, Reign O'er Me".
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