Cousin Kevin
| "Cousin Kevin" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 "Cousin Kevin" cover | ||||
| Song by The Who from the album Tommy | ||||
| Released | 23 May 1969 | |||
| Recorded | September 19, 1968-March 7, 1969 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 4:03 | |||
| Label | Polydor, Track, Decca, MCA | |||
| Writer | John Entwistle | |||
| Producer | Kit Lambert | |||
| Tommy track listing | ||||
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'Cousin Kevin' was a song by The Who, The song was written by their Bassist John Entwistle. The song appears as the eighth track on the The Who's fourth album and their first Rock opera, Tommy (1969).[1] And in the film Tommy, it's used in the scene Cousin Kevin which is opened by the song Do You Think It's Alright? in which Nora and Frank leave Tommy with his sadistic cousin, Kevin. Paul Nicholas sings on Cousin Kevin and in the Scene and song Cousin Kevin on which he beats and tortures Tommy, but finds him not to be very fun, "'cause you're blind, deaf, and dumb".[2]
Song Background
According to John Entwistle, Pete Townshend commissioned him to write this song and "Fiddle About" during a discussion in Detroit during the "Magic Bus" tour, which would make it July 13, 1968. John Entwistle was sent off to "Write something horrible."[3]
John Entwistle said "I actually based Cousin Kevin on a boy who lived across the street. Our parents thought we should play together, and he was completely sadistic. Musically, I wanted the piece to sound both sinister and childish, so I came up with a kind of 'Chopsticks' theme on the piano to make it sound like a simple children's song."[4]
"Fiddle About" and "Cousin Kevin" were the only two songs on Tommy written by John Entwistle. When asked why he wrote the songs Fiddle About and Cousin Kevin
John Entwistle replied:
Pete said that there were two characters that he thought he himself couldn't do as good a job as me in describing. One was a homosexual uncle and the other was a cruel cousin, which were supposed to be two of Tommy's traumatic experiences, that and The Acid Queen. I found it so easy that I'd written "Fiddle About," with the character of Uncle Ernie, by the time I'd got back to the room. If I've got a subject, an idea for a song, then it comes almost immediately (Cousin Kevin).[5]
In an early song list, this song followed "Fiddle About" and was preceded by the bridge song "Cousin Kevin Model Child" which was finally released on the 1998 Odds & Sods CD. It was then followed by a song called "Dream (School Song)." "Cousin Kevin" was rarely performed in the live version.
John Entwistle sings the lead vocals with prominent harmony from Pete Townshend, which is often mistaken for the lead. The original LP has the vocals centered, the guitars in the left channel, and bass in the right. The remastered version has John's vocals in the center, Pete's vocals panned left and right, the 12-string guitar in the right channel, and the electric guitar in the left channel.
References
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