Pinball Wizard

"Pinball Wizard"
Single by The Who
from the album Tommy
B-side	"Dogs (Part Two)"
Released	7 March 1969 (UK) 22 March 1969 (US)
Recorded	7 February 1969 at Morgan Studios, London, UK
Genre	Hard rock, art rock
Length	2:57
Label	Polydor (UK) Decca (US)
Writer(s)	Pete Townshend
Producer(s)	Kit Lambert
The Who singles chronology
"Magic Bus" (1968) "Pinball Wizard" (1969) "I'm Free" (1969)
Tommy track listing 24 tracks Side one "Overture" "It's a Boy" "1921" "Amazing Journey" "Sparks" "The Hawker" Side two "Christmas" "Cousin Kevin" "The Acid Queen" "Underture" Side three "Do You Think It's Alright?" "Fiddle About" "Pinball Wizard" "There's a Doctor" "Go to the Mirror!" "Tommy Can You Hear Me?" "Smash the Mirror" "Sensation" Side four "Miracle Cure" "Sally Simpson" "I'm Free" "Welcome" "Tommy's Holiday Camp" "We're Not Gonna Take It"

	"Pinball Wizard" The Who's "Pinball Wizard" from Tommy (rock opera) "Pinball Wizard" Elton John's "Pinball Wizard" from Tommy (1975 film)
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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 album Tommy. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts and No. 19 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

The B-side of the "Pinball Wizard" single is an instrumental credited to Keith Moon, titled "Dogs (Part Two)". Despite similar titles it has no musical connection to The Who's 1968 UK single "Dogs".

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: "What makes him so good?; He ain't got no distractions; Can't hear those buzzers and bells; Don't see lights a flashin'; Plays by sense of smell.; Always has a replay; Never tilts at all; That deaf dumb and blind kid; Sure plays a mean pin ball.", 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 commercial success and one of the most recognised tunes from the opera. It was a perpetual concert favourite for Who fans due to its pop sound and familiarity.

Position on the album

The song was introduced into Tommy as an afterthought. 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. The song "Pinball Wizard" was written and recorded almost immediately. The single version was slightly speeded up and runs to 2:57, whilst the natural length album version runs to 3:01.

Live performances

This song is one of the band's most famous live songs, being played at almost every Who concert since its debut live performance on 2 May 1969. The live performances rarely deviated from the album arrangement, save for an occasional jam at the end sometimes leading to another song. Bootleg recordings show that this song has been known to last as long as 8 minutes (at a concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 3 February 1981), although live versions lasting as long as that are extremely rare.

Elton John version

"Pinball Wizard"
Single by Elton John
from the album Tommy
B-side	"Harmony"
Released	1976
Recorded	1975
Genre	Hard rock, glam rock
Length	5:14
Label	DJM (UK) MCA (US)
Writer(s)	Pete Townshend
Producer(s)	Gus Dudgeon
Elton John singles chronology
"Grow Some Funk of Your Own" (1976) "Pinball Wizard" (1976) "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (1976)

The song was performed by Elton John in Ken Russell's 1975 film adaptation of Tommy. This version was released as a single in 1975 in the US, and in 1976 in the UK, where it reached number 7. John's version uses a piano as the song's centerpiece in place of the acoustic guitar in the original (in the film, John's character is shown playing his pinball machine via a small piano keyboard), and features additional lyrics specially written by Townshend for the movie version, as well as a subtle inclusion of musical phrases from The Who's 1960s hit "I Can't Explain" during the outro (similarly, The Who's later cover of John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" included parts of "Take Me to the Pilot"). Unlike most of the soundtrack's music, which featured various combinations of The Who and some of the era's best session players, John used his own band (Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper) and producer Gus Dudgeon for the track. John has performed the song as part of his Las Vegas Red Piano Show, as well as on various tours. To date, it is the only cover of a Who song to reach the top 10.

Personnel

• Ray Cooper – tambourine, congas
• Davey Johnstone – acoustic and electric guitars, backing vocals
• Elton John – piano, vocals
• Dee Murray – bass, backing vocals
• Nigel Olsson – drums, backing vocals

Other cover versions

• 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 a film version of "Tommy." John replied no way, "Don't touch it with a barge pole." A year later, The Who asked John to sing the same song, and he agreed. "I don't think Rod's quite forgiven me for that," he commented years later.
• The song was featured in a medley with another song from Tommy ("See Me, Feel Me") in a recording by the British pop group The New Seekers in 1973. This version reached No. 16 on the UK charts. In the same year, this medley was covered by the Shadows, in instrumental version, on "Rocking with Curly Leads"
• In 1977, Barry Williams performed the song during a "Songs from Movies" medley on an episode of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.^[2]
• The London Symphony Orchestra recorded a version of the song on its 1978 album Classic Rock: The Second Movement to which Pete Townshend contributed vocals.

In popular culture

• Bruce Springsteen refers to the song in his song, 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy). In the first verse, he sings, "As the wizards play down on Pinball Way on the boardwalk way past dark."
• The track is featured on the video games Rock Band 2, Rock Band Unplugged and Karaoke Revolution: American Idol Encore 2, as well as on The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard.^[3]

References