![]() ![]() The expletives, while not clearly enunciated and slightly obscured by Moon's drum fills, are nevertheless quite audible. The song is unusual in that it contains two instances of the word " fuck"-at 2:16 and 5:40 (at 2:14 and 4:27 in the single edit version)-yet has been played frequently in its entirety on rock radio stations (as compared to an edited form replacing it with "hell"). ![]() Additionally, a "lost verse" mix of the song was released on the 1996 reissue of Who Are You, with a completely different second verse: "I used to check my reflection / Jumping with my cheap guitar / I must have lost my direction, 'cause I ended up a superstar / One-nighters in the boardroom / Petrify the human brain / You can learn from my mistakes, but you're posing in the glass again." The album version includes a third verse compared to the much shorter single. The single mix contains an alternate acoustic guitar solo to the album mix. The song has since been featured on multiple compilation albums. "Who Are You" was released as a double-A side with the John Entwistle song, "Had Enough," but "Who Are You" was the more popular song, reaching the Top 20 in both the United States and UK. However, as explained by Townshend in his autobiography Who I Am, the last verse is about an early incident, that happened on the last North American leg of the 1971 tour: the day before the first concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, Townshend took the opportunity to visit the Meher Spiritual Center-a retreat owned by his guru Meher Baba-in nearby Myrtle Beach. ![]() Got drunk (well, I did) and I have to say to their credit, for a couple of figurehead anarchists, they seemed sincerely concerned about my decaying condition at the time. Roger's aggressive reading of my nihilistic lyric redirected its function by the simple act of singing "Who the fuck are you." when I had written "Who, who, who are you." Steve and Paul became real 'mates' of mine in the English sense. In one sense the song is more about the demands of new friendship than blood-letting challenge. "Who Are You" was written about meeting Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols after an awful 13-hour encounter with Allen Klein who, in my personal opinion, is the awesome rock leech-godfather. After going out drinking with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, Townshend was found in a " Soho doorway" by a policeman, who recognized him and said he would let him go if he could safely walk away. The lyrics of "Who Are You" were inspired by an incident Townshend experienced. Events preceding this performance inspired the last verse of "Who Are You". The Who performing in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1971. ![]()
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