Won't Get Fooled Again

"Won't Get Fooled Again"
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	Hard rock
Length	8:32 3:38 (single edit)
Label	Polydor (UK) MCA (USA)
Writer(s)	Pete Townshend
Producer	The Who, Glyn Johns (associate producer)
The Who singles chronology
"See Me, Feel Me"/"Overture" (1970) "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971) "Let's See Action" (1971)
Who's Next track listing "Behind Blue Eyes" (8) "Won't Get Fooled Again" (9)

"Won't Get Fooled Again" is a song by the rock band The Who. Written by Pete Townshend, it combines guitar power chords with heavily processed organ and synthesizer sounds to create a textured, atmospheric introduction that explodes into the verse. It tells of a "revolution of revolutions" in an endless cycle, where "the change it had to come, we knew it all along" but each successive new regime turns out to be just like the old one, so that straight away it's time once again to "pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday, then I'll get on my knees and pray we don't get fooled again".

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]

History

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, the 1979 documentary film about the band, which in the 1978 Shepperton film studios shoot, was the last song the original lineup ever performed together.

This was the last song that Keith Moon performed with The Who on 25 May 1978 in Shepperton Studios. 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.

The song was sampled by rock singer Tina Turner during the opening sequence for Acid Queen on Turner's 2008/09 50th Anniversary Tour.

Composition

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.

Political message

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]

Legacy

In a May 2005, article for the National Review, political reporter John J. Miller chose the song as #1 on his list of "the greatest conservative rock songs," saying, "The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song."^[5]

In an April 2006, editorial for Time magazine, retired Lieutenant General Greg Newbold referenced the song, calling 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]

Media usage

This "In popular culture" section may contain too many minor or trivial references. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture rather than simply listing appearances, and remove trivia references. (August 2009)

Film and television

"Won't Get Fooled Again" has been featured in several feature films, including Summer of Sam, Outside Providence, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Bewitched, Blackball, and twice in the film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

Michael Moore requested permission to use the song over the end credits of his 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, as it tied in with both Moore's sentiments over George W. Bush's impending re-election, and the movie's last line, delivered by Bush — "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." Permission was refused, however, and Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" was ultimately used instead. Townshend later said that Moore "bullied" him about his refusal, and defended his decision by saying that he was "not convinced" by Moore's previous film, Bowling for Columbine.^[7] Philadelphia-based DJ Pierre Robert of WMMR regularly plays the song with the Bush clip preceding it on his radio show.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" was featured in a commercial for the 2000 Nissan Maxima, and, later that same year, used on The Simpsons in episode BABF20 ("A Tale of Two Springfields"), in which The Who guest starred.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" became the theme song for the CBS television series CSI: Miami. Also, episode 2 of season 7 is titled "Won't Get Fueled Again." Each episode of the series opens with a teaser usually ending with star David Caruso making a dramatic statement and cutting immediately to Daltrey's scream. This has become a well-parodied segment.

Sports

Several sporting franchises including the Arizona Diamondbacks, the New York Yankees, the St. Louis Rams, the Boston College Eagles, the San Francisco Giants, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights, the Buffalo Sabres, the Adirondack Phantoms, the Indianapolis Colts, the New York Islanders and the Kansas City Royals have used the excerpts of the song in connection with their games or advertising.

The end of the song was played at Citizens Bank Park immediately after the Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series. An appropriate song given the frustration of Philadelphia sports teams being close to winning championships before, only to collapse in the end.

The song was also used in commercials for the BBC's coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Video games

The song is featured in the music video game Rock Band and is used as the final, and hardest drum song the player must beat on Solo Career mode.

A cover of the song is also playable in Rock Revolution.

The Sky Runner theme in the video game EarthBound is based on the song.

Live 8 & Live Aid

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".

Covers

German guitarist Axel Rudi Pell covered this song on his solo album Diamonds Unlocked.

Accolades

• #26 on Canadian classic rock station Q107's 500 greatest rock songs of all time.^[8]
• #1 Conservative rock song^[9]
• #7, Q magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks
• #17 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs^[10]
• Chosen as the very first song for Blender Magazine's The Greatest Songs Ever! series.^[11]
• 133rd greatest song by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
• In 2009, it was named the sixth greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.^[12]

References

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