Why did The Who write Won't Get Fooled Again?

Answer 1

The song was originally intended for a rock Opera called 'Lifehouse'. Lifehouse was supposed to be a successor to Tommy and was set in the future where everyone's lives are under control by the government, but they are liberated in a revolution when the young people rediscover rock 'n' roll. In the end, Pete Townshend gave up on it and put the songs he had written from it onto Who's Next, an album of unrelated songs.

The song was set at the end of the story, where the oppressive government is overthrown but in reality the revolutionaries accomplish very little and the new regime is no better than the old. How many times has this happened? The French overthrew King Louis XVI and they got Robbespierre and Napolean, the Russians overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and got Lenin and Stalin, the English overthrew King Charles I and got Oliver Cromwell, the Chinese overthrew Chiang Kai-Shek and got Chairman Mao... it doesn't say revolution is wrong but it does warn of unexpected results.