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The second installment of song stories will focus in on one of my all time favorite bands, the UK's greatest export, The Who. "Who Are You" was the last great drumming performance ever recorded by the greatest rock drummer to have ever lived, Keith Moon.That's right I said it, and all you Peart and Bonham fans can feel free to plot my death and leave angry comments below. Until next time...



The Who - "Who Are You" (1978)
From the album Who Are You

Keith Moon may have been the greatest rock drummer to haveever lived. His exceptionally complicated and frenzied style of play wasn’t necessarily innovative, few drummers have actually tried to imitate the legend; it’s just that his overtly jazz style of playing was downright breathtaking behind Pete Townshend’s expertly penned rock tunes.

By 1977, Moon, Townshend and the rest of The Who were one of the most popular rock acts in all the land. The band drew rave reviews for their intense live shows and traveled the world in support of each subsequent album. Sadly, the more popular The Who became, the deeper Moon would fall into drug and alcohol addiction. In October of ’77 when the band headed into the studio to record their 8th album, Moon was battling serious health problems and was visibly overweight.

The Who would spend seven months recording Who Are You. It was an album in which Townshend would display some of the most challenging and complicated pieces he’d ever written. Despite the ambitious efforts that the rest of the band would put forth in the studio, Moon was barely visible during the recording of the album. His drumming is noticeably more subdued on the album and even completely absent on the song “Music Must Change” due to the fact that Moon was apparently unable to play in the 6/8 time signature that the song required. Oddly enough, Moon’s playing is as frantic and precise as ever on the last track of the album, the title-track “Who Are You.”

“Who Are You” was the only single released off of the album, which hit stores in August of 1978. It was a single that would eventually help the LP reach #2 on the Billboard charts, a milestone that Keith Moon would not be able to bask in. In September of ’78 Moon would be found dead after overdosing on prescription pills. “Who Are You” would become Moon’s last great recorded performance.

The song was much more than just Moon’s drumming though; it was one of Pete Townshend’s epic masterpieces, flowing with progressive grandeur while at the same time bathing in harmonic ecstasy. The original version of the song was a 6 minute 16 second long perfection of an album closer. But like most songs of an extended length, “Who Are You” would receive heavy radio edits. The first edit would chop the song to 5:06, while the US edit would butcher the song to 3:27.

The Townshend penned lyrics may seem vague at first listen, but beneath the high pitched “who, whos,” vocalist Roger Daltrey sings out a rather vivid retailing of a night in the life of Pete Townshend. The first verse states that after falling into a drunken unconsciousness outside a bar, Pete is awoken by a police officer who recognizes him and tells him that, “You can go sleep at home tonight if you can get up and walk away.”

The Subsequent verse and the chorus of “Who are you, who who” is an account of a spat Pete had with two members of the newly popular Sex Pistols that same night. Punk had become the counter culture by that time and was forcing modern rock and roll musicians to take a back stage among youth; this was apparently a concept that didn’t set very well with Townshend, as Daltry yells out in protest “Who the fuck are you?”

Fueled by Keith Moon’s passionate drumming performance, and sympathy towards his passing, the song would go on to become one of the most popular singles The Who ever had in America. After the death of Keith, The Who would carry on, recruiting friend Kenney Jones to fill in at drums. Not unexpectedly though, without Moon behind the kit, The Who would never again reach the creative output or fame found on Who Are You. Roger Daltrey once said that Moon’s drumming is what held the band together, saying that the rest of the band were the “needles” while Keith was “the wool.”

Slowly but surely the band fell apart without their wool, “Who Are You” being their last great mark on popular music. And for Moon, this was his glorious swan song.

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Comments (5)

July 02, 2008, Sean Kilkelly said:

	Great review of an awesome song by The Who. Definitely in my top 3 of Who songs!
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July 06, 2008, slappy jones said:

	Moon was indeed the greatest rock drummer ever...agreed.
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July 07, 2008, Saul Berenbaum said:

Oddly enough, I'm not that huge a fan of the song in particular, despite the Who being my all-time favorite band. I agree with the sentiments of Keith and I always airdrum along with the end solo on Won't Get Fooled Again, secure in the knowledge that while I can actually drum, and have an actual drum set, and know every beat of that solo by heart, there's no way in hell I could have come up with it, and there's no way in hell anyone else ever could.

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July 07, 2008, Tyler Barlass said:

	Saul, I think one of the reasons this song isn't always one of the favorites among big Who fans is CSI. That seriously ruined it for alot of people.
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July 08, 2008, J Kilter said:

	CSI also made A LOT of new fans. Keith Moon is my favorite drummer.
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