Won't get Fooled Again - The Who (1971) 1/23/21

Pete Townshend wrote today's “Great Song of the '70s” for The Who's OTHER rock opera...“Lifehouse,” the follow-up to “Tommy.”

The opera was designed to be a tribute to the teachings of Indian religious master Meher Baba and musician/Sufism guru Iniyat Kahn. (Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam), and

highlight the theory that spiritual enlightenment could be obtained via a combination of band and audience.

“Won't Get Fooled Again” was intended to be the opera's finale, but unfortunately, the project was never completed.

Luckily, however, the song survived as an 8-minute album cut on the Who's 1971 album, “Whos Next?” When it was shortened and released as a single, it did extremely well in several countries: #7 in Canada, #8 in The Netherlands. #9 in the UK, and #15 in the US.

Rolling Stone Magazine ranks it at #134 on their list of the “Top 500 Songs of All Time!”

In 1993, Van Halen released a dynamite live version on their album, “Right Here, Right Now,” with Eddie playing all the synthesizer parts on guitar. Of course, it went straight to #1 on Billboard's seldom mentioned, but highly influential Album Rock Tracks chart!

And the song is still popular today. In 2019, Townshend and Roger Daltrey visited “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” where they joined Jimmy & The Roots for a cool version played on classroom instruments!

“Won't Get Fooled Again:” The rock opera didn't work out, but the song certainly did, becoming a “Great Song of the '70s ('90s, and '10s)!”

The Who:

Van Halen: