Track 7 from their eighth studio album “Who Are You” released in 1978 copyright MCA Records. It was recorded at the Who’s Ramport Studios and later at RAK Studios, both in London. It had been three years since their last album was released and the band had begun to drift apart. Keith Moon’s drug and alcohol abuse had increased to the point where it drastically affected his ability to play. Considered one of the greatest rock drummers ever, he had now become a runaway train. He died three weeks after the album was released, when after returning home from a party hosted by Paul and Linda McCartney, he ingested thirty-two sedatives he was prescribed to treat symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. The quantity of medication consumed suggests suicide but we’ll never know. The album received mixed reviews but was very successful, reaching No. 6 in the U.K. and No. 2 on the Billboard chart. It achieved Gold status in the U.K. and 2X Platinum status in the U.S. and Canada. Written by Pete Townshend and produced by Glyn Johns & Jon Astley. RIP Keith Moon, Ted Astley & John Entwistle. Featuring:
Roger Daltry – Lead vocals & percussion
Pete Townshend – Lead, rhythm & acoustic guitars, piano, synthesizers & background vocals, co-lead vocal on “Sister Disco”
John Entwistle – Bass, synthesizer & background vocals, lead vocal on “905” & horns on “Had Enough” and “Music Must Change”
Keith Moon – Drums & percussion
Special Guests:
Rod Argent – Synthesizer on “Had Enough,” piano on “Who Are You,” keyboards on “Guitar and Pen” and “Love is Coming Down”
Andy Fairweather-Low – Background vocals
Ted Astley – String arrangements
Billy Nicholls – Background vocals
Michael Nicholls – Background vocals
You're alone above the street somewhere
Wonderin' how you'll ever count out there
You can walk, you can talk, you can fight
But inside you've got something to write
In your hand you hold your only friend
Never spend your guitar or your pen
(Your guitar or your pen, your guitar or your pen)
(Your guitar or your pen, your guitar or your pen)
When you take up a pencil and sharpen it up
When you're kicking the fence and still nothing will budge
When the words are immobile until you sit down
Never feel they're worth keepin', they're not easily found
Then you know in some strange, unexplainable way
You must really have something, jumping, thumping
Fighting, hidin' away important to say
When you sing through the verse and you end in a scream
And you swear and you curse 'cause the rhymin' ain't clean
But it suddenly comes after years of delay
You pick up your guitar, you can suddenly play
When your fingers are bleeding and the knuckles are white
Then you can be sure, you can open the door
Get off of the floor tonight, you have something to write
When you wanna complain, there's no one can stop you
But when your music proclaims, there's no one can top you
You are wearin' your heart on your jumpin' feet
You got a head start away from the street
But is that what you want, to be rich and be gone?
Could be there's just one thing left in the end
Your guitar and your pen
When you sing to your Mum and you hum and you croon
And she says that she'd like it "with more of a tune"
And you smash your guitar at the end of the bed
Then you stick it together, start writin' again
And you know that it won't be too long till your back
Here to bring her some money, she's callin' you "honey"
Stashed in a bloody great sack in your Cadillac
You're alone, you're alone
You're alone above the street somewhere
Wonderin' how you'll ever count out there
You can walk, you can talk, you can fight
But inside you've got something to write
In your hand you hold your only friend
Never spend your guitar or your pen
(Your guitar or your pen, your guitar or your pen)
(Your guitar or your pen, your guitar or your pen)
(Your guitar or your pen, your guitar or your pen)
(Your guitar or your pen, your guitar or your pen)
(Never spend your guitar or your pen)
