WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN

"'Won't Get Fooled Again'" is a rock song by the British rock band The Who, composed by band member Pete Townshend.

Contents

History

Extramusical history

Media usage

Live 8

Parodies

Accolades

References

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. 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.
Pete 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 Pete playing this instrument.
The song is quite long, ranging from eight to nine minutes depending on the version (The original album version being about 8:32). A heavily shortened and edited single (3:38) was also released for use on broadcast radio and appeared on some hit collections such as Who's Better, Who's Best.
Pete Townshend wrote this as part of his Lifehouse Project^[1]. He wanted to release a double-album and film about a world where the people are oppressed, but saved by a rock concert. Part of Townshend's wish was to show the power of music and how it reflects the people. "Won't Get Fooled Again" is about a revolution. In the first verse, there is an uprising. In the middle, they overthrow those in power, but in the end, the new regime becomes just like the old one ("Meet the new boss, same as the old boss").
This was the last song that Keith Moon performed with The Who on May 25th 1978 in Shepperton Studios. The song was performed both at Live Aid and 20 years later at Live 8. Composer Pete 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 the highlight of that show.
Roger Daltrey's climactic scream is often cited as one of the greatest moments in rock history.^[2][3][4][5]
The song was covered by Van Halen on their live album in 1993. It eventually made it to #1 on the Rock Charts.

Extramusical history

The song was banned in South Korea until the emergence of democracy there in the early 1990s; copies of ''Who's Next'' sold there omitted it.
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]
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."^[7]

Media usage

"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. It later became the theme song for the CBS television series ''. It was also used as background music throughout the documentary Supersize Me by Morgan Spurlock.
This song is also used twice in the film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.
The beginning of the song, featuring the synthesiser solo, is often played prior to the 1st inning at Yankee Stadium, the home of the New York Yankees baseball team. It is also traditionally played at Alumni Stadium as the Boston College Eagles football team takes the field. J.T. Snow used this song as his introduction music when he played for the San Francisco Giants. The Arizona Diamondbacks use the closing riff of the song when a home run is hit in Chase Field. The song was also used in commercials for the BBC's coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The song was used as intro music for the AFC Champions, the Indianapolis Colts, for Super Bowl XLI.The ending riff is used at Rutgers Stadium when the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team scores.
Michael Moore requested 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." However, permission was refused, 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''.^[8] Philadelphia-based DJ Pierre Robert of WMMR regularly plays the song with the Bush clip preceding it on his radio show.
An excerpt of the song was used in ''Confessions of a Dangerous Mind'' when Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) and Jim Byrd (George Clooney) discussed over the music how there was a mole in their operation.
This song was used during the intro to Zero Skateboard's "Dying to Live" video.
The synthezier part was used in the movie '' Blackball''
This song was also used in an introductory video to CBC's Hockey Night In Canada in a NHL playoff game involving the Vancouver Canucks.
The song will also be featured as a master track in the upcoming video game, '' Rock Band''.

Live 8

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 July 2, 2005 to over 200,000 onlookers. It was also performed at the original Live Aid in 1985, along with "Love, Reign O'er Me", "My Generation" and "Pinball Wizard".

Parodies

"Weird Al" Yankovic performed an unreleased parody of this song titled "Won't Eat Prunes Again."^[9]
Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff have a parody, with the same title as the original, about computer operating systems. It is on the CD "Retro Rocket Science".

Accolades

★ #27 on Canada's leading classic rock station's, 500 greatest rock songs of all time. [1]

★ #1 Conservative rock song [2]

★ #7, ''Q'' magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks

★ #12 on DigitalDreamDoor's list of the Greatest Rock Songs of All Time [3]

★ #17 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs [4]

★ #133, list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

★ Chosen as the very first song for Blender Magazine's ''The Greatest Songs Ever!'' series.^[10]

References

1. http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/projects/lifehouse/life_main_back.html Lifehouse Project
2. vintagerock.com
3. Great Rock Moments
4. BBC
5. Squidoo 100 Greatest Songs
6. www.time.com
7. article.nationalreview.com
8. news.bbc.co.uk
9. com-www.com/weirdal/
10. Blender Magazine