#tommydoesntknowwhatdayitis

NOT A CHRISTMAS RECORD—BUT HOLD ON, HERE WE HAVE A CHRISTMAS SONG, no. 5. The Who, Tommy. One year at the office Evan Finch (@shushmuckle) and I and others were prepping some Christmas rock songs to play at a meeting just for fun. We all suggested ones we might do (like, I enjoy singing obscure verses to songs like Jingle Bells [“...he laughed at me as I lay there and then he rode away, oh Jingle Bells etc.”] or the entirety of the very lengthy Old King Wenceslas). Evan said, “I want to do ‘Christmas’ from ‘Tommy.’” And I hadn’t really spent much time listening to those plot-driving songs from the rock opera since college but man, that is one catchy, catchy, catchy song. So melodic, “But Tommy doesn’t know-oh what day it is/He doesn’t know what heaven is or what prayin’ is...” And the backing vocals in the verses of the children being excited, I guess, that barking noise. I think we tried doing that honkbark thing and decided it was too confusing for people who don’t know “Tommy.” As for the rest of the album, some is so great—that off-kilter verse part of “I’m Free” is one of my all-time favorite noises from planet earth. Others, well, they’re plot-drivers but you don’t need to hear anything from Evil Uncle Ernie or Tommy’s bullying cousin or the other characters. Acid Queen is a pretty good rock song but then the “Underture” afterward is interminable. The Overture though is grrrrreat. And Entwhistle’s English horn makes it seem Christmassy! #tommycanyouhearme #thewhotommy #tommyrockopera #thewho #tommydoesntknowwhatdayitis (at Noblesville, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJNTVobrmX4/?igshid=z21i5m12cn7j