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The Who Baba O'Riley Lyrics Information:
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BABA O'RILEY1a-1d
Written by: Peter Townshend 234
Producer: The Who
Associate Producer & Engineer: Glyn Johns
Executive Procucers: Kit Lambert, Chris Stamp & Pete Kameron
Performed by: The Who 56
First released: 7
Single: November 1971 (Europe only)
Album: July 31, 1971
1a The title of this song, "Baba O'Reily," is taken from the name of two men, Meher Baba 2 , also
known as Avatar 3 and Terry Riley 4 , both men's philosophical and musical practices influenced
Pete Townshend's songwriting for many years.
1b Townshend originally wrote "Baba O'Riley" for his Lifehouse project, which was supposed to be
the follow-up to Tommy, a full-length rock opera and a landmark in modern music. In addition to
commercial success, Tommy became a critical smash, Life Magazine said, "...for sheer power,
invention and brilliance of performance, Tommy outstrips anything which has ever come out of a
recording studio," and Melody Maker magazine declared, "Surely The Who are now the band against
which all others are to be judged." The Who, an English band, performed much of Tommy at the 1969,
Woodstock Music and Art Festival, in Bethel, New York. That, and the ensuing film, catapulted The
Who's popularity in the US. "Baba O'Riley" was going to be used in the Lifehouse project as a song
sung by a Scottish farmer, as he gathers his wife and his two children to begin their exodus to London.
When the Lifehouse project was scrapped, many of the songs were released on The Who's 1971 album, Who's Next. "Baba O'Riley" was released as a single in several European countries, but not in the
United States or the United Kingdom, where it was released as part of the album only.
1c "Baba O'Riley" is often called "Teenage Wasteland," after the phrase that is repeated throughout the
song's chorus. "Teenage Wasteland" was, in fact, a working title for this song in its early incarnations,
but eventually became the title for a different, but related, song by Townshend. A version of "Teenage
Wasteland" is featured on the 6-CD set, The Lifehouse Chronicles, and on several of Townshend's album
compilations and videos.
1d Since "Baba O'Riley" was not issued as a single in the United States, it didn't qaulify for
Billboard's Hot 100 chart, songs had to be issued and played as singles up until the mid-'80s in order to
qualify. However, it has been listed at #340 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for being one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll,
and has been a perennial favorite on classic rock radio stations as well as a concert staple for the band.
The song is also well known as the TV theme tune for CSI: NY.
2 Meher Baba, born Merwan Sheriar Irani, on February 25, 1894-died January 31, 1969, was an Indian
mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar 4 of the age.
3 In Hinduism, Avatar, or in Sanskrit, Avatara, means descended from heaven to earth, or to cross over.
It usually implies a deliberate descent from higher spiritual realms to lower realms of existence for special
purposes. Avatars are thought of as a Supreme Being and possess superhuman qualities. The word is often
translated into English as incarnation.
4 Terrence Mitchell Riley, born in Colfax, California, US, on June 24, 1935, is an American composer
associated with the minimalist school of music. He earned an MA in composition at the University of
California, and was most influenced by one of his teachers, Pandit Pran Nath (1918–1996), a master of
Indian classical voice. Riley made numerous trips to India over the course of their association to
study and to accompany Nath on the tabla, tambura, and voice. Throughout the 1960s Riley traveled
frequently around Europe as well, taking in musical influences and supporting himself by playing in
piano bars, until he joined the Mills College faculty in 1971 to teach Indian classical music.
5 Personnel performing on this recording:
* Roger Daltrey (lead guitar, harmonica & vocals, he sings most of the song)
* Pete Townshend (guitar, keyboards & vocals, he sings the middle eight: "Don't cry/don't raise your
eye/it's only teenage wasteland.")
* John Entwistle (bass guitar, backing vocals)
* Keith Moon (drums)
Keith Moon had the idea of inserting a violin solo as the coda of the song, at which time the style of
the song shifts from crashing rock to an Irish folk-style beat. Dave Arbus, of the band East of Eden,
plays the violin on the studio recording. In concert, Roger Daltrey replaces the violin solo with a
harmonica solo. The Who produced a live version of the song during their November 27, 2000, concert
at the Royal Albert Hall, with violin, provided by Nigel Kennedy.
6 Covered by:
Steve Ball
The Blue Man Group
Tia Carrere
Paul Chapman
Cube Guys
Roger Daltrey (solo)
Dead Zeppelin
The Grateful Dead
Guided by Voices
The London Chamber Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra
Low Strung
Eric Mingus
Peter Mossman
Nash the Slash
Pearl Jam
The Picketts
Pure
Bob Rivers (parodied as "Middleage Waistline") 8
Those Darn Accordions!
Pete Townshend (solo)
The Tubes
The Waco Brothers
Who's Who
Gabe Witcher
Zydocosis
* Appeared in the TV show House, played by Gregory House at the end of the Cursed episode.
* Appeared at the end of the film The Girl Next Door.
et al.
7 Appears on: *
SINGLE(S):
(1)The Who:
A-side: "Baba O'Riley"
B-side: :My Wife"
(a) Polydor, 7-Inch, Vinyl, 45rpm Single, #2131069, Belgium-1971.
(b) Polydor, 7-Inch, Vinyl, 45rpm Single, #2131-069, Netherlands-1971.
(2)The Who:
A-side: "My Wife"
B-side: "Baba O'Riley"
(a) Polydor, 7-Inch, Vinyl, 45rpm Single #2131-069, France-1971.
(3)The Who:
A-side: "Baba O'Riley"
B-side: "Behind Blue Eyes"
(a) Polydor, 7-Inch, Vinyl, 45rpm Single, #2058-210, Portugal-1971.
(4)The Who:
A-side: "Baba O'Riley"
B-side: "I Don't Even Know Myself"
(a) Polydor, 7-Inch, Vinyl, 45rpm Single, #2058-174, Spain-1971.
(5)The Who:
A-side: "Baba O'Riley"
B-side: "I Can't Explain"
(a) Polydor, 7-Inch, Vinyl, 45rpm Single, #2058-217, Germany-1971.
* The album(s) and record(s) listed here may have different versions of the song than the one that was
transcribed. Also, this list is not intended to be the complete discography on which this song appears.
