Best Songs by the Who Sung by Pete Townshend
While Roger Daltrey has been The Who's lead singer (and a really good one, at that), Pete Townshend has felt it necessary to take the reins and sing certain songs. Just for clarification: this list is only for songs that are sung entirely by Pete; songs where Roger and Pete trade vocals don't count. With that, feel free to add to the list.
The song is about Pete Townshend's experiences with a mobile home. It's very energetic.
From Tommy; this song marks the point of the story where Tommy is freed from his mental block and becomes fully aware of his senses. It was originally written about a girl Pete met while touring in Australia.
The last good Who song, in my opinion. It's about the hedonism and cocaine use of the upper class.
The first Who song Pete Townshend sang. It's commonly believed that Roger Daltrey didn't sing this one because he was going through a divorce at the time (the song itself is about divorce).
It starts out with Pete Townshend playing by himself on acoustic guitar. It was inspired by Pete's experience in school, where he felt out of place and that the guitar was the only real thing he had.
Pete wrote this song about his alcohol abuse. It's said that Roger didn't sing it either because it was too personal or because Roger didn't want people to think that he was the one with the alcohol addiction.
One of my favorite tracks on The Who Sell Out.
In this song, Tommy's parents take him to see a quack doctor in hopes that he will cure Tommy from his deafness, blindness, and inability to speak; he takes Tommy to see the Acid Queen, who gives him LSD and (presumably) takes his virginity as well.
This song shows Pete contemplating over a love that was lost; exactly how it was lost, I don't know.
Since the album The Who Sell Out is supposed to be imitating a pirate radio broadcast, it includes several fake advertising jingles. Pete wrote this song about a real-life deodorant called Odorono, and it tells the story of a girl who attempts to woo a talent agent and fails because she chose a different deodorant instead of Odorono. It's actually a well-written song once you get beyond the fact that it's about deodorant.
Pete Townshend said that he wrote this song at the height of his depression in the mid 1970s. It's mainly just him accompanying himself with a ukulele, with John Entwistle adding faint horns in the background for texture.