The Who – Who Are You
About The Song
“Who Are You” is the title track on the Who’s 1978 album, Who Are You, the last album released by the group before Keith Moon’s death in September 1978.
This song is based on a day in the life of Pete Townshend. It began with a very long meeting dealing with royalties for his songs: “Eleven hours in the Tin Pan, God, there’s got to be another way.” The “Tin Pan” he is referring to is Denmark Street, the “Tin Pan Alley” of London where many music publishers and songwriters were based. After this excruciating meeting he received a large check for royalties, left, went to a bar and got completely drunk. In that bar he encountered Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols, who thought very highly of Pete for paving the way for punk rock music.
Townshend was conflicted because he feared The Who had sold out, and seeing The Sex Pistols, who were icons of rebellion, exacerbated him even more. Pete left that bar and passed out in a random doorway in Soho (a part of London). A policeman recognized him (“A policeman knew my name”) and being kind, woke him and told him, “You can go sleep at home tonight (instead of a jail cell), if you can get up and walk away.” Pete’s response: “Who the f–k are you?”
The cover picture on the album features the band with drummer Keith Moon sitting on a chair that has the words “Not to be taken away” on the back of it. Moon passed away weeks after the photo was taken, and this was his last album.
The song was one of the band’s biggest hits in North America, peaking at number 7 in Canada and at number 14 in the United States, and has become one of the band’s signature tunes at their live shows. The piano on the track is played by Rod Argent.
