| Notes and Quotes: "A Quick One, While He's Away" |
|
| Townshend had been playing
with various ideas for a larger dramatic presentation in a rock
idiom and when they concluded they needed another ten minutes of
new material for the album, he pulled bits of different songs together
to form "A Quick One." |
| This mini-drama tells the
story of a woman whose lover has been gone for a year and is late. Various
suitors court her with Ivor (an engine driver) successfully bedding her.
However, the lover returns and forgives her. Notably, Townshend will return
to this theme in Tommy, but with a darker resolution. [Marsh (227)
compares the story to that of the Odyssey.] |
| Where the music of any single
part of this composition may lack sophistication, the idea of stringing
these ideas together marks a turning point for the Who. Indeed, the extravegancies
of program rock can be traced to this simple compilation of disparate
songs. |
| Notably, another performer
(Keith West) had announced that he had begun a "Teenage Opera"
and had produced two songs ("Grocer Jack" and "Sam");
however, the costs of the production were substantial and the project
collapsed under the weight of its own ambition. By actually producing
a small musical drama, Townshend showed that they could deliver..., at
least they had promise. |
|
| Schedule |
18 March, 2012
|
