Notes and Quotes

Substitute, about which Townshend later commented hed made "...after hearing a rough mix of Ninetenth Nervous Breatkdown by the / Stones," wasn't a difficult song for his to write. "The lyric, so applauded by rock critics, was thrown together very quickly," Pete recalled in 1987. "Smokey Robinson sand the word substitute' so perfectly in Tracks of My Tears--my favourite song of all time--that I decided to celebrate the word itself with a song all its own." (Wilkerson 2006, 61-62.)

Townshend: ...it somehow goes to show that the 'trust the art, not the artist,' tag that people put on Dylan's silence about his work could be a good idea. To me, Mighty Quinn is about the five Perfect Masters of the age, the best of all being Meher Baba of course, to Dylan it's probably about gardening... Substitute makes me recall writing a song to fit a clever and rhythmic sounding title. A play on words. Again it could mean a lot more to me now than it did when I wrote it. If I told you what it meant to me now, you'd think I take myself too seriously. (Wilkerson 2006, 62)

Townshend: The stock, down-beat riff used int he verses I pinched from a record played to me in 'Blind Date,' a feature in Melody Maker... It was by a group who later wrote to thank me for saying nice things about their record in the feature... The record I said nice things about ["Where Is My Girl" by Robb Storme] wasn't a hit, despite an electrifying riff. I pinched it, we did it, you bought it." (Wilkerson 2006, 62)

Schedule

19 May, 2018