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John Covach
In 1971 the British rock band The Who released their seventh album,
entitled Who's Next. The final track on the LP, the eight-and-a-half
minute "Won't Get Fooled Again," is for the most part a hard-driving
rock number. 2 The arrangement of this song is perhaps most
noteworthy for its use of a repeated-note figure played by the organ,
occurring especially in the introduction and in two instrumental
interludes, and for Roger Daltry's two excruciating screams, the
second of which, occurring immediately before the final verse, must
surely be considered among the most famous screams in all of rock
music. The lyrics of "Won't Get Fooled Again" represent Pete
Townshend at his cynical best. Writing in the first person, Townshend
portrays a feeling that political revolutions change very little for those
not in political power; for the average person-or in this case, the
1
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of Music
Theory Midwest in Madison, Wisconsin, 16 May 1993. I would like to thank Susan
Cook, Marianne Kielian-Gilbert, Allen Forte, Walter Everett, and David Schwarz for
reading that earlier version and offering many helpful co=ents. The opinions that
follow are, of course, my own.
2-won't Get Fooled Again," words and music by Pete Townshend, from the LP