Christmas (song)
| Christmas | |
|---|---|
| The Who | |
| publication | May 23, 1969 |
| length | 4:34 |
| Genre (s) | skirt |
| Author (s) | Pete Townshend |
| Producer (s) | Kit Lambert |
| Publisher (s) | Fabulous music |
| Label | Polydor |
| album | Tommy |
Christmas is a rock - song of the British band The Who ; it was written by Who guitarist Pete Townshend and first published in 1969. It is the seventh piece of music of a rock opera classified concept album Tommy and opens the second page of the original double-LP . Even if the piece was never officially released as a single, it is still considered to be one of the most important of the album, both musically and for its interpretation.
Background and history
The Who and the album Tommy
In May 1969 The Who released their fourth studio album, the double LP Tommy . The songs were recorded at IBC Studios in London between September 1968 and March 1969 . The 24 pieces with a total running time of 75:15 minutes form a thematic unit and tell the story of the fictional Tommy Walker from 1921 as "deaf, dumb and blind boy", a boy who has been deaf, mute and blind for years; Thanks to his pronounced ability to perceive oscillations and vibrations, Tommy becomes a celebrated pinball player who experiences a miraculous healing and is first celebrated as a guru by his followers before they abandon him because he evades their marketing efforts.
Townshend, from whom twenty of the 24 tracks come, developed the album concept after he came into contact with the teachings of the Indian mystic Meher Baba in the mid-1960s , which he tried to put into practice musically. The album received excellent reviews from the beginning and brought the band the final musical and economic breakthrough; to this day it is considered to be groundbreaking for the history of rock music. The Who promoted Tommy with an extensive concert tour in 1969 and 1970, the highlights of which were the legendary Woodstock Festival as well as the Isle of Wight Festivals in 1969 and 1970 and concerts at the University of Leeds and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City .
The rock opera was finally diverse as the starting point of artistic projects: At the Opera House Seattle in 1971 was a version of a classic opera, in the following year an adaptation with classical orchestra in the processing of Lou Reizner , 1975, the movie Tommy and 1992 Broadway - Musical . The original music album sold over twenty million copies and was reissued several times, including remixed on CD in 1996, as a super audio CD in 2003 and as a box set with previously unreleased bonus material in 2013.
Pete Townshend and Spirituality
Townshend, born on May 19, 1945 in London, grew up in a Christian family environment in England. Through close friends of his father and neighbors, he also had contact with Jews, some of whom were strictly religious. His parents were already professional musicians; As a singer or clarinetist and saxophonist in a big band, they often took Pete on tours and other trips as a child, so that he was able to gather a variety of impressions.
Christmas is one of the first of several songs in which Townshend addresses religion and spirituality, still comparatively seldom in The Who, more often in his solo projects. Two experiences in particular at the beginning of his career were formative: on the one hand, the realization that intoxicants were a dead end for him, and on the other, a hallucinatory out-of-body experience of the musician who was afraid of flying on board an airplane. In contrast to, for example, George Harrison of the Beatles , Townshend turned to a spiritual doctrine in the 1960s with more conventional values also recognized in Western society, especially the silent Indian mystic and self-proclaimed "Avatar" (in the sense of a personification of God on earth ) Meher Baba (1894-1969).
Superficially, it goes into Christmas - as the music journalist Mike Segretto formulated with reference to Townshend - to religious property question: "If a guy deaf, dumb and blind and he can neither pray nor even knows anything from a conception of God, how can he because they are saved from damnation? ”Townshend did not pretend to have an answer to that.
Pete Townshend, The Who and Christmas
For Pete Townshend as a musician and in general for the band The Who, the days around Christmas were formative on several occasions or led to special performances. At Christmas 1956, Pete's grandmother Denny gave the eleven-year-old a simple Spanish guitar, on which he taught himself to play guitar largely by himself. When interpreting the rock opera Tommy , music journalists sometimes draw parallels between the child protagonist there with his pinball game on the one hand and young people in general and their first access to music or, in particular, the young Pete with his guitar on the other.
The Who record company put pressure on several times to release new music albums in time for the Christmas business, which was already economically important at the time. The previous album to Tommy , The Who Sell Out , was released in time on December 16, 1967. For the fourth studio album, the record company pushed for completion before Christmas 1968, which is why this date initially caused intense discussions among the musicians; However, since the new idea as a concept album and rock opera was not yet fully developed at the beginning of the studio sessions in September 1968, the further recordings for Tommy and the release were ultimately delayed until May 1969, also because the studio recordings are often interrupted for financial reasons and due to upcoming concerts had to.
Otherwise, the band members maintained a relaxed approach to the holidays and conventions: As part of the successful British TV music show Ready Steady Go, for example, Who drummer Keith Moon took part in a silly Christmas pantomime, based on the fairy tale material often shown on the holidays Cinderella was based; In addition, the band recorded a version of the winter song Jingle Bells , which is common for Christmas , which was broadcast the following week in the Christmas Eve edition of the show.
The importance of Christmas for the course of the album Tommy
In Christmas , the protagonist of the rock opera is first mentioned by name as "Tommy"; previously he was simply referred to generally as "child", "boy" and "son" ( Overture , It's a Boy , 1921 and Amazing Journey ). This song also contains the first mention of pinball , the " pinball game ", which is of great importance in the further course of the album, especially the well-known, successful song 13, Pinball Wizard .
Versions and their publications
Of Christmas over the years various versions created by the band The Who.
The studio version
The best known is the studio version, which was first released in 1969 on the album Tommy . It takes place in the period after the First World War , when Captain Walker, who was believed to be lost during the war, and his team returned to his wife and met his son Tommy for the first time, but also his wife's new partner. Tommy becomes deaf, dumb and blind after unwittingly witnessing an unspecified act of violence by his parents, apparently the killing of his mother's partner, and both parents persuade him that they have heard and seen nothing.
Christmas was - like all pieces on the Tommy album - produced by Kit Lambert (1935–1981), who was also the manager of the band at the time. As the son of the conductor and composer Constant Lambert (1905–1951), he was also familiar with classical music; he had always encouraged Pete Townshend to create a concept album whose basic idea Townshend had been pursuing since 1966 and which already contained all the elements that were later summarized as rock opera. Other participants were the sound engineer Damon Lyon-Shaw and the executive producer Chris Stamp (1942–2012).
The studio version was recorded in full by the four band members Roger Daltrey (vocals), Pete Townshend (guitars, vocals), Keith Moon (drums) and John Entwistle (bass).
As part of the album Tommy
In the original version as a double LP from 1969, Christmas introduces the second side of the album, which, however, in order to be able to use the records in a record changer , is not pressed onto the back of the first record, but the front of the second. In the new edition in 1972, Track Records chose a conventional pressing, so that Christmas is the first song on the back of the long-playing record now called Tommy Part 1 . The album was first released in digital form in 1984 on a double CD with new editions in 1990 and 1993, now as a single CD. In 1996 the CD version was digitally remastered by Jon Astley; Especially with Christmas , the two different guitar tracks now emerge more clearly and clearly distinguishable. Further revisions and upgrades with bonus material took place in 2003 and 2013.
On the CDs, Christmas immediately follows the fading final chord in D major of the sixth piece, Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker) , the only song on the album that was not written by a Who band member, but by Sonny Boy as early as 1951 Williamson II. on Christmas follows cousin Kevin , one of two pieces of who bassist John Entwistle has contributed to the album.
On singles series and EPs
Christmas was never officially released as a single, but it was just before that in 1969: Pete Townshend has always valued singles "as a concentrated form of pop music" and economical alternatives to the more expensive long-playing records. In addition, in his opinion, the double LP Tommy was sold too expensive in the UK. Regardless of the overall concept of the double album, he worked together with the management team from The Who to make the relevant record content more cheaply accessible to fans in the form of a series of singles. At her insistence, Polydor finally had a series with three singles pressed for the British market in July 1969: Christmas was combined with Overture , the largely instrumental opening track of the album, and Go to the Mirror! with Sally Simpson (songs 15 and 20 of the album) and I'm free with 1921 (songs 21 and 3). However, the record label broke off this project at short notice and no longer delivered the already finished singles to the record stores. Apparently it feared too great a drop in sales for the profitable double album.
Townshend as well as Who manager and producer Lambert pursued the idea further. In November 1970 Polydor in the United Kingdom finally released an EP available for six shillings, in which Christmas was combined as the second song with the three songs See Me, Feel Me as well as Overture and I'm free . For buyers who had bought the normal single See Me, Feel Me , which was released the month before, the record label even organized an exchange option, which made Christmas even more popular and well known.
The record label Decca was responsible for the American market; Christmas did not appear there in another form, however. In 1969 there was the special singles box set Excerpts from Tommy with eight pieces of music on four singles; However, this set was only intended for advertising purposes for radio stations and omitted Christmas .
In 1970, however, special compilations with the song Christmas appeared for individual markets . In New Zealand , the British EP was available in a modified form: The second song here was Christmas followed by Overture , followed by I'm free and See Me, Feel Me ; the sequence of the songs was thus adapted to the chronology of the LP Tommy , where they are at positions 1, 7, 21 and 24. In Mexico , a compilation was released that same year in which Christmas was combined as the third and last song with two previously unreleased songs, The Seeker (from the upcoming LP compilation Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy from 1971) and Here for more (from the LP Who's missing, which was only released in 1985 ).
The demo version
As bonus material for later re-releases of the Tommy album , The Who also released Pete Townshend's demo recording of Christmas . He had recorded it alone in his home studio, originally only to introduce the new song to his bandmates. The instrumentation is limited here to a piano with simple guitar accompaniment and an audible metronome; Pete Townshend also sings all parts of the piece himself in this version.
The basic sequence already corresponds to the later album version. However, the demo is interesting in terms of its origins in that at the beginning of the second verse it does not yet have any reference to pinball. Instead of Playing poxy pinball,… it says Playing with himself… . The background to this is that the band played a roughly mixed preliminary version of the album to the influential British music journalist Nic Cohn during the recording sessions, but received only a cautious response from him, but relied on a positive review for the promising progress of the recordings. Knowing that Cohn was a fan of the sport and especially of pinball machines, Townshend suggested that Tommy become a pinball player; as a result, he got Cohn to accept a positive review, who finally recognized the album - somewhat redesigned and supplemented by Pinball Wizard - as a "masterpiece".
Live performances
Christmas was part of The Who 's live repertoire in 1969 and 1970, and in the decades that followed, the band used this piece of music again and again in live concerts. Accordingly, it has appeared repeatedly on live albums and live DVD concert recordings that the band has released since the studio version was first released. The well-known live versions of Christmas range, for example, from the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, there shortened by the second verse, to the performance in London's Royal Albert Hall in April 2017.
The film version
Christmas is also part of the 1975 musical film Tommy , for which Ken Russell wrote the script based on the studio album and took on both the direction and production. The initial situation there is different in several respects: The action does not take place in the time after the First, but after the Second World War ; furthermore it is Mrs. Walker, played by the Swedish- US-American singer and actress Ann-Margret , and her new partner Frank Hobbs, played by the British actor Oliver Reed , who kill the returning Captain Walker.
The song is embedded in a big Christmas party that Tommy's mother and stepfather give for the friends of the family. The Who recorded the music for this version of Christmas themselves. Ann-Margret sings the first verse and the refrain; the first interlude immediately follows, in which Ann-Margret and Oliver Reed take turns, and then the second interlude with a childlike voice from the off ; the repeated, shortened first interlude, sung by Ann-Margret, is followed by the second verse and the refrain, in which both singers initially take turns and finally end together.
Further versions
A lesser known, purely instrumental, 4:43 minute version of Christmas , called Outtake 3 , was released by the band as part of Tommy's Deluxe Edition from 2003. It was created during the original studio recording and only includes the guitar and the Drum track in stereo, which makes both instruments stand out particularly well. On the same record there is another version of Christmas that is only 1:55 minutes short ; Furthermore, the band released on the deluxe edition 2013 of Tommy , a 3:11 minute long live version at the Capitol Theater in already in the October 1969 Canadian Ottawa had been taken.
The composition
In the normal studio version, the song consists of several parts, some of which are repeated during the running time of 4:34 minutes. The sequence can be summarized as follows:
"Verse 1 - Refrain - / - Verse 2 - Refrain - / - Interlude 1 - Interlude 2 - Interlude 1 - / - Verse 1 - Refrain"
The music recording has two protagonists: Tommy's father is assigned the predominant text with the verses, the refrain and interlude 1; In addition, after 2:28 minutes in interlude 2, which is about 35 seconds long, Tommy himself appears on the album for the first time, still as a child. It is not clear who the father is addressing in the stanzas and the chorus: His wife, Tommy, an indefinite circle of listeners or a self-talk, according to the cinematic implementation, but also the circle of the family's Christmas guests come into consideration. In interlude 1, however, Captain Walker speaks clearly and specifically to his son.
The lyrics and their interpretation
Content
At the beginning of the first stanza, Tommy's father looks at the behavior of the "normal" children around him, as they wake up before sunrise on the day of the Christmas presents and look forward to the next day with excited faces:
" Did you see the faces of the children, / they get so excited
waking up on Christmas morning / hours before the winter sun's ignited. "
At the end of the first stanza, Captain Walker describes the mental life of these children and the connection between their Christian faith and material benefits:
“ They believe in dreams and all they mean / including heaven's generosity.
Peeping round the door / to see what parcels are for free in curiosity. "
In the following refrain, Tommy's father opposes the previously meaningless and hopeless life of his son, who was deaf, mute and blind at the time, and asks the fundamental question of how he can find salvation in the sense of the Christian faith:
" And Tommy doesn't know what day it is.
He doesn't know who Jesus was or what praying is.
How can he be saved
From the eternal grave? "
At the beginning of the second verse, Captain Walker takes a closer look at the withdrawn, isolated life of his son:
" Surrounded by his friends he sits so silently / and unaware of everything.
Playing poxy pinball, picks his nose and smiles and / pokes his tongue at everything. "
At the end of the second stanza, Tommy's father describes his fundamental ideological conviction combined with doubts about a future salvation of his son, but also a hope for his son's healing:
" I believe in love / but how can men who've never seen light be enlightened.
Only if he's cured / will his spirits future level ever heighten. "
This is followed a second time by the (unchanged) refrain and then the first interlude in which Captain Walker first pleading and pleading with his son six times and then repeats the question from the refrain about a release:
" Tommy, can you hear me? / How can he be saved? "
A second interlude follows with Tommy's repeated request to look at him, to feel, to touch and to heal:
“ See me, feel me, touch me, heal me! "
This is followed a second time by the (unchanged) first interlude as a sign that Tommy's request was only an inner wish and not (yet) an externally perceptible expression. The first verse and the refrain are then repeated unchanged.
The two stanzas have the simple rhyme form AABB CCDD 'and the refrain also follows this basic scheme.
Melody, harmonic framework and arrangement
The studio recording of Christmas begins - comparatively unusual for a rock song - without any intro , and without a prelude .
The stanzas
Voice , polyphonic backing vocals and accompanying instruments - guitar, drums and bass - set simultaneously with the first verse, which, like the entire piece of music in 4 / 4 -Stroke is composed; the pitch of the stanza is major . Two bars with rhythmic eighth and quarter notes on the basic chord in G major are followed by two bars on the basic chord in D major, which is repeated three times in the course of the stanza. A certain harmonic tension is provided on the one hand by the singing voice in the G major part, which changes several times between the root G and the underlying F sharp, resulting in a (major) seventh chord (G maj7 ) together with the accompaniment , on the other hand in D Major part a fourth lead (D sus4 ), as is typical for many of Townshend's compositions, first in the singing voice at the beginning of the bar, then with the accompanying guitar towards the end of the first bar of this part.
In the printed version of the rights holder Fabulous Music Ltd. , London are the verses with only one cross - sign quoted, thus in the key of G major . Harmoniously, however, the ending on the basic D major chord shows that it functions as a tonic and not as a dominant ; The preceding basic chord in G major is accordingly not used as the tonic of the key of G major, but as a subdominant of the key of D major . The lack of the second sign of the cross in the musical notation of the printed version, which is actually necessary for D major, is explained by the fact that Townshend bypasses the C sharp note in all parts when composing the stanza (renunciation of the dominant; scope of the singing part only from d to g) .
The singing voice in the stanzas comes from Who singer Roger Daltrey. Who contributed the polyphonic accompaniment to the studio recording is not conclusively known or determinable; Townshend and Daltrey were certainly involved in the multi-track process, possibly also the other two band members. John Entwistle played the bass and Keith Moon the drums. The guitar accompaniment comes from Townshend, whereby two parallel guitar tracks can be distinguished, one less and one more distorted guitar, which are also distributed differently to the two stereo channels right and left.
The refrain
The chorus initially remains in the key of D major, but gains greater dynamism through an upbeat and faster harmony changes: Two beats with the basic chord G major (subdominant), followed by two beats with A major (dominant) and the return to D major (tonic). This complete cadence is first run through twice. Towards the end of each key, the passage chord C add9 , which can be explained with the jazz harmonic, creates a harmonic tension . The second part of the refrain (How can he be saved / From the eternal grave?) Is introduced with two strokes of the basic chords C major and G major and initially continued for one measure with the basic chord D major (in ... saved ... ) and the second time it ends with the A major chord (on ... grave? ). The C major chord harmoniously breaks through the previous key of D major and the harmonically open end with A major corresponds to the question raised in the text.
The musical arrangement of the verse with two guitars, choir, drums and bass continues in the chorus. At the end an intermediate measure is inserted; the first time a drum roll typical of Moon leads over into the second verse, the second time a fading of the A major chord into the interlude 1.
Interlude 1 / Bridge
In interlude 1 the character of the piece changes:
- Instead of rhythmic eighth notes and quarters, guitar chords are used, which are held over two whole bars.
- Instead of a continuous rhythm, drums and bass only play interjections that lead to a change of chords.
- The tone type changes temporarily from major to minor.
- Pete Townshend takes on the vocal part as Captain Walker, who addresses his deaf son with an increasingly aggressive voice and tries to reach him.
The beginning with the G minor chord is followed by partly disharmonious, garish-sounding chords, partly diminished, partly complex as seventh , non- and tredezima chords . The root note descends from G via F and E to Eb, back to G and again to Eb. With the four-bar passage How can he be saved? the bridge returns to the original rhythm; the chords D major and D sus4 alternate several times before the harmonic tension is finally resolved to D major.
Interlude 2 / Interlude
In interlude 2 the character of the piece changes again:
- The tempo is halved ( halfbeat ).
- Roger Daltrey takes over the vocals of the still child Tommy.
- The accompaniment is limited to rhythmic guitar chords and - newly added - a subtle piano played by Townshend.
The keynote moves from Eb up to G; The harmoniously exciting seventh chord Es maj7 is followed by F sus2 / sus4 and F sus4 , both of which are resolved to F, and finally a pure G major chord.
Picking up of motifs from the song Christmas in other pieces of music on the album Tommy
The question, repeated six times, Tommy can you hear me? , which is raised in the first interlude of Christmas , is found in another part of the album Tommy ; it is the title and the first line of the 1:36 minute short piece 16, sung three times.
The musical motif of the second interlude of Christmas (See me, Feel me ...) can already be found without text in the introductory overture ("Overture"), the first, largely instrumental piece of music on the album. This interlude also appears twice in the 15th song Go to the Mirror! With the same text, the same melody and barely changed tempo . as well as the second part of the final three-part song 24, We're not gonna take it! which was released as a single after the success of The Who at the Woodstock Festival in the USA in 1970.
By taking up both interludes of Christmas based on classic models in other tracks on the album, they help classify the concept album Tommy as a new kind of rock opera at the time.
reception
The music journalist Mike Segretto attests to Christmas a thematic complexity; it goes beyond the somewhat clichéd Faith in Something Bigger , the first religiously influenced song Townshend wrote for The Who, which the band recorded in 1968 but only released on the 1974 album Odds & Sods . It is as complex as Glow Girl , a story about rebirth, in which Townshend was inspired by his flight trauma; The band had already recorded this piece in 1968, but did not publish it until 1974 on Odds & Sods . As with his best songs on secular themes, Townshend asks thoughtful questions, says Segretto, but refuses to break them down with a cliché. Songs like Christmas wouldn't reach a smug level, they'd seek. Townshend does not expect his fans to adopt his religious attitudes, but rather that everyone should choose their own path according to their innermost convictions.
Music journalist Richie Unterberger rates Christmas as an "excellent song". His colleague Mac Randall from the music magazine Rolling Stone considers the song "one of the best Pete Townshend songs on the album". In Life magazine , the music journalist Albert Goldman praised the song and particularly highlighted the distinctive accompanying vocals. The author James Perone considers the piece "one of the best among the lesser-known songs on the album".
Cover versions
The song has been covered several times by other artists since it was first published in 1969 , so
- 1973 by the orchestra leader Bruce Baxter on the album Tommy - Excerpts from the Rock Opera ,
- 1997 by Charming Beggars on the album Whodunit - Chicago Knows Who ,
- by the American rock band The Smithereens from New Jersey on the album Christmas with The Smithereens released in October 2007 and the album The Smithereens Play Tommy released in May 2009 ,
- in June 2019 by Who singer Roger Daltrey on the album The Who's Tommy Orchestral as well
- in July 2002 in instrumental form by The Section (Vitamin String Quartet) on the album The String Quartet Tribute to The Who's Tommy .
literature
- Polydor: The Who - Tommy . CD booklet with lyrics and liner notes (extensive accompanying text) by the music journalist Richard Barnes, London, United Kingdom 1996 (revised re-publication), 531 043-2 (English).
- Pete Townshend: Christmas . Lyrics, chords and sheet music (for piano), Fabulous Music, London, United Kingdom 1969 ( limited online preview on musicnotes.com web portal , accessed December 19, 2019) (English).
- Mike Segretto: The Who FAQ - All that's left to know about fifty years of maximum R&B . Backbeat Books, Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States 2014, ISBN 978-1-48036-103-4 (English).
- Mark Wilkerson: Who are you - The Life Of Pete Townshend . Omnibus Press, London, United Kingdom 2009, ISBN 978-0-85712-008-3 (English).
Web links
- The Who’s piece of music Christmas on the web portal YouTube.com (provided by Universal Music Group) , accessed on December 19, 2019.
- Lyrics, chords and tablature for guitar and bass by Christmas on the band's web portal, thewho.net , accessed on December 19, 2019 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Mike Segretto: The Who FAQ - All that's left to know about fifty years of maximum R&B . Backbeat Books, Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States 2014, ISBN 978-1-48036-103-4 , E-Book Chapter 3: Start Playing - The Who as Musicians, Section: Pete.
- ↑ a b c d e Mike Segretto: The Who FAQ - All that's left to know about fifty years of maximum R&B . Backbeat Books, Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States 2014, ISBN 978-1-48036-103-4 , E-Book Chapter 7: A Little Thread - Recurring Themes, Section: Spirituality.
- ↑ Mike Segretto: The Who FAQ - All that's left to know about fifty years of maximum R&B . Backbeat Books, Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States 2014, ISBN 978-1-48036-103-4 , E-Book Chapter 26: There's a Rock 'n' Roll Singer on the Television - The Who on TV, Section: Ready Steady Go! (English).
- ↑ Track Records, catalog number 2406 007.
- ↑ a b c d Mike Segretto: The Who FAQ - All that's left to know about fifty years of maximum R&B . Backbeat Books, Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States 2014, ISBN 978-1-48036-103-4 , eBook Chapter 14: Wish You Were Here - An International Discography, Section: “Christmas” b / w “Overture”, “Go to the Mirror” b / w “Sally Simpson” (1969) (English).
- ↑ Mike Segretto: The Who FAQ - All that's left to know about fifty years of maximum R&B . Backbeat Books, Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States 2014, ISBN 978-1-48036-103-4 , eBook Chapter 14: Wish You Were Here - An International Discography.
- ↑ Pete Townshend's demo version of Christmas for The Who on the web portal YouTube.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
- ↑ The music piece Christmas by The Who in the live version from the Isle of Wight Festival 1969 on the web portal YouTube.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
- ↑ The scene of the Christmas party from the music film Tommy from 1975 with the film version of Christmas on the web portal YouTube.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
- ↑ Christmas (Outtake 3) on the web portal YouTube.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
- ↑ Richie Unterberger's review of the album Tommy on the Allmusic.com web portal , accessed on December 23, 2019.
- ^ Mac Randall's review of the Tommy album on the rollingstone.com web portal , accessed December 23, 2019.
- ^ Albert Goldman: A Grand Opera in Rock , in: Life (Magazin), October 17, 1969, p. 20 (English).
- ↑ James Perone: The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations . Praeger 2012, ISBN 0313379068 , p. 247 (English).
- ↑ The Christmas cover version by Bruce Baxter on the web portal secondhandsongs.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
- ↑ The Christmas cover version by Charming Beggars on the web portal secondhandsongs.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
- ↑ The Christmas cover version of The Smithereens on the web portal secondhandsongs.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
- ↑ The Christmas cover version by Roger Daltrey on the web portal secondhandsongs.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
- ↑ The Christmas cover version of The Section (Vitamin String Quartet) on the web portal secondhandsongs.com , accessed on December 23, 2019 (English).
Remarks
- ↑ The first stanza is introduced with a question and the subject "you", which in English can stand for the second person singular as well as plural.
- ↑ Translated roughly: "Have you (alternatively: have you seen) the faces of the children, they have been so excited since they woke up on Christmas morning, hours before the winter sun brightened up."
- ↑ Translated roughly: “You believe in dreams and everything related to them, including the generosity of heaven. You peek around the door to see with curiosity which packages are there for free. "
- ↑ Translated roughly: “And Tommy doesn't know what day it is today. He doesn't know who Jesus was or what prayer is. How can he be redeemed from his everlasting grave? "
- ↑ Translated roughly: “Surrounded by his friends, he sits around so quietly and noticing anything. He plays Poxy Pinball (in German-speaking comparable with the games Tivoli or shock Poodle , each a kind of forerunner of the pinball machines ), picking her nose and smiles and stretches out all over his tongue. "
- ↑ This roughly translates as: “I believe in love, but how can people who have never seen light become enlightened? Only when he is healed will the future level of his spirit increase. "
- ↑ Translated accordingly: “Tommy, can you hear me? How can he be redeemed? "
- ↑ Analogously translated: "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me!" (Alternatively translatable in the imperative singular)