"Baba O'Riley" is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by Pete Townshend. Roger Daltrey sings most of the song, with Pete Townshend singing the middle eight: "Don't cry/don't raise your eye/it's only teenage wasteland". The title of the song is derived from this combination of the song's philosophical and musical influences: Meher Baba and Terry Riley.

Noted for its innovative fusion of The Who's hard rock sound and early electronic music experimentation by Townshend, and for its crashing chorus coupled with repeating F-C-Bb power chords, the song has been a perennial favorite on classic rock radio stations as well as a concert staple for the band.

History

Townshend originally wrote "Baba O'Riley" for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera that was to be the follow-up to The Who's 1969 opera, Tommy. Townshend derived the song from an experimental recording of his Lowrey Berkshire home organ, which the band reconstructed. "Baba O'Riley" was going to be used in the Lifehouse project as a song sung by Ray, the Scottish farmer at the beginning of the album as he gathers his wife Sally and his two children to begin their exodus to London. When Lifehouse was scrapped, many of the songs were released on The Who's 1971 album Who's Next. "Baba O'Riley" became the first track on Who's Next. The song was released as a single in several European countries, but in the United States and the United Kingdom was only released as part of the album.

Drummer Keith Moon had the idea of inserting a violin solo at the coda of the song, during which the style of the song shifts from crashing rock to an Irish folk-style beat. Dave Arbus, of East of Eden, plays a viola in the studio recording. In concert, lead singer Roger Daltrey replaces the viola solo with a harmonica solo. The Who have produced a live version of the song with a violin, provided by John Rogers, during their 27 November 2000 concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

The violin solo in the coda of the song is based on Indian classical music as homage to Meher Baba the Indian mystic who inspired this song.

The song's iconic backing track was derived from deep within the Lifehouse concept. Townshend wanted to input the life information of Meher Baba into a synthesizer, which would then generate music based on that information. That music would have been the backing track for "Baba O'Riley," but in the end, the frenetic sequence was played by Townshend on a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ using its marimba repeat feature. This modal approach used for the synthesizer track was inspired by the work of minimalist composer Terry Riley. The names of Riley and Meher Baba were incorporated into the song title as a tribute by Townshend. Although they never actually did it in concert, The Who considered pulling a person from the audience and programming their vital statistics into a synthesizer that would, in effect, translate that person into a musical theme around which a song could be built (an idea later resurrected as the Lifehouse Method).

Lifehouse Story

It is about a self-sufficient, drop-out family group farming in a remote part of Scotland who decide to return South to investigate rumours of a subversive concert event that promises to shake and wake up apathetic, fearful British society. "Baba O'Riley" is sung by Ray at the beginning of the film as he gathers his wife Sally and his two children to begin their exodus to London.

"Teenage Wasteland"

"Baba O'Riley" is often called "Teenage Wasteland" after the phrase repeated throughout the song, of which there is no chorus. "Teenage Wasteland" was in fact a working title for the song in its early incarnations as part of the Lifehouse project, but eventually became the title for a different but related song by Townshend, which is slower and features more lyrics . A version of "Teenage Wasteland" is featured on The Lifehouse Chronicles, a six disc set of music related to the Lifehouse project, and on several Townshend compilations and videos.

Accolades

• "Baba O'Riley" appears at #340 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
• It is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for being one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

In popular culture

• The Blue Man Group played the song in their "How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0"
• The same F-C-Bb chord progression is used in the song Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes by Fall Out Boy.
• Teenage Wasteland was one of the working titles for the TV series That 70's Show along with The Kids Are Alright, another Who reference.
• A 40-second segment of this song was used as the opening theme for CSI: NY. In later seasons, the opening sequence featured a remix of this song.
• On the television show Freaks and Geeks, Lindsay Weir incorrectly refers to the song as "Teenage Wasteland" in the episode "I'm With the Band."
• This song also appeared in the TV show House, in which Gregory House mimes the piano riff at the end of the episode Control.
• It has appeared in One Tree Hill, played by the end of the episode Pictures of Me.
• It appears in the first episode of the British TV series Life on Mars.
• It was used during one of the 1970s flashback scenes of the film Fever Pitch. Daltrey makes an uncredited appearance in an early scene of the film, watching the Arsenal Football Club, of which he is a supporter in real life.
• The song was featured prominently in the 1999 film Summer of Sam.
• An instrumental version was used in the opening of the movie Slackers.
• It appears at the end of the film The Girl Next Door.
• It was used in the German romantic family comedy "Allein unter Töchtern" at the end of the movie.
• It was used at the beginning of the documentary When Boris Met Dave.
• The intro is often used by the LA Lakers for introducing the team before games.
• The organ intro to the song was used as the entrance music for former New York Yankees right fielder Paul O'Neill, whose hobbies include drumming. Later in his career, O'Neill's former teammate Tino Martinez would use this as his at-bat music.
• It is being used in advertising for ABC Sports's coverage of the 2009 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup.
• It is featured in a highlight package at the beginning of live UFC events.
• It is being used in TyC Sports, an Argentinian sports channel. They uses in a promo for a program named Libero.
• The intro is used in commercials for Cisco Systems.
• It is featured in Rock Band 2's music store as a downloadable track, and playable in another Rock Band game, Rock Band Track Pack: Classic Rock.
• Sister Hazel uses it as an intro to their concerts sometimes.

References

1. http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equip-baba.htm Pete's Equipment, Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1