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The Ben 500: 336. The Who - “Who Are You” (1978) BEN: In my opinion, “Who Are You” is the last great Who song. Part of the reason I say that is because this is the last recording Keith Moon ever did. By 1978, The Who had become rock n’ roll dinosaurs. Punk rock was exploding, utilizing the same devil-may-care energy that Pete Townshend and company had in their “mod” days 15 years earlier. Even though they were old farts - Keith Moon was a crusty 32 years old - The Who were not done rocking. They showed the younger generation how it was done with this explosively fierce track. Roger Daltrey displays his roughest, most bruising vocal ever as he belts out this first-person tale of debauchery and excess. “I woke up in a Soho doorway, a policeman knew my name. He said you can go sleep at home tonite if you can get up and walk away”. Daltrey practically tears out his vocal chords on this track. The rest of the band are also in “attack mode” as Pete and John Entwistle stab at some chords while old man Keith Moon does his best to give it another signature sloppy effort. It’s a ramshackle, hedonistic mess, but just like a drunken bender complete with a fistfight, there’s some dark and twisted poetry to it that could only come from The Who. Keith Moon - another one done too soon. Key lyric: “My heart is like a broken cup, I only feel right on my knees” MARK: As much as I like classic rock, I am not the biggest Who fan. I can appreciate their hard rocking ways, but they don’t really blow me away (maybe besides the Live at Leeds album… it melted my face). The beginning has a cool feel, but I don’t like the ‘Who are you?’ part, maybe just because I have heard this song so many times. I love the verses though, they are nice and gritty. I do love the little breakdown around 2:25. Entwistle solo… check. It’s an ok song to me. GRADE: C+ Claudia’s Review: (Singing) Who, who, who, who.
