When I was in the Twin Cities last month, I heard the finale to The Who's Tommy as part of the 1969 playlist. I have learned a great deal about the creation of this particular album thanks to Andrew Hickey and his 500 Songs podcast.
Pace: 9:07
One of my brothers got big into this when I was maybe twelve years old. Sounds about right. I listened first, put the story together in my mind. It was very upsetting. But it made sense.
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 58°
Climate: overcast & perfect
Mood: good
I felt that learned a great deal about abuse and trauma and how the mind works from this album, and it came at an appropriate time in my life. I mean, it is a simple story, simply told. Sometimes we need those. And I just love the music.
Tommy - The Who (1969)
Overture
It's a Boy
1921 (156 bpm)
Amazing Journey
Sparks
Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)
Christmas
Cousin Kevin
The Acid Queen
Underture
Perfect side for running, by the way. The entire thing. Very rhythmic but also a lot instrumentals to let your mind wander freely. The Hawker should go before Acid Queen, though. I think they changed that for the movie.
One of Hickey's observations is that it is difficult to follow because different members of the band - Daltrey, Townshend and even Entwistle - they take turns singing various songs without any consistency to which characters they are singing for. This never bothered me, because I couldn't much tell the difference between their voices when I first heard it, and just followed the words.
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 162 lbs. (-3.0)
As for what it has to say about hero worship, I dig that, too. We are relieved and even joyful when Tommy overcomes his inability to respond to the world around him, but that's no excuse to become a self-styled guru and capitalistic huckster.
Planks: TBA
Push-ups: TBA
Audition week. Audition month, actually. We don't always get things right just because we take more time. But it helps.
Next up: Side Two!
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