“Behind Blue Eyes” by The Who

"Behind Blue Eyes" was the second single off Who's Next in 1971, but Pete Townshend first wrote it for Lifehouse, the grand project that fell apart, where it belonged to the story's villain, Jumbo. The seed was planted in Denver in June 1970, after a Tommy tour show: tempted by a groupie, Townshend went back to his room alone, maybe with Meher Baba's teachings in mind, and started writing a prayer that would end up in the song's rocking climax.

That tension is the whole trick. Roger Daltrey gives the bad guy a voice over Townshend's gentle guitar, with John Entwistle and Townshend's harmonies hovering, until Keith Moon and Entwistle's bass kick the door in and it turns into a snarling rocker. Glyn Johns recorded and mixed it, and it became one of the Who's best-known recordings.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.