Pete Townshend's writing

["Mark R. Leaman" <mleaman@sccoast.net>]

I've been privately discussing this with another Who fan, and wanted to
see if anyone else was interested in discussion.

I have long maintained that Townshend is an unusual sort of songwriter,
or writer in general, because he diesn't do some of the typical things
one would expect (or are taught to do). For instance, few of his
songs/stories come to a definite conclusion. TOMMY, for instance, leaves
the hero with the realization he can find what we all seek inside
himself (but apparently cannot communicate it to anyone else). QUAD has
Jimmy sitting on a rock, reviewing what has happened of late, and
realizing he's screwed up and needs love.
Neither DO anything about it, just realize it. Their way(s) of dealing
with their problems may be successful (or so the audience might assume),
but we have no evidnece of it.
Even the Glow Girl doesn't DIE in the plane crash, but instead is
reborn. There are plenty of other examples, which hopefully will be
brought into the discussion. A good example of a Townshend story WITH a
conclusion is Lifehouse, which is the one Pete couldn't bring himself to
complete!
During this private discussion it occurred to me the possible reason for
this non-conclusiveness on Townshend's part may stem from an inability
not to deal with the fact that his life will end. Anyone else have any
thoughts about this, or other explanation(s)?
Another atypical property of Pete's writing is he doesn't try to balance
the story (in many ways, including cause and effect being equal or
including as many good as bad factors...or even making his main
characters particularly sympathetic or easy to identify with), which in
the end makes it more like real life, IMHO.

-- 

            Cheers                ML

   "All the nonconformists are doing it."
                                 Hari Sheldon