[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

T. (Townshend) S. (Sings) Eliot



To Gary M. (and anyone else paying attention to this topic)

  I fell back a day on my list reading and I didn't get to reply to your
refusal to believe that Townshend is influenced by T.S. Eliot. He sings
Eliot's lines loud and clear in his song "All Shall Be Well" (He even named
the song from the quote). You make a good point that the Townshend of the
sixties (and part of the seventies) was probably most influenced by writers
like Jack Kerouac. Agreed---by the way I would say that Dylan caried
Kerouac's torch much more effectively than Jimi did (But that's a whole
nother issue). You allude to songs like "Going Mobile" as direct Kerouac
influences. That's a definate "Could be" but has nothing to do with the
songs, "Baba O'Riely", "Drowned", and "All Shall Be Well" which I believe are
definate "Could Be's" for Eliot. O.K. Eliot is a traditionalist, but that is
a very ineffective characterization of his writing style. And I believe that
Townshend is very much influenced by Eliot's style and not by Eliot's
religious or political beliefs (for God's sake, Eliot supported the Germans
in the first World War). Back to the traditionalist thing, Eliot used
traditional ideas to forge a new and innovative writing style. Eliot was
constantly searching for "the new" and how it could be capared to the
"classic" structure and style of what he believed to be the greatness of
ancient literature. Townshend, with some nudging from Kit Lambert, shared the
same idea of using the "old" to create something "new". How about the idea of
a "Rock Opera". 
   I also have to argue your use of "My Generation" as grounds against the
Eliot influence. First of all your holding Townshend to words that he wrote
when he was about 18 or 19 years old. That's not always a wise thing to
do---although many reporters and rock critics do it anyway---that gives no
reason for a true Who/Pete fan to do the same. Anyway, the point is, even if
you hold Townshend to those adolescent ideals, Eliot was not a man who was
"Waiting to get old" (more of a paraphrase than a direct quote from Gary M.).
If you honestly believe this to be true I think you should reread "Prufrock".
The whole poem is agaist the banality of social concerns that are set by the
older generation, who in Eliot's opinion knew nothing, acted on nothing, and
read a buch of useless, mindless poetry (This is also a paraphrasing of
philosophy). Doesn't this sound like the type of philosophy that is at the
very heart of "My Generation" and "Quadrophenia" as a whole?
   One more point. Gary does touch on a relevent distinction between the Pete
of old and the Pete of the present (relevent to this discusion anyway). There
is definately (at least) two Petes. There's the Pete of the sixties and
seventies, than theres the Pete of the eighties and nineties---"The Complete
Pete" you might say (Ten points to anyone who can name the album cover that
is from--without looking!!!) The Townshend that emerged in the eighties and
nineties is much more concerned about his writing style and technique than
the previous Townshend (granted he was always concerned with good writing,
but it was during this time period that he really tried to become a poet
instead of just the guy who writes the words) This is evident on most of his
solo work, specifically "...Chinese Eyes" The writing on this LP seems very
much to be influenced by the stream-of-consciousness style that Eliot helped
to create (along with Ezra Pound and James Joyce). And the influence of Eliot
on "The Iron Man" musical is strikingly obvious and even though most people
here are not very fond of "The Iron Man" (I'm one of them) at least Pete
makes better use of Eliot than that piece of <Picard> Weber does (for those
who don't know, "Cats" is based on the "mediocer"--dircet quote from T.S.--
Eliot poem, "Old Possum's Book of Practicle Cats". which by the way is also
meant for children like Huges' book-- See the links are endless ;) ).  

  "...All shall be well and all shall be well and all maner of things shall
be well." T.S. Eliot

Vac