Re: Pete's Coming Out

[David36798 <David36798@aol.com>]

> Around 1985 or '86, TIME and/or ROLLING STONE reported that
>  Pete had revealed in an interview (sorry, I forget the original
>  source) that he was either bisexual or had homosexual tendencies.
>  I seem to remember him being quoted as saying he had been
>  attracted to men in the past; don't know if he ever acted on these
>  feelings.
>  Some evidence of these feelings can be found in songs like
>  "Rough Boys" and "And I Moved", both from EMPTY GLASS
>  (and yes, folks, I know he wrote the latter for Bette Midler; fact
>  remains that he recorded it w/out changing the lyrics).  His
>  book of poetry, HORSE'S NECK, also has some intriguing
>  material about the subject.

Yep...Pete DID act on these tendencies.  I remember him saying that Rough Boys
and the rest of them were NOT Who songs.  They were about acknowledging that
he'd "had a faggit relationship" and were songs that said "No, I'm not that
kind of macho rock star."  He also said that Karen was shocked...and quite
disturbed (Like any wife would be, I'd imagine) when he told her about this.
Also - regarding the Bette Midler song...her manager told Pete to make it a
"bit dirty - she likes it that way" but then told Pete that his song was
downright smutty, and that she could never do it.  Pete said that he didn't
want to change the lyrics when he did it.

David