Re: Quad Tour "Drowned" not PC

[Alan McKendree <amck@thenetdr.com>]

At 17:53 -0700 4/25/98, The Who Mailing List Digest wrote:
>Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 06:18:28 -0400
>From: lewinski@icanon.com (Joe Lewinski)
>
>In the Philly and Camden
>shows that I saw live, I was disappointed that he added the lyrics "... but
>I don't want to die.  I don't want do die..." during the chorus "I want to
>drown."
>
>Was Pete advised to do this so that it is politically correct?   How does
>everyone feel about artists changing the lyrics to suit the times.

I doubt that Pete was advised to change it.  For that matter, I remember
the "I don't want to die" part as coming during the jam after the song
proper has all been sung (with the lyrics as recorded) when AFAIC Pete can
sing anything.  I loved it when I first heard it, Pete sang, "I don't want
to die, I just want to drown, I just want to drown in it, in your love."
Reminds me of the old saying "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one
wants to die."  Furthermore, he's been doing it for years, since '76 at
least.  As for changing lyrics, a bit here and there is great, it
demonstrates the singer isn't just going through the motions.  In Tacoma
'96, Pete sang, "I can't get that Internet (for "even tanned") look on my
face."  I love it.  Do you also get bent out of shape when a band inserts
the name of the town or state they're in into their lyrics?

>This offence

Not clear to me yet that it is an offence.

is hardly on the same scale as Lou Reed removing "... and the
>colored girls go ..." on his live appearance on the Arsenio Hall show the
>night of the L.A. riots,

Hadn't heard about that, but I could forgive him for it if it was just for
that one occasion.  It's an easy change for him to make and he's not the
one who has to deal with the rioting afterward if he doesn't change it.
That strikes me as more common sense than artistic dishonesty.  What I
can't forgive him for is the way he butchered "Now and Then" at Daltrey
Sings Townshend, Carnegie Hall 1993.

> Why would a band that freely uses the word "f***" (which
>I personally reserve the right to bellow at special occasions) in their
>songs and in their interviews care about "promoting suicide" in a song lyric?

First, I think there's a BIG difference between yelling "Fuck" periodically
and telling people to kill themselves.  Second, The Who has clearly
demonstrated over the years that they care a great deal about their
audience and I doubt that they would want to encourage any of them to kill
themselves.  Finally, I think Pete just did it to clarify how he personally
felt (*possibly* spurred by some fan letters asking him if he meant that
Jimmy wanted to kill himself), that *he* didn't want to die but wanted to
drown, figuratively, in love.

Whew,

Alan
Be sure to read _McKendree: A Burning Novel of Murder and Revenge_
by Douglas Hirt, ISBN 0-8439-4184-7  (available at www.amazon.com)