THE WHO’s iconic rock opera Quadrophenia has been cherished ever since its
release over thirty years ago.
The landmark 1973 album was one of Pete Townshend’s towering achievements.
And now the windmilling axe Lord has revisited the captivating story of
disaffected mod Jimmy for a Director’s Cut reissue of the seminal work.
He’s trawled through his private archive to unearth hours of unheard footage,
scores of unseen images and contributed an exhaustive new essay for the
project.
One gem discovered is a demo version of track Cut My Hair, which you can
exclusively listen to below.
And Pete explains the track was penned before he had settled on the final
character traits of Jimmy.
He says: “This was written in June 1973, so represents one of the first wave
of songs written for the project that became Quadrophenia.
“It mistily pictures a disaffected young man sufficient to give Jimmy – yet to
be created, carrying only a name at that time – the beginning of a voice and
a possible life in abstract.
“Technically, this is a simple song, but I’m proud of the simple piano part.”
Check out the slideshow below to see a gallery of hand-written lyrics, notes
and instructions that were used during the project.
To pre-order the Super Deluxe Edition Boxset click .
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to pre-order the Deluxe Edition.