Baba O'Riley

"Baba O'Riley" is a song by Englishrockbandthe Who, written by guitarist and principal songwriterPete Townshend. It is the opening track to the Who's fifth studio album,Who's Next(1971). In Europe, it was released as a single in October 1971, coupled with "My Wife". Performances of "Baba O'Riley" appear on several Who live albums.
Widely regarded as one of the Who's finest songs and as one of the greatest rock songs of all time, "Baba O'Riley" appears inTime's "All-Time 100 Songs" list,Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and theRock and Roll Hall of Fameas one of the500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
Townshend wrote "Baba O'Riley" for hisLifehouseproject, arock operaintended as the followup to the Who's 1969 operaTommy. InLifehouse, a Scottish farmer named Ray would have sung the song at the beginning as he gathered his wife Sally and his two children to begin their move to London. WhenLifehousewas scrapped, eight of the songs were salvaged and recorded for the Who's fifth studio albumWho's Next(1971), with "Baba O'Riley" as the lead-off track.The song title refers to two of Townshend's primary inspirations at the time: Indian spiritual masterMeher Babaand American minimalist composerTerry Riley.
According to Townshend, at the end of the band's gig at the1969 Isle of Wight Festival, the field was covered in rubbish left by fans, which inspired the line "teenage wasteland".In another interview, Townshend said the song was also inspired by "the absolute desolation of teenagers atWoodstock, where audience members were strung out onacidand 20 people had brain damage. The irony was that some listeners considered the song a teenage celebration: 'Teenage Wasteland, yes! We're all wasted!'"
The repeating set of notes (ostinato) in "Baba O'Riley" that opens and underlies the song was derived from theLifehouseconcept, where Townshend wanted to input the vital signs and personality ofMeher Babainto a synthesiser, which would then generate music based on that data. When this idea fell through, Townshend instead recorded aLowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organusing its marimba repeat feature to generate them.Thismodalapproach was inspired by the work ofminimalistcomposerTerry Riley.
The song was derived from a nine-minutedemo, which the band reconstructed."Baba O'Riley" was initially 30 minutes in length, but was edited down to the "high points" of the track forWho's Next.The other parts of the song appeared on the third disc of Townshend'sLifehouse Chroniclesas "Baba M1 (O'Riley 1st Movement 1971)" and "Baba M2 (2nd Movement Part 1 1971)". Dave Arbus, whose bandEast of Edenwas recording in the same studio, was invited byKeith Moonto play the violin solo during the outro.  In most live performances, this part is played instead by Daltrey on harmonica.
"Baba O'Riley" was released in November 1971 as a single in several European countries. However, in the United Kingdom and the United States, it was released only as part of the albumWho's Next. The song became one of the band's most popular songs, as well as a popular staple ofAORradio, and remains on theclassic rockradio canon.
"Baba O'Riley" appears at No. 159 onRolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".The song is in theRock and Roll Hall of Fameas one of the500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.The bandPearl Jamregularly plays a cover of the song during concerts, and a readers' poll inRolling Stoneawarded this cover as #8 in their "Greatest Live Cover Songs".In 2012,Pasteranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Who songs,and in 2022,Rolling Stoneranked the song number six on their list of the 50 greatest Who songs.
"Baba O'Riley" was used as the theme song for the television seriesCSI: NY(2004–2013), with eachCSIseries using a Who song as its theme.The song was also used in theOne Tree Hillepisode "Pictures of You" (season 4, episode 13). The live version of the song from the albumWho's Last(1984) plays in the opening segment of theMiami Viceepisode "Out Where the Buses Don't Run" (season two, 1985).One of the working titles ofThat '70s Show(1998–2006) was "Teenage Wasteland", a reference to the repeated lyric in the song.The song was also used in the trailers for the filmsA Bug's Life(1998),American Beauty(1999),Resident Evil: Retribution(2012),Jobs(2013),The Peanuts Movie(2015),Free Guy(2021) andseason 3ofStranger Things.The song was also sung in the first seasonSense8episode "W. W. N. Double D?" by Riley's father at the airport.
"Baba O'Riley" was included in the soundtrack for the 1997 filmPrefontaineand the 1999 filmSummer of Sam. The song was used in the 10th episode of the 2010 Fox showThe Good Guys. The song was featured in the 2004 romantic comedy filmThe Girl Next Door, and was also used in the beginning and end credits of the 2012 moviePremium Rush. The song has also been used in episode 14 ofseason onein the TV seriesHouseand in episode 10 ofseason onein the TV seriesThe Newsroom. It was also used in episode one of the UK version ofLife on Mars. A remixed version of this song, re-done by Alan Wilkis, appears in the2012 remakeofNeed for Speed: Most Wanted, as well as theFamily Guyseason 13episode "Quagmire's Mom", the thirdRobot Chicken: Star Warsspecial and episode 11 of season one ofSuperstore. The song is featured in an episodeofJoe Pera Talks with You.
In October 2001, the Who gave a much-lauded performance of the song atthe Concert for New York City.Since 2003, "Baba O'Riley" has been played during player introductions for theLos Angeles Lakersduring home games at theStaples Center.The song is played before liveUFCevents during a highlight package showing some of the most famous fights in themixed martial artscompany's history.The song was used for the trailer of theEA Sports UFC 4game. It is also the official theme song of competitive eaterJoey Chestnut.
At both the opening and closing ceremonies of the2012 Summer Olympics, the 120 BPM dance track "The Road Goes on Forever" by the Welsh electronic music producerHigh Contrast, whichsamples"Baba O'Riley", is used during the countdown at the start of the proceedings."Baba O'Riley" was then performed by the Who as their first number during the last musical segment at the closing ceremony, withRoger Daltreysinging a changed lyric of "Don't cry/Just raise your eye/There's more than teenage wasteland"."Baba O'Riley" is also used as the pregame music atSanford Stadiumand is played right before kickoff at everyUniversity of Georgiahomefootballgame. In addition, theBoston College Marching Bandhas featured a rendition of the song at football and hockey games.  It is also played at halftime of mostNew England Patriotshome games, leading up to the second-half kickoff. It is also the entrance music for theNew York RangersatMadison Square Gardenfor every Rangers home playoff game.
In the course of a debate onTwitter, it was noted that "Best Song Ever" (2013) byOne Directionbore a strong resemblance to the basic structure of "Baba O'Riley".Pete Townshendresponded to the claims by denying that the Who were pursuing legal action, and stated that he was a fan of One Direction's single and was happy that One Direction appeared to have been influenced by the Who, just as he had been influenced by earlier musicians such asEddie Cochran.