Live/Living Songs: Long Live Rock

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Winter is leaving kicking and screaming around here. We had a hard freeze last night, which may damage some of the dogwoods that have popped out three weeks early. Let’s get rid of winter and welcome spring with another song that has “live” in the title. Long Live Rock - The Who Meanwhile, it’s getting late at 10 o’clock Just think, Pete Townshend was 27 years old when he wrote that line. He’ll be 79 in a couple of months…wonder how he feels now! What was going on in 1972? We had Elton John singing, “The years went by and rock just died” in “Crocodile Rock,” and here Pete and Roger trade lead vocals singing, “Rock is dead they say.” Too many folk singers hitting the charts then? Nah, the 70s were an interesting time, with funk, country, folk, soft rock, hard rock, and just about anything in between on your local top 40 AM radio station. It was also an interesting time for musicians, discovering the, ahem, “lifestyle” on the road that everyone thinks of when they think of musicians on tours anymore. This is a tongue-in-cheek look at that. Sadly, that “rock and roll lifestyle” took two members of The Who quite early: Keith Moon died in 1978 of an overdose of medication that was supposed to help him control his drinking; and John Entwistle succumbed to a cocaine-assisted heart attack in 2002. They, in the words of one of The Who’s most popular songs, died before they got old. Daltrey (who just turned 80) and Townshend are still rocking it. Long live rock, indeed, and long live The Who. Long Live Rock Written by Pete Townshend From Odds & Sods, 1974 Also from The Kids Are Alright, 1979 We were the first band to vomit at the bar: