Won't Get Fooled Again

Townshend wrote it for the close of Lifehouse. A first attempt at the Record Plant in New York on 16 March 1971 was set aside. The second was cut in early April at Stargroves with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, with overdubs at Olympic in late April, and Glyn Johns mixed it at Island Studios on 28 May. Townshend's demo ran a Lowrey organ through the filter of an EMS VCS 3, driven by pulse-coded modulations from his experiments with heartbeats, brainwaves and astrological charts.

Townshend said the song screams defiance at those who feel any cause is better than no cause, and offered the line: expect nothing and you might gain everything. The Woodstock incident with Abbie Hoffman also fed it. The edited single came out in Britain on 25 June 1971 and reached number nine there and number 15 on the US Hot 100.

Live and covers

The band first played it on 14 February 1971 at the Young Vic in London and has played it at nearly every concert since, with the synthesizer part on a backing tape and Moon on a click track. It was played at Live Aid in 1985, Live 8 in 2005, the Concert for New York City in 2001 and the Super Bowl XLIV halftime show in 2010. It has been played about 974 times live, more than any other Who song. Van Halen played it live in 1992, and that version reached number one on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks.