When Listening To The Who Behind Blue Eyes Shows Us The Dark Side

‘Behind Blue Eyes' is one the most emotionally complex of all of The Who's songs. The track is ostensibly a tale of deceiving appearances, and of the consequences of not being true to yourself. The protagonist in the song repeatedly requests that those around him do their best to counteract his emotions and actions, indicating that he does not trust himself to act in an appropriate manner or even in his own best interests.

The song was written by guitarist Pete Townshend during the troubled part of his life surrounding his loss of faith in his musical abilities and the nervous breakdown that followed. Under the stress of trying to match his previous accomplishments in the rock opera ‘Tommy', the follow-up grandiose vision that Townshend had dreamed up regarding people who could abandon their bodies and become pure energy proved to be almost completely impossible to communicate to anyone else. While he had faced this problem previously with ‘Tommy', he had in the end been able to find others who could share his vision. In the case of this failed project, he was on his own, and he later said that the frustration and depression that resulted caused him to entertain thoughts of suicide.
The slow, sad acoustic sections resulted from Townshend's attempt to find a theme song for the villain of his abandoned project, and it is hard not to think that the guitarist saw a lot of himself in the song's protagonist. For The Who Behind Blue Eyes was once again the stitching together of separate musical entities, however. The contrasting electric guitar bridge had a different genesis. While the sadness of the early verses seems to transform into an almost sneering rage, this section is actually based on a prayer that was written by Townshend one night when he found himself facing the temptation of a groupie after a show in Denver. He rushed back to his room and began to write out the prayer that would later form the lyrics for this part of the song.
Intended as a single for The Who Behind Blue Eyes was included on the ‘Who's Next' album in 1971. It has the distinction as being one of the most covered songs in The Who's catalog, but very few performers have managed to match the fearsome energy behind Roger Daltrey's original, inspired vocal performance. The song remains a glimpse into the darker days of the band's most prolific songwriter.