biff0101 June 16th, 2008 01:11AM  
Townsend has actually stated that this was his statement against the counter culture of the 60's. They betrayed him and asked for more than what he could give (IE, his kids, his life, his soul). This was basically his way of telling the hippies to fuck off.

anonymous June 19th, 2009 03:37PM  
"We'll be fighting in the streets. With our children at our feet" A revolution on home grounds with everyone suffering. The chorus: congratulating the new revolution and being happy until they realize that everything's the same just with different names and then hoping that it doesn't happen again. A major thing to realize about this song is that the "revolution" is just attempting to change ideas that don't have to be in a violent way. "And the world looks just the same. And history ain't changed" Again, everythings the same. "Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war" The rebels will soon be rebeled against. "I'll move myself and my family aside" Give up everything for 'the cause' (revolution) "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss" just emphasising my point there. It's about the constant change that results in no change except different words and another revolution to tip your hat at.

anonymous July 8th, 2009 07:17AM  
Townsend stated he wrote this whole musical while on acid on a transatlantic flight so who knows where it comes up except to watch the movie Tommy.

anonymous February 13th, 2010 02:36AM  
Adding a little perspective: The impressive movie of 1971 (the year of the release of Who's Next) was "2001: A Space Odyssey". The Monolith in the film represented a change in human development and, so, The Who are desecrating that movie's omnipresent Monolith, on the album cover, by pissing on it. Pete Townshend used that very image to mock the future that he saw coming. He did it not to say that they were wrong, but to warn them that the heroes of tomorrow just may not look very different from the heroes of yesterday. The reason for that is that we are still humans here, after all, not some wise outerspace-begotten superbeings. Basically, it's a warning about getting caught up in the kind of revolution that can't be deliver by pretenders.