When was pinball wizard written

The song "Pinball Wizard" was written and recorded almost immediately. This song is one of the band's most famous live songs, being played at almost every Who concert since its debut live performance on 2 May The live performances rarely deviated from the album arrangement, save for an occasional jam at the end sometimes leading to another song.

Bootleg recordings show that this song has been known to last as long as 8 minutes at a concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 3 February , although live versions lasting as long as that are extremely rare. This version was released as a single in in the US, and in in the UK, where it reached number 7. John's version uses a piano as the song's centerpiece in place of the acoustic guitar in the original in the film, John's character is shown playing his pinball machine via a small piano keyboard , and features additional lyrics specially written by Townshend for the movie version, as well as a subtle inclusion of musical phrases from The Who's s hit " I Can't Explain " during the outro similarly, The Who's later cover of John's " Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting " included parts of " Take Me to the Pilot ".

Unlike most of the soundtrack's music, which featured various combinations of The Who and some of the era's best session players, John used his own band Dee Murray , Nigel Olsson , Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper and producer Gus Dudgeon for the track. To date, it is the only cover of a Who song to reach the top Music Hub Explore.

Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Elton John: "Pinball Wizard". In , The Who was arguably the biggest rock band in the world. Meanwhile, Elton John was arguably the biggest solo artist in the world.

Sir Elton's cover of a Who song his version was a Top 10 hit in the U. Let's not stray too far from this very important topic. Which version of "Pinball Wizard" is better? All this means that my first encounter with "Pinball Wizard" would have been the Elton John version. That said, when I gained eternal consciousness around by making my way into high school and watching Caddyshack whenever possible , the Elton John version of "Pinball Wizard" was long-forgotten since my older brother had purchased the original Tommy album, if my recollection is correct, for 1 penny from the Columbia House Music Club.

As I learned to become a bad drummer and joined better bands than I deserved to be in, somehow every guitarist would play that opening riff to "Pinball Wizard" at random points during nearly every band practice. The Who's version was the version to know. It was first. It was classic. Columbia House. I'm going to place my vote for the Elton John version. Some of you will agree. Some will hire a hit man to blow up my Civic. Here's why I, your writer of this important piece of Rock journalism, thinks the Elton John version is better.

The Who did it first. They recorded it in The entirety of Tommy doesn't sound great. Even Townshend would agree one reason why he spent an insane amount of time on the soundtrack 6 years later.

Interestingly, if you compare Tommy to the first Led Zeppelin album, they don't compare in sound quality. It's so alive. Tommy does not. It's a thinner sound. Recent blog posts Forum. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Pinball Wizard. Edit source History Talk 0. Cancel Save. Fan Feed. Universal Conquest Wiki. Billboard Hot [2]. Cash Box Top [3].