Songs I like - Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who)

Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss...

After Tommy, Pete Townshend began work on his second "rock opera," this time called the Lighthouse. For a variety of reasons, the Lighthouse project was dropped and many of the songs ended up on later albums, such as Won't Get Fooled Again on Who's Next. The songs for Lighthouse are available on a recent Pete Townshend release, which I recommend, along with the story which is not much more coherent and interesting than Tommy. But this song is one of the all time greats, speaking to the truth of almost all revolution: they end up the same place that they were fighting to escape. George Orwell's Animal Farm is about the same thing, with the pigs finally being exactly like the humans they killed to overthrow.

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do ya?

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the party on the left
Is now the party on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Quotes