Pictures Of Lily

Roger Daltrey in mid Octover, 2011 A.D.: "In my own show, I do things like 'Pictures Of Lily' and 'Tattoo' -- songs that the Who haven't done onstage for years. And I do them with all the backing vocals, y'know, the original backing vocals that have been missing for years in the Who."

I do not think this is Lily Langtree as someone says as he is clearly singing about masturbating to nude pictures. I once looked through a book of Victorian nudes and the they used to sell the images as pictures of...and then the girls name. There was indeed "pictures of Lily". Black and white photos of a Victorian nude.

Does anyone know where I can get the French Horn sheet music in this?

lol, thats hilarious that nobody really realized what it was about. rockstars in the 60s always had a bit of fun messing with the heads of the people who were out to censor everything. great song, and the story's pretty clever too.

Oops. Watched the video. That was a French Horn -- I remembered that as a guitar...

Anyone notice the obvious stroking guitar in this one?

> The most beautiful song about masturbation I've ever heard.
I think "Rosie" by Jackson Browne gives it a run, at least for beauty. But the drumming is better on this one.

i think pete townsend is a genuis!! he cares less what record co. think.pictures of Lily is brillant

The Lily referred to in the song is actually Lillie Langtry. Her real name was Emilie Charlotte Le Breton. Langty was her married name. She was a British actress who was born on the island of Jersey and later acquired the nickname "the Jersey Lily". As Clifford (from Cottekill, NY) correctly pointed out, she died in 1929. [JFV - June 2008]

probably the best song ever written about masturbation. this song proves that the who could of made a song about anything and made it a hit.

that song is so great i want to see lily

I love this song. I heard it for the first time and saw the video for it today. I love Pete Townsend he was sooo hott and I love his words and lyrics. This song is great, the meaning is cool too. I mean only Pete Townsend can write a song like that, that has a weird and risky meaning for the 60's and get away with it. I also like how it kind of tells a story too. Just a great song and great band all together.

quirky*

So yeah, I agree with you Henry from Kingston, NY- its a perfect sympathetic portrayal of a young kid just beginning to discover the joys of adulthood...and yet there is a hint of sadness in the fact that he needs to find comfort and solace in old nudie pictures...so there's emotion in addition to the typical illicit joy of listening to a song about such a topic. A truly perfect song lyrically. This was in a stage in their career when they made many such sympathetic, quiry portrayals of characters...(think "happy jack," "substitute," and "i'm a boy"). God, those are awesome songs.

Pshaw, You Better You Bet is a great song...and so is this one, gotta love a song about masturbation. I know I do..

I like the song but its kind of silly

The most beautiful song about masturbation I've ever heard. I'm serious.

Ha ha ha, man... I didn't think this song was quite about what it IS about. Call me stupid for not knowing the meaning of it, but I honestly didn't think it was as... er, "bawdy" of a song as it is. LOL. Um, but otherwise, I actually really like this song. Still having a hard time getting over the meaning though. Woah...

wrote a story about this song once the teacher didnt understand the meaning

When i herd of this song title i thought it would be about keith moons drums, because wasent his drum kit named lily? anyway call me an idiot for thinking that. Nathan and Alfred, You Better You Bet is a great song (hit #1 on the singles chart)Yea, too bad Moonie was alredy dead, but they still had Enthwistle and if you dont like this song than dont bitch about it and dont listen to it, and it seams like it should be a Townsend solo album song.

Yahh...this is a little weird, eh?

You Better You Bet shouldn't have been recorded at all, especially after Moon's death.

I hate that song You Better You Bet

never fails to cheer me up when times are bad

Looking further into it, Lily Langtree did die in 1929 as stated in the song.
cliff

Anyone know who he had in mind?

haha. Pictures of Lily would make my life so wonderful too ;)