Album: Who's Next (1971)

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• There once was a note, pure and easy
  Playing so free like a breath rippling by
  The note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me
  Forever we blend it, forever we die
  
  I listened and I heard music in a word
  And words when you played your guitar
  The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
  And a child flew past me riding in a star
  
  As people assemble
  Civilization is trying to find a new way to die
  But killing is really merely scene changer
  All men are bored with other men's lies
  
  I listened and I heard music in a word
  And words when you played your guitar
  The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
  And a child flew past me riding in a star
  
  Gas on the hillside, oil in the teacup
  Watch all the chords of life lose their joy
  Distortion becomes somehow pure in it's wildness
  The note that began all can also destroy
  
  We all know success, when we all find our own dreams
  And our love is enough to knock down any walls
  And the future's been seen as men try to realize
  The simple secret of the note in us all, in us all
  
  I listened and I heard music in a word
  And words when you played your guitar
  The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
  And a child flew past me riding in a star
  
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen
  There once was a note, listen Writer/s: Peter Dennis Blandfor Townshend
  Publisher: Abkco Music Inc., BMG Rights Management, Spirit Music Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 15

• Glenn from TexasThe songs Pure and Easy and Take a Look Around are in different keys. The organ beginning is not the same. And stops and notes are un unique. But it will give yo pause.
• Gato from Bridge Of Lions"Pure and Easy" was first released on Townshend's "Who Came First" in 1972. As great as The Who were/are, they never recorded a tune with the charm and warmth that Townshend's solo "Pure and Easy" exudes.
• Bill from Lake Jackson TxHey Ed from Ossining: I did check out the beginning of James Gang ‘Take a look around’ as you suggested and you were right about the organ sounding like the intro to ‘Pure and easy’. Thanks!
• Gary from Portland, OrThe beauty of this track is how it sounds completed. And, it came as no surprise to see it added to the 90s 'Who's Next' issue as a bonus track. I was absent-mindedly listening to 'Who Came First - 45th Anniversary Exp. Ed. when I realized track one of the 1st disc was 'Pure & Easy.' Very Townshend, very The Who and one of my most treasured tracks penned by Townshend.
• Ed from Ossining, NyListen to The James Gang's "Take a Look Around" - recorded in 1969. Produced by Bill Szymczyk. Hmmmm...the opening organ riff to "Pure and Easy" is note for note the same as the organ riff in "Take a Look Around." It could have been dubbed in for that matter. Check it out!!!
• Doc from Newport Beach, CaI just watched VH1's classic album's episode on "Who's Next". Pete clearly states that he wishes (or perhaps wished) "Pure and Easy" made it onto the album. Anyway, for those interested in this discussion, that program is definitely worth checking out.
• David from Loma Linda, CaOne of the commentors felt that Pure and Easy belonged
  on Who's Next. Roger Daltry did have it put in near
  the end of The Song Is Over by suggestion. The
  Who's Next was already out by the time that change was made. What I am trying to say is that it really
  was too late to be squeezed in as a complete song but that the melody for Pure and Easy was strongly
  suggested near the closing of The Song Is Over. The Odds and Sods version of Pure and Easy I had hoped would be able to stand on its own merits for
  a great band and by a great band.
• John from Durango, CoThe Girly Magazine comment only appears on the Who version not the Solo Version. Pure and Easy and the Lifehouse concept was inspired by Pete Townsend's mentor Meher Baba. Meher Babab was on a thirty year vow of silence at the time. The Line "There once was a note Pure and Easy, playing so free like a breath rippling by" is the root basis for the teachings of the souls silence and hearing the Universal song.
• Craig from Melbourne, AustraliaThe line "There once was a note, pure and easy" is the central point of the whole Lifehouse project. Pete's idea was to get the bio-rythyms of fans, mix them all together, and come up with a note that unites the universe.
  
  Yeah, well, i guess you had to be there! hahhaha.
  
  The Who actually did attempt to do this. They had fans locked up in a theatre and the band performed. The idea was that audience/performer would merge after 2 days, becoming one. However, young fans of the band where not allowed to stay out overnight. People were getting hungry, and the band were getting bored.
• Stu from Suffern, NyThis was the lead song on Pete Townshend's 1972 solo album Who Came First. A classic album and probably the best version of this song.
  
  Stu, Suffern, NY
• David from Youngstown, OhThis is a great song, but I disagree with Charles about Song is Over. I think it's a fantastic song on an amazing album. I agree Charles that Quad is #1 and this is #2. As far as repetitive, you can argue that Bargain is in that category even more so than Song is Over.
• Griffin from New York, NyThis was first released on 1974's Odds and Sods compilation. That version truly trumps the version on the Who's Next Bonus tracks. It's slower and much more powerful. I personally think that the song is over is a beautiful song.
• Charles Wallace from Portland, Or"Pure and Easy" was recorded at about the same time as the other songs on Who's Next. At least, we finally get to hear it, as an add-on. But I wonder: why didn't it make the cut?
  
  Perhaps it was Pete Townshend's decision to leave it on the shelf. As the primary creative force in the band, I'm guessing he would have made many of the decisions about track selection and sequencing.
  
  If this is true, then Pete must have found it hard to "let go", which would explain how a snippet of "Pure and Easy" became the coda to "The Song is Over".
  
  The latter is aptly titled: whenever I hear it, I can hardly wait until the song is finally over. It's not that it's downright bad -- but it is (in my opinion) conventional, repetitive, and at least two minutes too long. It drags down the momentum, like an overlong scene in a fast-paced film.
  
  Compare it to "Baba O'Riley", "Bargain" and Entwistle's "My Wife". Not of the same calibre as the other tracks on Side A.
  
  Similarly, if "Pure and Easy" had been on the original "Who's Next"--making an outtake (and future bonus track) out of either "Getting In Tune" or "Going Mobile"--I wouldn't have objected.
  
  When "The Song is Over" reaches the section which borrows from "Pure and Easy", it's the only moment when the melody and words truly shine. A brilliant ending to a mediocre song.
  
  Much as I love Who's Next (my second favorite Who recording, after Quadrophenia), I wish the decision had gone differently, even if it had meant omitting something else. "Pure and Easy" would have fit perfectly well with the rest of the album.
  
• Stefanie from Rock Hill, ScGood song. I think I've heard a solo version by Pete Townshend. They were playing it on a college radio station somewhere. Have any of you heard a solo version of this by him as well?
• Fintan from Cheltenham, EnglandThis was written for the Lifehouse story but, unlike many of the Lifehouse songs, didn't appear on the original Who's Next version. It was first released on Odds and Sods in 1974 and later added on to the 1990s reissue of Who's next.

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