Baba O’Riley
I’ve never been a big fan of The Who. I never liked Roger Daltrey’s voice, and Pete Townshend’s songwriting didn’t really resonate with me. But I’ve always liked BABA O’RILEY. The synthesizer loop in the beginning caught my ear immediately and the repetition until the onslaught of the power chords was gripping. But I’ve always liked Pearl Jam’s version better. I liked Eddie’s voice, and I loved the guitar intro. I’ve been thinking about his song lately, and if I had to pick one single song that influenced Eddie Vedder’s songwriting more than any other, it would probably be this one.
The history of BABA O’RILEY is actually very interesting. According to Wikipedia, an unimpeachable source, the name of the song derives from two people Pete Townshend found very inspirational at the time the song was written. One was philosopher Meher Baba, and the other was minimalist composer Terry Riley, whose 1964 composition IN C was partially the inspiration for the repeating synthesizer patterns in BABA O’RILEY. The patterns themselves were reconstructed from an ARP Synthesizer demo. Two other distinguishing characteristics of this song are the dramatic bridge and the switch to almost a jig near the end.
The only PJ versions of this song are live. They are at the end or near the end of a show, and they usually end as wild free-for-alls. The synthesizer intro is replaced by Mike McCready himself. I love the guitar sound here. It’s more substantial than the reedy synthesizer, and the chords sound even more powerful when they come crashing in. This is where Eddie catches tambourines and starts smashing them and throwing them into the audience. Generally, the audience sings the “teenage wasteland” lyric, and the jig is played with wild abandon. It’s a fun moment at concerts and fun on the boots as well.
This has always been my preferred closer for a PJ show. I always get down when they start in YL, but Mike’s intrd for Baba is such a rush! And from the crowd singing the “teenage wasteland” part to the “how-fast-can-we-play-this?” finale, I think this song is the most indicative of what a Pearl Jam live show feels like. The first time I heard this live, at a show in 2000, I nearly passed out. The emotional high of that moment is something that is engrained in my head. I know it’s probably blasphemy, but I’ve always preferred the PJ version of Baba to the Who’s version.
My first PJ bootleg was a tape someone made for me. and that was it. Just the tape, no song title, cd sleeve, no nothing. I didn’t know when or where the concert was, what songs were going to be played…etc. I was given three tapes like that. This was in the fall of ´93. Baba was the concert closer on one of those tapes…it’s so great to think back to that fall, listening to those tapes…over and over…Anyway, what I wanted to say was, My god, do you realize how many years they’ve been playing that song? I saw them do it live last fall in Barcelona, with the dude from Wolfmother, who looked so genuinely happy to be jigging along up there with PJ…smashing tambourines, etc…really having a great time…all of us were. How does PJ do it? All these years, all those concerts…and it still is so genuine and true and really really good music…
This would be a good entry to address the Pearl Jam / Who, Eddie / Pete vibe, but I’ve said enough already…but here’s the unponderable…would Eddie, Pearl Jam, be what they are today if there had been no Who in his life? and where would I be right now if Eddie hadn’t listened to the Who? Probably working…