[Susan Foreman]

Album #2:
A Quick One

If 'My Generation' was the Mod / Pop Art album, then 'A Quick One' is the difficult, experimental album, released on December 9th, 1966

By the time the band came to record this LP, they were broke due to the expense of having to replace so much smashed equipment! In view of this, their music publishers suggested that if Pete, Roger, Keith and John all contributed at least two songs each, they would advance £500 to each member – a considerable amount of money at the time. The offer was accepted, and they were all sent off with some paper and a pen to write hits. Creatively speaking, this was an absurd idea, especially at a time when Pete was quite capable of writing material as strong as 'Happy Jack' and 'Substitute', and it's no surprise that the resulting album suffers because of it. It's a rag-tag collection of musical styles of varying quality which lacked any kind of cohesion and sense of purpose. Pete's compositions are infinitely better than anything else on the record, although it did lead to John coming up with his first Who classic. However, even the most charitable fans found themselves scratching their heads at the tracks offered by Roger and Keith!

The album was originally envisioned as containing pop music, and so the cover was designed by the pop art exponent Alan Aldridge. The front depicts the band, as the titles of some of the songs were visualised coming out of the instruments. The back cover of the UK release is black, with the title and track listing across the top, and a colour head-shot photograph of each band member with the letters of "The W H O" superimposed individually over their faces

When released in the US in April 1967, the title of the album was changed to 'Happy Jack' because the UK title was considered to to risque for American sensibilities! The from cover stayed the same, albeit with the name change, while the back cover contained a black-and-white band photo montage accompanied by a short personality sketch of each (infamous among Who fans for Keith's statement that he was keen on 'breeding chickens'), a track listing, a couple of paragraphs touting the band, an ad for their first album, and a technical blurb are also included

1/12: A heavy sounding fuzztone bass riff opens the album. 'Run Run Run', written by Pete, is one of the better songs on offer. There's a whining feedback during the solo which was ahead of it's time, but as an album opener, it's bit of a disappointment

Apparently 'Run Run Run' was originally produced by Pete and recorded by a band called The Cat in May 1966, but I have been unable to find any musical evidence of this

"Run, run, run
Run, run, run
Run, run, run
Run, run, run

Well baby, better take my advice
A black cat crossed your path twice
The moon came out next to the 1
Then you opened your umbrella in a room

chorus:
You better run, run, run
Run, run, run
Run, run, run
Run, run, run

Well you ain't the luckiest girl I know
And you won't get luckier the way you're going
Your horseshoe's rusty and your mirror's cracked
You walk under ladders then you walk right back

(chorus)

When you dropped that little pin
Never thought what a mess it'd get you in
Little pin, little pin, bring me luck
Because I stopped to pick you up

(chorus)

Well now, little girl, I'm helping you
I hope you believe what I say is true
Whenever you run, I'll be running too
Whenever you run, I'll be following you

(chorus)

Run, run, run"

2/12: 'Boris The Spider' was the first song written by John, who also sang it. It quickly became one of the most popular songs in the live set. 'Boris' sets the pattern for the off-beat and darkly macabre songs that he would become notorious for as the years went by. Legend has it, that on the eve of the recording session, Pete asked John how he was getting on with his songwriting. 'No problem,' John replied. 'How does it go?' Pete persisted. 'Like this,' replied John, humming the first few bars that came into his head!

Pete:

"Politics or my own shaky vanity might be the reason, but 'Boris The Spider' was never released as a single and should have been a hit. It was the most-requested song we ever played on stage, and if this really means anything to you guitar players, it was Hendrix's favorite Who song. Which rubbed me up well the wrong way, I can tell you. John introduced us to 'Boris' in much the same way as I introduced us to our 'Generation;' through a tape recorder. We assembled in John's three by ten-foot bedroom and listened incredulously as the strange and haunting chords emerged. Laced with words about the slightly gruesome death of a spider, the song had enough charm to send me back to my pad writing hits furiously."

"Look, who's crawling up my wall
Black and hairy, very small
Now he's up above my head
Hanging by a little thread

Boris the spider
Boris the spider

Now he's dropped on to the floor
Heading for the bedroom door
Maybe he's as scared as me
Where's he gone now, I can't see

Boris the spider
Boris the spider

Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly

There he is wrapped in a ball
Doesn't seem to move at all
Perhaps he's dead, I'll just make sure
Pick this book up off the floor

Boris the spider
Boris the spider

Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly

He's come to a sticky end
Don't think he will ever mend
Never more will he crawl 'round
He's embedded in the ground

Boris the spider
Boris the spider"