Although The Who would never claim to be a heavy metal band, '
The Seeker', with its 'heavy' repeated guitar riff and rather lumbering rhythm track, comes close. But its introspective yearning and evidently heart-felt lyrics are anything but.
The song describes Pete's desperate search for a meaning to his life, whether it be through his peers, with the references to Bob Dylan and The Beatles, or through psychedelic drugs and LSD, and the mention of Timothy Leary.
It was actually inspired by an American friend of Pete named Tom Wright, with whom he shared a flat in the early 60's and whose record collection he inherited when Wright was busted for drugs and deported back to the States
"I've looked under chairs
I've looked under tables
I've tried to find the key
To fifty million fables
chorus:
They call me The Seeker
I've been searching low and high
I won't get to get what I'm after
Till the day I die
I asked Bobby Dylan
I asked The Beatles
I asked Timothy Leary
But he couldn't help me either
chorus
People tend to hate me
'Cause I never smile
As I ransack their homes
They want to shake my hand
Focusing on nowhere
Investigating miles
I'm a seeker
I'm a really desperate man
I won't get to get what I'm after
Till the day I die
I learned how to raise my voice in anger
Yeah, but look at my face, ain't this a smile?
I'm happy when life's good
And when it's bad I cry
I've got values but I don't know how or why
I'm looking for me
You're looking for you
We're looking in at other
And we don't know what to do
chorus"
The 'B'-side to the single was Roger's second writing credit for the band. '
Here For More' is a fairly lightweight country and western-style song without the Who's normal attack...which probably means that Keith was absent from the recording session!
Despite it's authentic country licks and laptop steel guitar, The Who were never in danger of becoming the next Eagles!
"You can pack up your bags and go looking,
For all things that need to be done,
Or you can spend all your life not thinking,
Never ending what you begun.
You take a step in the right direction,
But the man knocks us down on the floor,
And although he may think we are broken,
We'll get up and take two steps more.
It's your life to do what you want to,
By the way you push yourself out to the fore,
And whatever you think of the reason,
You bet your life you're here for more.
It's your life to do what you want to,
By the way you push yourself out to the fore,
And whatever you think of the reason,
You bet your life you're here for more.
You may think that you're pretty good people,
And you run at an even score,
But whatever you think you are here for,
You bet your life you're here for more."