The Who have shared their contemplative new song “All This Music Must Fade,” the latest single off the rockers’ long-awaited new LP WHO, out December 6th.
The opening track on WHO, the new song takes a tongue-in-cheek attitude about originality in music as well as the band’s own legacy.
Pete Townshend said in a statement that the song is “dedicated to every artist who has ever been accused of ripping off someone else’s song. Seriously? Our musical palette is limited enough in the 21st century without some dork claiming to have invented a common chord scheme.”
“I don’t care / I know you’re gonna hate this song / And that said / We never really got along,” Roger Daltrey sings in the opening verse. “It’s not new, not diverse / It won’t light up your parade / It’s just simple verse / All this music will fade / Just like the edge of a blade.”
“All This Music Must Fade” follows WHO‘s first single “Ball and Chain,” as well as “Big Cigars” which Daltrey and Townshend have been performing in concert.
In a statement, Daltrey previously said of the band’s first album since 2006’s Endless Wire: “I think we’ve made our best album since Quadrophenia in 1973. Pete hasn’t lost it. He’s still a fabulous songwriter, and he’s still got that cutting edge.”
Townshend added, “This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions. There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I (and my brother Simon) wrote to give Roger Daltrey some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice. Roger and I are both old men now, by any measure, so I’ve tried to stay away from romance, but also from nostalgia if I can. I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Memories are OK, and some of the songs refer to the explosive state of things today.”