About The Song
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” is a song by the English rock band The Who, released as a single on June 25, 1971, through Track Records in the UK and Decca Records in the US, with “Don’t Know Myself” as the B-side. Written by guitarist Pete Townshend and produced by The Who with associate producer Glyn Johns, it was recorded in April 1971 at Stargroves, Berkshire, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, and mixed at Olympic Studios in London. The full eight-and-a-half-minute version appears as the closing track on the band’s 1971 album Who’s Next, released August 14 in the US and August 27 in the UK.
The single achieved notable chart success. It peaked at No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart, charting for nine weeks, and reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, entering on July 17, 1971, and charting for 13 weeks. Internationally, it hit No. 14 on Australia’s Go-Set chart, No. 7 in the Netherlands (Single Top 100), and No. 13 in Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders). The song earned Silver certification in the UK (200,000 units). The Who’s Next album topped the UK Albums Chart and reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200, with over 3 million copies sold in the US, earning 3× Platinum certification from the RIAA. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the song No. 295 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and in 2012, Paste placed it No. 3 on their list of the 20 greatest Who songs.
The song was originally intended for Townshend’s ambitious Lifehouse project, a rock opera meant to follow Tommy, focusing on spiritual enlightenment through music, inspired by Indian avatar Meher Baba and Universal Sufism founder Inayat Khan’s The Mysticism of Sound and Music. Written as the opera’s finale, it followed the death of the protagonist, Bobby, and the sounding of a “universal chord,” as noted in a 2003 Who’s Next deluxe edition liner notes. When Lifehouse was abandoned, the track was included on Who’s Next. Townshend’s inspiration stemmed from an incident at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, where he chased activist Abbie Hoffman offstage for interrupting their set, as he recounted in a 1982 Creem interview. The synthesizer, a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ run through an EMS VCS3, was programmed by Townshend from his demo, creating the song’s iconic staccato riff, per a 2015 Songfacts entry.
Recording details include an initial attempt in March 1971 at New York’s Record Plant, featuring Leslie West on guitar, which was discarded for a superior take at Stargroves, as Glyn Johns noted in the Classic Albums: Who’s Next documentary. The track features Roger Daltrey’s vocals, John Entwistle on bass, Keith Moon on drums, and Townshend on guitar and synthesizer. Daltrey’s scream, recorded in one take, was so intense that bandmates thought he was fighting, per a 2023 Rocking In the Norselands article. The song was a live staple, often closing sets, and was Keith Moon’s last live performance with The Who at Shepperton Studios on May 25, 1978, captured in The Kids Are Alright. It was used in CSI: Miami as a theme and covered by Van Halen (No. 1 on Billboard’s Album Rock Tracks, 1993) and Labelle (1972).
Video
Lyric
We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the songI’ll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled againChange, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that’s all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
‘Cause the banners, they all flown in the last warI’ll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
No, noI’ll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half-alive
I’ll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do you?Yeah
There’s nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are all replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnightI’ll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, noYeah
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss