Doctor Jimmy

Good evening everyone. First things first, I would like to say Happy Birthday to my brother John. As you all know John lent me Quadrophenia and therefore introduced to me to best album of all time. John actually introduced me to a lot of music through the years and I fully believe that if it weren’t for him I would have a terrible taste in music. So, thank you John! I hope that you have a great birthday! See you on Friday for some Quadrophenia!

Now, on to the story. Jimmy is having a bad day, he feels like everything in life has let him down and he just doesn’t know where to go from here. He takes some more leapers and then starts to drink. Mods weren’t drinkers, the rockers drank and the Mods took pills, and the combination of the pills and booze make Jimmy really mean. If you listen to the lyrics you will hear that they thoughts that are going through his head are somewhat disturbing. I believe that at this point he has cracked in a whole new way. This is sort of the beginning of the end, something snaps, Jimmy gets mean, and his thoughts turn dark.

Doctor Jimmy is supposed to hold another personality, this one belonging to John Entwhistle, but it is only a small tag within the song. But I never really felt that it was fair that John’s trait got whittled down to four lines when the other members of the band got fully fleshed out songs. Then I received a copy of the Quarophenia demos and low and behold there was actually a song called Is it me? After listening to the demo I can honestly say that the best part was transposed into Doctor Jimmy. Not that it isn’t a good song, but I’m not really sure where Pete was going with it. In the end I’m glad that it was dropped because I think that it would have slowed down the story.

“Is it me for a moment? The stars are falling, the heat is rising, the past is calling”. These few lines have always been some of my favourite in Quarophenia, because, to me, it seems like even though Jimmy is having this mental breakdown he sort of realizes it. It is quite moment during the moment that he seems to be losing his mind and it is almost like he could come out of it but he doesn’t. It’s also a sad moment, Jimmy is going through something huge and difficult and he is all alone and I think that the loneliness comes through in those lines. Up until now Jimmy has been very tough and doesn’t feel like he needs anyone, but that ends up not being true, which will come up back a little later.