Helpless Dancer

Pete Townshend wanted to write an album that was sort of about how different each member of The Who is to each other, and over time it evolved into what we now know as Quadrophenia. As you know Jimmy has four different personalities, like schizophrenia, and Townshend made each personality reflect a member of The Who. Helpless Dancer is the first time that we get to see one of these personalities come through.

The first personality that we meet is that of Roger Daltrey who is cast as the tough guy. Roger was a bit different from the other members of The Who because he never once saw himself as a Mod. He was more of a Rocker in Mod clothes. Before Roger was in The Who he was a sheet metal worker, and that made him quite tough. He never seemed to take any crap from anyone and often seemed a bit gruff in videos.  Roger’s voice lends perfectly to the tough guy motif and helps to drive home the point that is being made in Helpless Dancer.

As for Jimmy he is fed up with, well, with the world. In Helpless Dancer he is questioning things that are still poignant today. The way that the ideas are coming out of Jimmy’s head is sort of a stream of consciousness presented in one long verse instead of the verse/chorus arrangement that is found in so many songs. The way the song is structured makes it sound more frantic, and it makes the listener believe that something is happening to Jimmy. This is where Jimmy first starts to crack; he is looking at the world and thinking that it is so screwed up. From here things just keep getting worst.