Is It In My Head?

Yesterday, when we left Jimmy he was questioning the world and thinking that it was all messed up, and today we head into the part of the story where Jimmy is feeling a bit paranoid. Mods took pills and in Quadrophenia they are referred to as leapers. I don’t know anything about drugs so I’m not really sure what sort of high you get when you take leapers, but Jimmy had about 200 in his possession and I can imagine that they were probably messing with his already crazy brain.

I think that the combination of the thoughts that Jimmy was having and the pills led him into the state that he was in at the time. He was questioning issues within the world and then when he took the pills and he brought the questions closer to home.

I love the chorus where Jimmy asks if it is in his head or in his heart. I think that the head means that everything that he is thinking is not real and that if it is in his heart then it must be true. It is an interesting concept that because his head is so messed up Jimmy relates fake with his head. The heart part is easy to make out; people are always giving advice to follow your heart. In the end Jimmy is having a real trip and I don’t think that he really knows what is going on.

It’s hard to write about Helpless Dancer, Is It In My Head, and the next song I’ve Had Enough because it all could be describe in one sentence: Jimmy is having a breakdown. Yes that is probably an over simplification of the situation, but that is what it all boils down too. This is what you need to remember when you are listening to these three songs. This isn’t just teenage angst, although that is part of it, this is a full on mental breakdown.

 

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.

The Punk and the Godfather

The Punk and the Godfather is an interesting song because it is actually a conversation between two people. What happens is that Jimmy goes to see The Who play and he waits for them outside because he use to know one of them. At first the band member doesn’t recognize him so Jimmy shouts at him which is when the exchange happens. Jimmy goes on about how The Who would be nothing without kids like him, that they are the reason for their fame, and the Godfather responds by saying that the punk shouldn’t really be feeling to good about himself at the moment because he doesn’t have that much to be proud of.

 

The next thing that I want to talk about is who I think the Godfather actually is. It has to be member of The Who, but I’ve never read anything that says which member it is. I think that it is Pete Townshend. During the 60’s people thought of The Who as the premier Mod band, and Pete Townshend wrote all these great Mod songs, which would make him the Godfather of the Mods. I think that situations like this probably happened all the time, where some kid would yell at them after concerts, and sometimes people just snap. The last verse is sung by Pete Townshend and I think that it is the Godfathers thoughts, that he saw something in Jimmy that reminded him of himself and he has this thought.

I love how, musically, The Punk and the Godfather has a real argument vibe to it. Roger Daltrey sings all but the last verse and it still sounds like two different people, there are two distinctive voices, one young and angry, and one annoyed and mocking. I also love how The Who was never afraid to mix vocals in a song. Roger was the singer, but sometimes a different quality was needed to drive a point or idea home. In this song you need Roger’s harsh tough guy tone for the argument and Pete’s smoother style for the introspective section. It’s an interesting mix and the voices work really well with each other.