Trick or Treat: A Quick One While He's Away

The Who - A Quick One While He's Away [purchase]

There's a very good possibility this song doesn't meet the theme's criteria. But, it does have a few things going for it.

1) Features a girl who spends a year cheating on her boyfriend. When he finally comes back from wherever he was gone, she admits that she kissed a few guys, sat on Ivor the engine driver's lap, and later, took a nap with Ivor. Of course, "napping" was that generation's "rusty trombone." So there's that.

2) Said dirty old sooty engine driver offers the little girl "a sweet" to take a walk with him ... to sort it out ... back at his place, maybe. Nudge nudge wink wink.

3) When the little girl's boyfriend finally returns, she asks, perhaps rhetorically, "I can’t believe it. Do my eyes deceive me? Am I back in your arms? Away from all harm?" To which, the boyfriend responds, "Harm? What harm? Show me on this doll where Ivor the engine driver harmed you. Seriously? There? And THERE?!?! My God, do I need a haz-mat suit?!?!"

4) Oh yeah, forgot to mention that this might be the greatest live version of any single song in the history of mankind. Surely, such ear candy counts for something.

5) On a meta-level, it was fiendishly clever of The Who to get themselves booked on the Rolling Stones' "Rock 'n' Roll Circus." Their performance was so inspired, controlled chaos incarnate, that by comparison, the Stones ... especially famed blackface minstrel, Mick Jagger* ... appeared to be slogging through some sort of gelatinous muck. It's almost painful to watch. And by painful, I mean, God bless The Who.

From the video archives, a Halloween treat for y'all:



* I love the Stones and I'm just busting Jagger's chops. Besides, we all know he didn't actually wear blackface. It was merely implied.