The Seeker

1970 single by the Who

"The Seeker" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by English rock band the Who. First released as a non-album single in March 1970, it is included on their 1971 compilation album Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy and other compilations.

Background

Around the time of the song`s release, Townshend explained its meaning in an interview with Rolling Stone:

Quite loosely, "The Seeker" was just a thing about what I call Divine Desperation, or just Desperation. And what it does to people. It just kind of covers a whole area where the guy`s being fantastically tough and ruthlessly nasty and he`s being incredibly selfish and he`s hurting people, wrecking people`s homes, abusing his heroes, he`s accusing everyone of doing nothing for him and yet at the same time he`s making a fairly valid statement, he`s getting nowhere, he`s doing nothing and the only thing he really can`t be sure of is his death, and that at least dead, he`s going to get what he wants. He thinks![3]

"I suppose I like this least of all the stuff", wrote Townshend the following year. "It suffered from being the first thing we did after Tommy, and also from being recorded a few too many times. We did it once at my home studio, then at IBC where we normally worked then with Kit Lambert producing. Then Kit had a tooth pulled, breaking his jaw, and we did it ourselves. The results are impressive. It sounded great in the mosquito-ridden swamp I made it up in—Florida at three in the morning drunk out of my brain with Tom Wright and John Wolff. But that`s always where the trouble starts, in the swamp. The alligator turned into an elephant and finally stampeded itself to death on stages around England. I don`t think we even got to play it in the States."[4] However, the Who performed "The Seeker" for about two weeks on their 1970 American tour.[5] The Who revived the song briefly in 2000 and then extensively starting on the 2006–2007 tour for Endless Wire.

The lyrics name-check several people who had high profiles in contemporary pop culture: musicians Bob Dylan (as "Bobby Dylan") and the Beatles, and advocate of psychedelic drugs Timothy Leary. Townshend was a devotee of the teachings of Meher Baba, a Persian-Indian mystic whose 1966 treatise/pamphlet God in a Pill? famously lambasted drug use as a means of consciousness expansion. Similarly, Townshend was an opponent of drug abuse throughout this period.

Nicky Hopkins plays piano on `"The Seeker".

Release

Released in the UK as Track 604036 on 21 March 1970, "The Seeker" reached number 19 in the charts. Released in the US as Decca 7-32670, it hit the Billboard charts on 11 April 1970, eventually peaking at number 44.[6] The B-side, "Here for More", is one of the few Who songs written by lead singer Roger Daltrey.[6]

Cash Box described it as showing "the Who still operating with blistering instrumental thrust, but turning to lyrics more meaningful than before."[7] Record World said that the single "was worth the wait and the group is still a real powerhouse."[8]

Charts