I don't think Moon was mentally ill, I think he was a bit immature and developed an addiction.... then the addiction took over and destroyed him. It is a very sad, and unfortunately typical story
5.15 I like the use of opposites (tightly/undone, sadly/ ecstatic) but I'm not sure what it's supposed to signify other than the confusion of the character. I guess it's Townshend's version of "Double Vision, " seeing something as two different things at the same time. It works emotionally
DIRTY JOBS A polical song that works because it sticks to specifics Great Keith on this just before the bridge A real hidden gem
I remember being floored when John started the bass solo during "5:15" in Hyde Park (1996). I think it was the first time he did an extended bass solo during a Who concert. A year later, I saw them in Rotterdam, and the bass solo made even more impact, given the fact it was in an indoor venue. Still I get goosebumps when I listen to recordings of the bass solo.. Oh John, such a loss..
IN MY HEAD One those wonderful patented yearning wistful Townshend songs Could fit on any 70s Who album Gets me everytime, even though it's not a great song
He runs the scooter off the cliff. Supposed to symbolize rejection of his old mod life now that he's found love. I think throughout the album he's desperate, but we're never meant to think he's going to kill himself deliberately
Maybe people are applying what they've seen in the movie to the song. In the film, it's the final song and it's made to look like it could be a suicide. The clue is that the beginning of the film shows the end, shows him walking back after running his scooter of the cliff. On the album, the song is simply the climax of Disc one...a CLIFFhanger! I actually haven't seen the film in many years, so I could be misremembering
I'd like to add my thanks to the thread runners here as well as the fantastic contributors. I have learned so much it's incredible. That said I have a question ..where does Jimmy actually live ? I always interpreted the lines in Cut My Hair.... "I'm coming down Got home on the very first train from town" ...to mean he was coming home (to Brighton) from town (London). But I think I remember others saying that Jimmy only visited Brighton. Can anyone clarify this?
I'm not sure, but assumed that the Who being based in London, that is where the home base is, so to speak
He definitely lives in London, the LP booklet has photos from Battersea (power station plus houses where the car is smashed), Greenwich (foot tunnel) and Hammersmith Odeon / Waterloo Station of course. In Cut My Hair he presumably comes home early in the morning from a night out in town (ie London’s West End), ‘coming down’ from the pills (uppers/ leapers) he’s taken.
London. Brighton is a short journey from London and was a Mod Mecca, and the scenes of the annual beach fights. Brighton also had a strong Who following in the mid 60s, and the band played their often. Parts of Quadrophenia are dedicated to Brighton Aquarium where The Who played in 1965, this is a quote from Townshend about the venue - “We were playing at Brighton Aquarium and I saw about two thousand Mod kids and there were three Rockers up against a wall. They’d obviously just come in thinking that they were going to a party and they really were scared as hell, and the Mods were just throwing bottles at them.” In the album's story Jimmy catches the train to Brighton in an attempt to recapture past glories and ease his fractured personality by visiting the place he felt most "complete", in Brighton alongside Ace Face. Of course this only destroys this "Mod" illusion when he discovers Ace Face isn't some Mod superhuman but a Bell Boy at the De Vere Grand Brighton Hotel. I always imagined Jimmy is from Harlow in London, a Mod stronghold and the scene of the Railway Hotel where the band built their Mod audience pre-fame.
5:15 What more can be said? Arguably the album's strongest or at the very least the most commercial track, the band are just on fire here. I adore Entwistle's brass here, and the piano captures that feeling of a train in motion brilliantly. Daltrey is magnificent. It's also one of my favourite moments in the movie, with Jimmy applying his manscara and sitting between the suits. A true classic. 5/5
Regarding the end of ‘I’ve Had Enough’, I listened to the LP for years before the film and it was always clear to me that he’s beside the tracks as a train is passing, the possible implication of suicide being obvious. The fact that the second half of the piece begins at a train station makes a tidy, strait forward link. Anyway, 5.15 is one of my favourite Who songs, an absolute classic. I think it picks up a hint of rock’roll pastiche and swagger from what the band did in ‘Long Live Rock’ - tempo and some aspects of the song are similar, but in this song put to much greater effect IMO. In this respect I also find Moon’s drumming fulfills its function perfectly, but then I’ve never really subscribed to the Moon drop off theory. The band changed, like every other band of the era.
A couple of things about 5:15 that come to mind: It was always a standout solo moment for John in concert. I remember seeing it on the Albert Hall DVD...that was the first time I think I ever saw that particular camera angle. The lines "The ushers are sniffing/Eau-de-coloning" -- Pete said it was in reference to a story he read about certain clean-up activities after Beatles shows. I have to wonder if that was a real story or one of Pete's tall tales.
5:15 One of my personal "big 3" for the album as songs I'm always happy to listen to at any time in any context, and no matter how much I do that, it always gets me going. This is a hard rocker that kick's ass like few others. From that deceptively mellow intro to the big horns and power chords, this one just goes for it... and wins! I loved the lyrics first time I heard them and there are still days I find something new, some little corner or some nuance that makes them seem even more brilliant. A+++ on all fronts. Were it not for The Real Me, this would be the group's #1 monster power piece.
When I rode the train from London to Brighton with "5:15" on my ipod, I thought it might be so cliched that there'd be a sign up prohibiting it, like ...
I read a Pete quote years ago where he said that the main riff of 5:15 came from their live improvisations. Although I've listened to dozens of pre-1973 boots, for the life of me I can't remember hearing anything that sounds remotely like 5:15 during their extended jams. Does anyone have an example where there are elements that appear in 5:15? Thanks.
Yes I agree. I actually always assumed Jimmy lived in the Shepherd's Bush / White City area. I had a quick look on google maps and immediately came upon a street resembling Jimmy's. It's not exactly the same but is obviously that kind of small working class terrace housing. There are probably hundreds of these kinds of streets all over London and were even more of them in the sixties. Google Maps 5.15 Here we have much more the feel of a commuter train leaving one of the big central stations. The noise of slamming carriage doors gives the game away. Is the fact that he's now on the train that he wanted to throw himself under, an indication that he's in some kind of purgatory? He certainly seems to be having different images flashing through his brain in an out of body experience. And he doesn't ask himeslf where he is, but where he has been. It's as if the journey is already over and he's reliving it in some way. Musically a candidate for being the best track on the album.
Sorry I thought most of Moon's issues were self-explanatory at this point. To name just a few: dysregulated or self-destructive behaviors (e.g. drug, alcohol and sex addictions), bipolar disorder (and mania), narcissism, borderline personality disorder, depression, etc. I do think that his run amok substance addictions exacerbated most of these well beyond the sort of garden variety mental illness quotient that might be present in most adults.
I can’t say that I have a source to quote, but I think it grew out of an improvisation during rehearsals for the album. Hence “5:15”’s absence from Pete’s set of demos - it hadn’t been written yet when the sessions started.
5:15 One of the best songs on the album. 5:15 begins quietly, with Jimmy asking "Why should I care," but soon erupts to reflect the conflicts that Jimmy is struggling with. John's horn parts fit so well and add so much to the song. The lines "Inside outside/Leave me alone" suggest that Jimmy is dealing with problems that come from outside himself, such as the challenge of growing up and becoming an adult, as well as his own internal psychological conflicts. He wants to be left alone but also to be able to leave himself alone and find peace of mind. Great lyrics from Pete that Roger delivers with some of his best singing on Quadrophenia. The interplay between Pete, John, Keith, and Chris Stainton works so well. One of my favorite moments in 5:15 is when the song slows down near the end (about 4:24 to 4:50), and Keith's drums sound like a train coming to a stop as it pulls into the station. As mentioned above, I've also read that 5:15 was unusual for The Who because it written and arranged in the studio on the day it was recorded, rather than being based on a finished song Pete presented to the band in demo form. Apparently, no 5:15 demo exists. If that's true, I've always wanted Pete to reverse engineer his usual process and come up with a solo demo of 5:15, based on The Who's version as his starting point.
