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Clocking in at more than eight minutes, the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" is a hefty slice of classic rock, indeed. Culled from 1971's arena-ready, FM-friendly powerhouse Who's Next, the timeless song is a stunning representation of a mighty rock band at its apex. Rock rhythm guitar icon Pete Townshend slings his characteristic ringing power chords, broken-chord passages, and reckless single-note fills around the entire arrangement, while the incomparable Keith Moon whirls and twirls like a tornado in a breathless display of hard rock drumming. John Entwistle deftly pours his fluid bass lines in and around the few spaces left behind by his manic bandmates, and Roger Daltrey caps things off with his macho vocal delivery, emitting a final primal scream that is, arguably, yet to be topped in the annals of rock music.
THE SYNTH LINE
"Won't Get Fooled Again" is a landmark song, as it presages the forthcoming age of synthesizer-driven rock. Dabbling with an early form of sequencing, Pete Townshend paired a Lowry combo organ with an EMS VCS 3 synthesizer. Using the synthesizer to control a quantized tremolo ("timed" on/off) setting and a random tone sweeping (mellow-to-bright) effect, Townshend played chords and melody lines on the organ. The end result was a steady stream of eighth note-driven passages that he maintained throughout the entire song.
THE VERSES
Relying on the acoustic guitar and the organ for a harmonic and rhythmic bed, Townshend opts for a stripped-down, powerful approach on the electric guitar (Gtr. 1). Strewing broken A5 chord voicings hither and thither throughout measures 1-5 and 9-13, and dropping E5, C/G, and G5 partials into the remaining measures of each verse, he avoids any regularly occurring rhythm patterns. This chord work, coupled with Townshend's individual treatment of each of the three verses, makes it difficult to cop his parts. Perhaps the best way to go is to learn the voicings and just try to get a "feel" for the rhythmic accents. In doing so, you'll learn from a master while developing your own style.
THE CHORUSES
As with the verses, Townshend treats each of the three choruses differently, but his basic approach is consistent. In a pseudo-arpeggiated fashion, he puts his stamp on the D and A5 chord changes in the first six measures. He then segues to melodic single-note lines and 6ths dyads, and wraps up each chorus with his customary ringing open chords. Again, analyzing Townshend's approach and adapting it to fit your style is probably the best way to go.
THE INTERLUDES AND THE BRIDGE
The 20-bar interlude section just before the bridge contains some delightful "Townshend-isms" that you won't want to miss. The first passage (measures 1-12) displays his mastery of the I-bVII-IV progression--in this case, A5-G5-D. The second passage (measures 13-20) finds him dissecting an A5 chord and pounding a D/A chord into submission. The bridge modulates to the key of B major, and has Townshend juggling power chords and single-note lines. And the following interlude hosts yet another I-bVII-IV passage (B5-A5-E).
THE GUITAR SOLO
The guitar solo stays in the key of B, and (with the help of the overdubbed electric Gtr. 2) shows Townshend having a guitar duel with himself. Drawn mostly from the B Mixolydian mode (B-C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A), his rhythmically diverse solo is steeped in whole- and half-step bends, slides, and chromatic 6th-dyad licks. Notice that the solo ends on an E chord, which resolves to an A5 chord in the subsequent interlude, neatly returning the song to the key of A major for yet another I-bVII-IV passage (A5-G5-D).