5:15

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"5:15"
TheWho 515.jpg
German single sleeve
Single by the Who
from the album Quadrophenia
B-side "Water"
Released
  • 5 October 1973 (1973-10-05) (single)
  • 26 October 1973 (album)
Recorded27 June 1973
Genre
Length
  • 4:59 (album version)
  • 4:48 (single mix)
Label
Songwriter(s) Pete Townshend
Producer(s) The Who
The Who UKsingles chronology
"Relay"
(1972)		"5:15"
(1973)		"Squeeze Box"
(1975)
Official audio
"5:15" on YouTube

"5:15" (sometimes written "5.15" or "5'15") is a song written by Pete Townshend of British rock band The Who. Part of the band's second rock opera, Quadrophenia (1973), the song was also released as a single and reached No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart, [3] while the 1979 re-release (accompanying the film and soundtrack album) reached No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Contents

Although written as "5.15" on the single covers in some countries, on the back cover of Quadrophenia (the album from which the song is taken) it is written as "5:15", and some single covers render it that way.

Background

The lyrics of "5:15" describe Quadrophenia's protagonist, Jimmy, travelling to Brighton on a train. The song's writer, Pete Townshend, said of the song's lyrics:

His train journey down to Brighton, sandwiched between two city gents is notable for the rather absurd number of purple hearts he consumes in order to while away the time. He goes through a not entirely pleasant series of ups and downs as he thinks about the gaudier side of life as a teenager that we see in newspapers like the News of the World . '5:15' was written in Oxford Street and Carnaby Street while I was killing time between appointments. I must try it again sometime, it seems to work! [4]

— Pete Townshend

No demo recording of the song exists, as the track was written in the studio on the day the song was recorded. [4] The whistle heard on the track was recorded after Townshend's driver bribed a British train driver with five pounds to sound the train's whistle as it pulled out, despite breaking the station rules. [5]

"5:15" was released as a single in Britain and Europe shortly before the release of Quadrophenia in October 1973. Backed with the Lifehouse outtake "Water", the single charted at #20 in Britain and #46 in Germany. [5] [4] The single was not released in America, where "Love, Reign o'er Me" and "The Real Me" were chosen as singles instead. Roger Daltrey later commented on the song's single release, "Really, it was the only single on Quadrophenia we could have released." [5] The 7-inch vinyl single mix differs from the wider soundscape of the album mix and appears as a narrower closed stereo; however, the overall dynamics are just as powerful. This particular mix is not available on CD. All compilations making claim to the single mix have used the album mix version and cut to a variety of different running time lengths plus or minus a few seconds. "Water", the B-side, is a track recorded during the April–May 1970 sessions at I.B.C. and Eel Pie Studios, and was originally intended for an EP, available on Odds & Sods.

Lyrics

In the song, the narrator, Jimmy, who has taken the 5:15 train to Brighton and consumed a lot of drugs, recollects in a stream of consciousness his life with the Mods, the cultural movement to which he belongs (even if he has dropped out for now), and their duels with the Rockers. Jimmy's memories are extremely disjointed, consisting mainly of anger, confusion, violence, sexual frustration, and rootlessness.

"5:15", like many of the songs from Quadrophenia, is self-referential - "M-m-m-my generation" is a line, repeated from the band's earlier single - and thus represents an angrily self-centred, teenage disconnection from society, family and the opposite sex. Jimmy was "born in the war" (that is, at the time of World War II and its aftermath) and does not understand why he should care about it (or anything) in the context of his extravagant Mod values.

Soundtrack version

"5:15"
5.15 - The Who (1979 remix and rerelease).jpg
US single sleeve
Single by The Who
from the album Quadrophenia (soundtrack)
B-side "I'm One"
ReleasedSeptember 1979
Songwriter(s) Pete Townshend
Producer(s) The Who
The Who singles chronology
"Long Live Rock"
(1979)		"5:15"
(1979)		"You Better You Bet"
(1981)

In 1979, "5:15" and nine other tracks from Quadrophenia were remixed by John Entwistle for the soundtrack of the film adaptation of the original rock opera. [6] This version of "5:15" was released as a single in September 1979 to promote the album, reaching #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in America. [5] Record World said of this version that "All the thunderous fury that so often dominates The Who's music is everpresent." [7]

Live performances

Live performances of "5:15" sometimes included, in addition to the Who's four members, a full brass section and a piano. During the Who reunion tour from 1999 to 2002, bassist John Entwistle played a solo in mid-song, lasting several minutes, only accompanied by drummer Zak Starkey. During The Who's 2012 Quadrophenia tour, long after Entwistle's death in 2002, his bass solo was featured by showing footage from a 2000 performance at the Royal Albert Hall while Starkey played live. [8]

Personnel

The Who
Featuring

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "The Who's 20 best songs, chosen by Roger Daltrey". 24 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "All 245 Who Songs Ranked Worst to Best". 10 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "The Who Official Website". Thewho.com. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Cady, Brian. "'Quadrophenia' liner notes". The Hypertext Who. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Grantley, Steve; Parker, Alan (2010). The Who by Numbers: The Story of the Who Through Their Music. Helter Skelter. pp. 105–114. ISBN   978-1905139262.
  6. ↑ Grantley, Steve; Parker, Alan (2010). The Who by Numbers: The Story of the Who Through Their Music. Helter Skelter. pp. 182–184. ISBN   978-1905139262.
  7. ↑ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. 22 September 1979. p. 1. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  8. ↑ "The Who Stage 'Quadrophenia' at Triumphant Brooklyn Concert". Rolling Stone . 15 November 2012.
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