#Pinball wizard band movie#

John has performed the song as part of his Las Vegas Red Piano Show, as well as on various tours.

Unlike most of the soundtrack's music, which featured various combinations of The Who and some of the era's best session players, John used his own band ( Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper) and producer Gus Dudgeon for the track.

#Pinball wizard band movie#

John's version uses a piano as the song's centerpiece in place of the acoustic guitar in the original (in the film, John's character is shown playing his pinball machine via a small piano keyboard), and features additional lyrics specially written by Townshend for the movie version, as well as a subtle inclusion of musical phrases from The Who's 1960s hit ' I Can't Explain' during the outro (similarly, The Who's later cover of John's ' Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting' included parts of ' Take Me to the Pilot'). The song was performed by Elton John in Ken Russell's 1975 film adaptation of Tommy. This version was released as a single in 1975 in the US, and in 1976 in the UK, where it reached number 7. Bootleg recordings show that this song has been known to last as long as 8 minutes (at a concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 3 February 1981), although live versions lasting as long as that are extremely rare. The live performances rarely deviated from the album arrangement, save for an occasional jam at the end sometimes leading to another song. This song is one of the band's most famous live songs, being played at almost every Who concert since its debut live performance on. The song 'Pinball Wizard' was written and recorded almost immediately. Knowing Cohn was an avid pinball fan, Townshend suggested that Tommy would play pinball, and Cohn immediately declared Tommy to be a masterpiece. Following this, Townshend, as Tommy's principal composer, discussed the album with Cohn and concluded that, to lighten the load of the rock opera's heavy spiritual overtones (Townshend had recently become deeply interested in the teachings of Meher Baba), the title character, a 'deaf, dumb, and blind' boy, should also be particularly good at a certain game. In late 1968 or early 1969, when The Who played a rough assembly of their new album to critic Nik Cohn, Cohn gave a lukewarm reaction. The song was introduced into Tommy as an afterthought. It was a perpetual concert favourite for Who fans due to its pop sound and familiarity. Townshend once called it 'the most clumsy piece of writing ever done' nevertheless, the song was a commercial success and one of the most recognised tunes from the opera. Always has a replay Never tilts at all That deaf dumb and blind kid Sure plays a mean pin ball.', and ' I thought I was the Bally table king, but I just handed my pinball crown to him'. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a pinball champion, called 'Local Lad' in the Tommy libretto book, astounded by the skills of the opera's eponymous main character, Tommy Walker: ' What makes him so good? He ain't got no distractions Can't hear those buzzers and bells Don't see lights a flashin' Plays by sense of smell.