"Pinball Wizard" is a song by the English rock band the Who, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend and featured on their 1969 rock opera album Tommy. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts and No. 19 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
The B-side of the "Pinball Wizard" single is an instrumental credited to Keith Moon, titled "Dogs Part Two". Despite the title, it has no musical connection to the Who's 1968 UK single "Dogs".
Story
The lyrics are written from the perspective of a pinball champion, called "Local Lad" in the Tommylibretto book, astounded by the skills of the opera's eponymous main character, Tommy Walker: "He ain't got no distractions / Can't hear those buzzers and bells / Don't see no lights a flashin' / Plays by sense of smell / Always gets a replay / Never seen him fall / That deaf dumb and blind kid / Sure plays a mean pinball.",[3] and "I thought I was the Bally table king, but I just handed my pinball crown to him".
Townshend once called it "the most clumsy piece of writing [he'd] ever done".[4] Nevertheless, the song was a commercial success and remains one of the most recognised tunes from the opera. It was a perpetual concert favourite for Who fans due to its pop sound and familiarity.
Position on the album
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 to it. 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. Knowing Cohn was an avid pinball fan, Townshend suggested that Tommy would play pinball, and Cohn immediately declared Tommy to be a masterpiece.[5] The song "Pinball Wizard" was written and recorded almost immediately. The single version was slightly sped up and runs to 2:57, whilst the natural length album version runs to 3:04.
Reception
Cash Box said "Pinball Wizard" was "sensational", saying "Retaining the joyful exaltation of early pop rock, the Who add a proficiency and modernization that clicks with the accuracy of a Beatles-gone-heavy."[6]Billboard described the single as "a solid beat rocker."[7]Record World described it as an "exciting side."[8]
Live performances
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 2 May 1969. The live performances rarely deviated from the album arrangement, save for an occasional jam at the end sometimes leading to another song. Bootleg recordings show that this song has been known to last as long as eight 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. Pinball Wizard was also played during the Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show on 7 February 2010.
The song was performed by English musician Elton John in Ken Russell's 1975 film adaptation of Tommy. This version was released in 1975 as a promotional single only in the US, and in 1976 in the UK, where it reached number 7. Because it was not released as a commercial single in the US, it was ineligible to be listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It did however make the US Radio & Records airplay chart, where it reached number 9.
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. He acknowledges that Tommy is a threat, but initially believes he will not be able to beat him for the championship. As the match progresses, he is soon proven wrong, and concedes defeat when Tommy maxes the score counter. His adaptation also 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 Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" included parts of "Take Me to the Pilot". Unlike most of the soundtrack's music, which featured various combinations of the Who and some of the era's best session players, Elton John used his own band and producer Gus Dudgeon for the track. John has performed the song as part of his Las Vegas Red Piano Show, as well as on various tours. To date, it is the only cover of a Who song to reach the top 10.[16]
John performed the song with an extended closing jam during his 1975 tour. This version appears on the 2-CD 30th Anniversary release of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, with the live disc of the June 21, 1975 concert from Wembley Stadium.
Elton opened his 'Final UK Show' at Glastonbury in 2023 playing the song.
The song has subsequently been performed by Taron Egerton who portrayed Elton John in the film Rocketman (2019).
In Toronto, "Pinball Wizard" spent two weeks at number one on the CHUM survey.[17] In Chicago, "Pinball Wizard" remained on the WLS Musicradio Survey as an "extra" for five and a half months, from mid-April to late September as an album track in heavy rotation.[18]
The song was featured in a medley with another song from Tommy ("See Me, Feel Me") in a recording by the British pop group the New Seekers in 1973. This version reached No. 16 on the UK charts and in Australia, No. 28 in Canada,[23] and No. 29 on the U.S. Hot 100.[24]
Using the phrase "pinball wizard" to describe a high-quality pinball player is common, both in works of media and among the general public. Several pinball tables feature a "wizard mode", a state of play which is meant to be reached only by skilled players. Within the pinball community, the phrase's use is sometimes controversial: this is primarily due to its ubiquity, with many players having become tired of hearing it.[5]
Several pinball machines have been produced with a "Pinball Wizard" theme. Two of these, produced at the time of the Tommy feature film's release, have only an oblique relation to the song: Wizard was wholly unlicensed, only taking inspiration from the song and film, while Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, a table ostensibly with an Elton John licence, used the singer's likeness as he appeared in the film, where he played the "Pinball Wizard". Both of these machines were produced in the mid-1970s by Bally Manufacturing. Two decades later, Data East Pinball also produced The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard, a licensed machine capitalising on the album's stage adaptation.[5]
