Who Are You (5:07)

The unedited version of The Who’s hit song Who Are You. Released in 1978, this song is considered to be one of the greatest songs in rock history.

Who Are You”, composed by Pete Townshend, is the title track on The Who’s 1978 release, Who Are You, the last album released before drummer Keith Moon’s death in September 1978. It was released as a double-A sided single with the John Entwistle composition “Had Enough”, also featured on the album. The song became one of the band’s biggest US hits, peaking at #14.

The album version includes an extra verse compared to the much shorter single. Additionally, a “lost verse” mix of the song was released on the 1996 reissue of Who Are You, with a completely different second verse: “I used to check my reflection / Jumping with my cheap guitar / I must have lost my direction, cause I ended up a superstar/ One night I was in the boardroom/ Affected by the human race/ You can learn from my mistakes, but you’re posing in the glass again”.

The song is unusual in that it contains two instances of the word “fuck” — at 2:16 and 5:43 (at 2:14 and 4:27 in the single edit version) — yet has been played frequently in its entirety on rock radio stations. The expletives, while not clearly enunciated and slightly obscured by Moon’s drum fills, are nevertheless quite audible. This led to some controversy when ABC’s unedited broadcast of The Who’s Live 8 performance retained them.