Today (May 19), Pete Townshend turns 70, and the legendary guitarist of the Who has celebrated by releasing a new song called "Guantanamo."
This is one of two new tracks on the upcoming solo compilation Truancy: The Very Best of Pete Townshend. As you'd expect from a song called "Guantanamo," it's a politically charged number with lyrics alluding to the American political prison in Cuba. The music conveys Townshend's outrage in the form of dramatic folk rock strums and snarling vocals.
The songwriter said in a prior statement about the song:
I thought this song might never see the light of day, but now President Obama has relaxed sanctions in Cuba, it is a happy sign he might go further. Technically this was created in rather a laborious way. I recorded a long organ drone using my vintage Yamaha E70 organ (used many times by me on Who and solo recordings in the past), and then cut it into something that sounded like a song using a feature unique to Digital Performer called 'chunks.' This creates blocks of groups of tracks that can be assembled and disassembled easily, like cutting multitrack analogue tape with a razor blade, but with less blood. The lyric grew out of the implicit angry frustration in the organ tracks.
Truancy: The Very Best of Pete Townshend is out on June 30 through Universal. For now, hear "Guantanamo" below.
This is one of two new tracks on the upcoming solo compilation Truancy: The Very Best of Pete Townshend. As you'd expect from a song called "Guantanamo," it's a politically charged number with lyrics alluding to the American political prison in Cuba. The music conveys Townshend's outrage in the form of dramatic folk rock strums and snarling vocals.
The songwriter said in a prior statement about the song:
I thought this song might never see the light of day, but now President Obama has relaxed sanctions in Cuba, it is a happy sign he might go further. Technically this was created in rather a laborious way. I recorded a long organ drone using my vintage Yamaha E70 organ (used many times by me on Who and solo recordings in the past), and then cut it into something that sounded like a song using a feature unique to Digital Performer called 'chunks.' This creates blocks of groups of tracks that can be assembled and disassembled easily, like cutting multitrack analogue tape with a razor blade, but with less blood. The lyric grew out of the implicit angry frustration in the organ tracks.
Truancy: The Very Best of Pete Townshend is out on June 30 through Universal. For now, hear "Guantanamo" below.