Zoot Suit - The High Numbers

Zoot Suit - The High Numbers

1:59

single, 1964

Written by Peter Meaden

The High Numbers are actually the Who, temporarily renamed by their first manager, Meaden.  The song is a copy of the 1963 song "Misery" by the R&B group the Dynamics.  After this tailor-made-for-Mod single failed to take off, the Who took their name back, fired Meaden, and then proved definitively that they didn't need him by writing "I Can't Explain."  So this is a justifiably forgotten dead end in the Who story, but it's not bad. The track rides a primitive, stomping beat with a noodling guitar break that hints at Townshend's restless energy, even if it's boxed in by the concept. Lyrically, it's nothing more than a celebration of a flashy guy's immaculate clothes: identity expressed entirely through cut, stripe, and swagger.  I'm charmed, though, by the slang. "So all you tickets I just want you to dig me / With my striped zoot jacket that the salts can plainly see." Is being a "ticket" an insult? Is a "salt" an authority figure, a square, or just any outsider?  The ephemeral fruit-fly life of this movement almost makes it worth bringing the jargon back.

Don't Let Go the Coat - The Who

Don't Let Go the Coat - The Who

3:49

Face Dances, 1981

Written by Pete Townshend

This song is said to be about Townshend's guru Meher Baba, as in clutching to the hem of his robe, or hanging on to his teachings.  This, of course, brings to mind the famous scene in Mark 5:25-30 where a woman touches the hem of Jesus' robe.  But more generally, it seems to be a metaphor for finding comfort.  This is a song about loneliness and missed chances.  "No one locked me out because I failed to phone up / I can't bear to live forever like a loner."  He hasn't been frozen out by anyone, he's the architect of his loneliness.  "Every lonely wife knows the way I feel."