Greatest Who Song?

The question came in a text. But it's an answer that needs more than 140 characters. An answer not simple enough for simply a title. So.

Quadrophenia is an epic piece of art but that works best as an album. Same goes for Tommy (sorry Pinball Wizard), and The Who Sell Out... almost. So. I Can See for Miles is allowed on the short list. My Generation is on there because it's an amazingly raw Who song that works completely without the context of an album (a single that stays a single) and does that whole "capture a mood of the moment" thing.

But... the best? Without question it's Baba O'Riley. And maybe it's because it's from an album that failed as a concept that it's something that can stand so well on it's own. And maybe it's that it's a sort of funeral for the 60's, a modern rock second-line for the generation that had little left to offer. Or maybe what it comes down to is as simple as the sonic landscape, the sonic assault, it lays down. That unrelenting arpeggiating synth combined with that crazy Irish violin at the end combined with Roger at his screaming best combined with one of the most satisfying drums intros maybe ever combined with a guitar virtuoso who could play anything but is playing power chords. Fucking power chords. And it never resolves. It just... stops. It always leaves us wanting more. One of those perfect rock songs that at the same time makes us want to drive a hundred miles an hour, makes us remember our first girlfriend, makes us want to fight any asshole who gets in the way, makes us remember dancing in our bedroom to the first band we discovered on our that was ours and no one else's, makes us need to throw our arms around our friends and drink far too much far too fast. So yeah. Baba. Give it a listen. And turn it up waaaay too loud. That's what i'll be doing tonight.