# Baba O'Riley: CSI NY. Not The Original Song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103 "2008-09-25T02:08:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/1 "2008-09-25T02:08:52Z")
I just now realized that the song is not the original song. Oh, it’s Roger Daltry alright, but it ain’t the real McCoy. Did Roger and Pete have to re-record it due to some copyright obligations, or what? ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/2 "2008-09-25T02:19:44Z")
How do you know it is not the original? Often they remix songs for TV and advertising due to time constraints. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/3 "2008-09-25T02:28:03Z")
It is not the original song. Bob Pridden, sound man for The Who since the early days, did the remixes for the CSI theme songs. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/4 "2008-09-25T02:29:03Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > How do you know it is not the original? Often they remix songs for TV and advertising due to time constraints. Dunno. I’ve heard the song 3 X 10^6 times in my life, and it didn’t sound like the original. Roger sounded more … strained. I was just wondering if anyone knew if they, in fact, re-recorded it and why? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/5 "2008-09-25T02:34:04Z")
The Who have performed that song a zillion times, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to find several variations in the vault. Townshend caught some flak about selling Who songs to advertizers a few years ago. He said, essentially, “Look, there’s no radio format where we can get airtime anymore. Ads are the only contact we can have with the people. If you don’t like it, that’s too bad.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/6 "2008-09-25T02:35:27Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Townshend caught some flak about selling Who songs to advertizers a few years ago. He said, essentially, “Look, there’s no radio format where we can get airtime anymore. Ads are the only contact we can have with the people. If you don’t like it, that’s too bad.” Huh? The Who gets played on local classic rock stations like Q104.3 all the damn time. He may have said that, but I doubt it’s true at all. ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/7 "2008-09-25T02:43:27Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I just now realized that the song is not the original song. Oh, it’s Roger Daltry alright, but it ain’t the real McCoy. Did Roger and Pete have to re-record it due to some copyright obligations, or what? FWIW the first three seasons used a different version of the song. The intro wasn’t as long and we heard more of the lyrics. I think I heard Daltry rerecorded the song, but I could be wrong on that. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/8 "2008-09-25T02:45:09Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > It is not the original song. Bob Pridden, sound man for The Who since the early days, did the remixes for the CSI theme songs. I speculate that the question is did they _just_ remix it, or did they re-record the song. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/9 "2008-09-25T03:24:12Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > I speculate that the question is did they _just_ remix it, or did they re-record the song. Indeed. That would be the question. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/10 "2008-09-25T03:35:39Z")
My only cite is a conversation with a fan after a show. Ben Pump said that he had done the remixes and that he was proud of his work. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/11 "2008-09-25T07:37:44Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Huh? The Who gets played on local classic rock stations like Q104.3 all the damn time. He may have said that, but I doubt it’s true at all. He probably meant it’s harder to get any new cuts played. John Mellencamp had a similar complaint when he licensed his song “Our Country” to be played in Chevrolet ads. The Who may get their older songs played on classic radio all the time, but are there any stations playing their 2006 album, _Endless Wire_? Or the Eagles’ _Long Road Out of Eden_? And stations are more likely to play _Born in the U.S.A._ than Springsteen’s latest album, _Magic_. At least in my area. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/12 "2008-09-25T12:30:59Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > He probably meant it’s harder to get any new cuts played. John Mellencamp had a similar complaint when he licensed his song “Our Country” to be played in Chevrolet ads. The Who may get their older songs played on classic radio all the time, but are there any stations playing their 2006 album, _Endless Wire_? Or the Eagles’ _Long Road Out of Eden_? And stations are more likely to play _Born in the U.S.A._ than Springsteen’s latest album, _Magic_. At least in my area. But the CSI themes and any Who tracks used on ads aren’t likely to be new Who songs either. I think what Townshend may have meant was that the selling of songs for ads gave them wider exposure. Being played on classic rock stations is like preaching to the converted but being used on a frequently rotated advert gets your music heard by a larger demographic, some of whom might go out and track down ‘that song from that ad’. OB ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baba-oriley-csi-ny-not-the-original-song/465103/13 "2008-09-25T16:37:09Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > My only cite is a conversation with a fan after a show. Ben Pump said that he had done the remixes and that he was proud of his work. He shouldn’t be proud of the CSI:NY one. I just happened to catch the top of the show last night (I don’t normally watch it, so I can’t speak to anything but last night’s airing), and it features the worst cut I’ve ever heard at the very end of the opening credits. It sounds like he opened the mp3 in Goldwave and just snipped out 3 minutes of song to get to the final chord. Totally amateur.