This if my favourite track of the Rough Mix album (with Ronnie Lane of course) , I love this album.
Looking for help to understand the lyrics for this pariticular song, yes Im aware this could very well be nonsense, I have no clue what he is talking about:
**River’s getting higher
No wood for the fire
They saw the messiah
But I guess I missed him again
That brings my score to a hundred and ten
The water’s getting closer
Better ring up the grocer
Stack up the potatoes
Oh, Jack are you ever coming back
Will your operatic soul turn black?
**
[removed excess lyrics]
Any idea, smart people out there? Would love to hear your interpretations
“the trick is to walk in backwards, like you walking out” - I think a it’s a fascinating piece of lyric, I understand what he means, yet I have no idea
Yeah, I love this album. But some lyrics you just don’t want to think about too much. Unfortunately my copy is vinyl, and I have nothing to play it on, but my fave from that one was “Misunderstood” and in fact I understood it very well. The one you mention, not so much.
Buy it on itunes - it is such a great album. Always been a fan of the nasal Townshend, never could stand the Daltrey part of the Who. Even though you can’t argue with the song writing on quadrophenia, regardless who sings
are you taking the piss? It is a beautiful lyric, in my opinion . Im ready for people to take the mickey , it hit’s some kind of nerve in my otherwise soulless body. Wonder if anyone ever liked this song as much as i do.
This is one of my personal favorite Townshend solo songs. I can’t say for certain, but i’m fairly sure that it’s about the end of the world and Judgment Day. The “river getting higher” is suggestive of a new flood, to which the unworthy sinner is responding in a practical fashion (Ring up the grocer, stack up the potatoes), while thinking about how hopefully getting into Heaven will be as easy as sneaking into a nightclub (The trick is to walk in backwards while you’re walking out). He’s dressing his children up in their Sunday best for when the Lord comes, to which they’re asking childlike questions (Is there really gonna be no room?)
I too love this and am hanging onto a vinyl copy. It wasn’t out on CD when I last looked, but there it is, issued in 2007! I’m not seeing it in iTunes though.
Does *anyone understand Pete Townshend? No. You could ask *him *about the meaning of the song 5 times and probably get 5 different long-winded (but very articulate!) responses. Next question?
Biographer Mark Wilkerson, who has probably as much insight as anyone, can’t offer any enlightenment,
I wonder if “Turning” might be a reference to Sufism and the whirling dervishes. The “walk in backwards” bit got recycled somewhat in Long Live Rock in the lyric “People walking sideways, pretending that they’re leaving.”
*Great quote by his best friend Richard Barnes about the concept of Lifehouse: “The people who understood Lifehouse included one, Pete Townshend. The people who didn’t understand was everybody else who he tried to explain it to and the whole rest of the human race, which was about 4 billion at the time.”
I’ve had Rough Mix on CD since the late '90s, so it’s been available in that format for quite a while. This thread reminded me that I’d never added it to my iTunes though, so I just pulled it out and ripped the whole thing. Great album.
To the OP, I’d interpret the title to this song as being a variation on the expression “keep me going”, and the lyrics as being about dealing with both everyday problems (“better call up the grocer”) and the pressures of fame (“wanna hand in my backstage pass”). The narrator’s spiritual faith is one thing that keeps him going, but he has his struggles in this department as well and is calling on a higher power to help him.
That’s almost spot on with the way I always interpreted it.
“Keep Me Turning” is a prayer. He uses a concert as a metaphor for creation/life on earth, with God as the rock star (“I guess the Lord’s wearing glasses now”), and backstage = heaven.
I think a broader knowledge of Meher Baba’s teachings would provide more insight, but the “Is there really going to be no room?” line may be sarcastic, given his non-belief in eternal damnation as hinted in “The Sea Refuses No River”.
“Oh, Jack are you ever coming back?” could be referring to reincarnation - something he touched on in “You Came Back”.
I used to love listening to the repeated “turning” fade-out alternating in both ears on headphones as a teen.
IMO, Rough Mix is severely underrated; there’s not a bad tune on it, and the title track instrumental is an all-out rip. Thankfully “She Gives It Away” got enough NY airplay that I was able to find out about the album much earlier than I would have otherwise.
Great album.