Which songs by The Who feature Keith Moon on vocals?
The greatest thing about rock and roll is the ability it grants to showcase vocals brimming with panache. The lead vocalist can be filled by the everyman whose abilities are less hinged on their soaring range and air-tight technicality, but more on their attitude and charisma. But that didn’t mean there weren’t great voices and, arguably, there were and are few as brilliant as Roger Daltrey of The Who.
He was a bona fide rock star with all the polished technical ability to garner an invite to Simon Cowell’s villa in the second stages of the X Factor. Similar to Robert Plant, it gave the band a cheat code when exploring the celestial realms of expansive rock, for anywhere the instruments went, Daltrey could follow closely behind with equal gusto.
Despite their personality clashes, Pete Townshend knew what he had alongside him on stage, vividly recalling the moment he knew Daltrey’s voice and demeanour would be a vehicle for greatness. Speaking of their performance at Woodstock, Townshend said, “I’m on my knees, playing, and I look over at Roger, and he looks like a god. He looks beautiful. He looks happy, he looks kind.” He added, “That’s when everybody in the band said, ‘Oh, fuck. We’ve actually got a singer, a star. Someone who’s going to carry us.’”
While most intra-band dynamics pit the remaining members somewhere behind the vocalist, with a piercing gaze of limelight jealousy, the make-up of The Who was largely different. Outside of John Entwistle, who took on the most understated role on bass, the remaining members were far from modest back-up support for the otherwise enigmatic Daltrey. Pete Townshend was widely acclaimed as the band’s creative genius, while Keith Moon had garnered an industry-wide reputation as a hellraiser on the drums and beyond, subsequently being dubbed ‘Moon The Loon’.
Despite most of the band getting their creative kicks and knowing they had rock royalty at the front of their line-up, they let Moon take the reins on certain songs. Being the bundle of chaos he was, the simple drum kit wasn’t enough to satiate his endless energy levels, and he therefore brought his vitality to the microphone.
Before the days of wrecking hotel rooms and driving Cadillacs into swimming pools, Moon’s focus was more intently on his music, and he was responsible for writing some of the band’s as well. Moon provided vocals on ‘I Need You’ in 1966 and ‘Tommy’s Holiday Camp’ in 1969, two tracks he wrote himself. The former sat alongside ‘Cobwebs and Strange’ on the album A Quick One, which was another Moon-written track that was purely an instrumental.
‘I Need You’ would be the only track Moon would provide the complete vocals for, as he split the duties with Townshend for ‘Tommy’s Holiday Camp’. The same rules applied to Moon’s third track, ‘Bell Boy (Keith’s theme)’, from the band’s 1973 Quadrophenia. While splitting the vocals with Daltrey, Moon was given plenty of opportunities to share the limelight with the lead singer during the band’s touring days, becoming a staple in the setlist. Brimming with character and enthusiasm, his performances were more than a token gesture but rather a fresh and fun artistic injection to The Who’s larger vision.
