Artist: The Who Album: Quadrophenia {1973}

Is it me for a moment
For a moment, for a moment, for a moment, for a moment
Bell boy, bell boy, bell boy
Love, reign o'er me

Can you see the real me, can you, can you

I went back to the doctor to get another shrink
I sit and tell him about my weekend
But he never betrays what he thinks, woo
Can you see the real me, doctor, doctor
Can you see the real me, doctor, woah, doctor

I went back to my mother, I said, "I'm crazy ma, help me."
She said, "I know how it feels son cos it runs in the family."
Can you see the real me, mother, mother
Can you see the real me, mother, woah, mother
Can you see, can you see, can you see the real me
Can you see, can you see the real me, the real me, the real me

The cracks between the paving stones like rivers of flowing veins
Strange people who know me peeping from behind every window pane
The girl I used to love lives in this yellow house
Yesterday she passed me by, she doesn't want to know me now, woah
Can you see the real me, can you, can you
Can you see the real me, can you, woah, yeah

I ended up with the preacher full of lies and hate
I seemed to scare him a little so he showed me to the golden gate
Can you see the real me preacher, preacher
Can you see the real me preacher

Can you see, can you see, can you see, woah
Can you see the real me doctor
Can you see the real me mother
Can you see the real me
Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me

INSTRUMENTAL

Why should I care if I have to cut my hair
I've got to move with the fashion or be outcast
I know I should fight, but my old man he's really alright
And I'm still living at home even though it won't last

Zoot suit, white jacket with side vents five inches long
I'm out on the street again and I'm leaping along
Dressed right for a beach fight but I just can't explain
Why that uncertain feeling is still here in my brain

The kids at school have parents that seem so cool
And though I don't want to hurt 'em, mine want me their way
I clean my room and my shoes, but my mother found a box of blues
And there doesn't seem much hope they'll let me stay

Zoot suit, white jacket with side vents five inches long
I'm out on the street again and I'm leaping along
I'm dressed right for a beach fight but I just can't explain
Why that uncertain feeling is still here in my brain

Why do I have to be different to them
Just to earn the respect of a dance hall friend
We have the same old row again and again
Why do I have to move with a crowd
Of kids that hardly notice I'm around
I work myself to death just to fit in

I'm coming down, got home on the very first train from town
My dad just left for work, he wasn't talking
It's all a game and inside I'm just the same
My fried egg makes me sick first thing in the morning


Was closed after a gang of nearly a thousand youths
Entered the Grand Hotel in pursuit of two leather-clad rockers
South Coast police have warned
That if the fights between rival gangs of mods and rockers continue
Stricter security measures will be enforced at railway stations
Both in London and on the south

You declared you would be three inches taller
You only became what we made you
Thought you were chasing a destiny calling
You only earned what we gave you
You fell and cried as our people were starving
Now you know that we blame you
You tried to walk on the trail we were carving
Now you know that we framed you

I'm the guy in the sky, flying high, flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies - I'm the punk in the gutter
I'm the new president and I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show - I'm the punk with the stutter
My, my, my, my, my generation
My, my, my, my, my generation

We tried to speak between lines of oration
You could only repeat what we told you
Your axe belongs to a dying nation
They don't know that we own you
You're watching movies trying to find the feelers
You only see what we show you
We're the slaves of the phony leaders
Breathe the air we have blown you

I'm the guy in the sky, flying high, flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies - I'm the punk in the gutter
Woo, I'm the new president and I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show - I'm the punk with the stutter
My, my, my, my, my generation
My, my, my, my, my generation

I have to be careful not to preach, I can't pretend that I can teach
And yet I lived your future out by pounding stages like a clown
And on the dance floor broken glass and bloody faces slowly pass
The numbered seats in empty rows, it all belongs to me you know
Okay

You declared you would be three inches taller
You only became what we made you
Thought you were chasing a destiny calling
You only earned what we gave you
You fell and cried as our people were starving
Now you know that we blame you
You tried to walk on the trail we were carving
Now you know that we framed you

I'm the guy in the sky, flying high, flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies - I'm the punk in the gutter
Woah yeah, I'm the new president and I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show - I'm the punk with the stutter
My, my, my, my, my generation
My, my, my, my, my generation
My, my, my, my, my generation
My, my, my, my, my generation

Every year is the same and I feel it again
I'm a loser - no chance to win
Leaves start falling, come down is calling
Loneliness starts sinking in

But I'm one, I am one
And I can see that this is me
And I will be - you'll all see I'm the one

Where do you get those blue, blue jeans
Faded patched secrets so tight
Where do you get that walk, oh, so lean
Your shoes and your shirts all just right

I'm one, I am one
And I can see that this is me
And I will be - you'll all see I'm the one

I got a Gibson without a case
But I can't get that even tanned look on my face
Ill fitting clothes and I blend in the crowd
Fingers so clumsy, voice too loud

But I'm one, I am one
And I can see that this is me
And I will be - you'll all see I'm the one
I'm the one, I'm the one

I am a man who looks after the pigs
Usually I get along okay
I am man who reveals all he digs
Should be more careful what I say

I'm getting put down, I'm getting pushed round
I'm being beaten every day
My life's fading, things are changing
I'm not gonna sit and weep again

I am man who drives a local bus
I take miners to work, but the pits all closed today
It's easy to see that you are one of us
Ain't it funny how we all seem to look the same

I'm getting put down, I'm getting pushed round
I'm being beaten every day
My life's fading, things are changing
I'm not gonna sit and weep again

My karma tells me you've been screwed again
If you let them do it to you you've got yourself to blame
It's you who feels the pain
It's you who takes the shame

I am a young man, I ain't done very much
You men should remember how you used to fight
Just like a child I've been seeing only dreams
I'm all mixed up but I know what's right

I'm being put down, I'm getting pushed round
I'm being beaten every day
My life's fading, things are changing
I'm not gonna sit and weep again
I'm not gonna weep again

When a man is running from his boss who hold a gun that fires cost
And people die from being old or left alone because they're cold
And bombs are dropped on fighting cats
And children's dreams are run with rats
If you complain you disappear just like the lesbians and queers

No one can love without the grace of some unseen and distant face
And you get beaten up by blacks who though they worked still got the sack
And when your soul tells you to hide
Your very right to die's denied
And in the battle on the streets you fight computers and receipts
And when a man is trying to change it only causes further pain
You realize that all along something in us going wrong

You stop dancing

I don't mind other guys dancin' with my girl
That's fine, I know 'em all pretty well

Is it me for a moment, for a moment, for a moment, for a moment

I see a man without a problem
I see a country always starved
I hear the music of a heartbeat
I walk and the people turn and laugh

Is it in my head, is it in my head
Is in my head here at the start
Is it in my head, is it in my head
Is it in my head or in my heart

I pick up phones and hear my history
I dream of all the calls I miss
I try to number those who love me
And find exactly what the trouble is

Is it in my head, is it in my head
Is in my head here at the start
Is it in my head, is it in my head
Is it in my head or in my heart

I feel I'm being followed, my head is empty
Yet every word I say turns out a sentence
Make love to a stranger just asking for directions
Turn from being help to being questions

I see a man without a problem

You were under the impression
That when you were walking forwards
That you'd end up further onward
But things ain't quite that simple

You got altered information
You were told to not take chances
You missed out on new dances
Now you're losing all your dimples

My jacket's gonna be cut and slim and checked
Maybe a touch of seersucker with an open neck
I ride a G.S. scooter with my hair cut neat
I wear my wartime coat in the wind and sleet

Love reign o'er me, reign o'er me
Love reign o'er me, love

I've had enough of living, I've had enough of dying
I've had enough of smiling, I've had enough of crying
I've taken all the high roads, I've squandered and I've saved
I've had enough of childhood, I've had enough of graves

I've had enough of living, I've had enough of dying
I've had enough of smiling, I've had enough of crying
I've taken all the high roads, I've squandered and I've saved
I've had enough of childhood, I've had enough of graves

Get a job and fight to keep it
Strike out to reach a mountain
Be so nice on the outside
But inside keep ambition

Don't cry because you hunt them
Hurt them first they'll love you
There's a millionaire above you
And you're under his suspicion

Jacket's gonna be cut and slim and checked
Maybe a touch of seersucker with an open neck
I ride a G.S. scooter with my hair cut neat
I wear my wartime coat in the wind and sleet

Love reign o'er me, reign o'er me
Love reign o'er me, love

I've had enough of dancehalls, I've had enough of pills
I've had enough of streetfights, I've seen my share of kills
I'm finished with the fashions and acting like I'm tough
I'm bored with hate and passion, I've had enough of trying to love

Why should I care, why should I care

Girls of fifteen sexually knowing
The ushers are sniffing eau-de-cologning
The seats are seductive, celibate sitting
Pretty girls digging prettier women

Magically bored on a quiet street corner
Free frustration in our minds and our toes
Quiet stormwater, my generation
Uppers and downers, either way blood flows

Inside, outside - leave me alone
Inside, outside - nowhere is home
Inside, outside - where have I been
Out of my brain on the five fifteen
Out of my brain on the train
Out of my brain on the train

On a raft in the quarry slowly sinking
Back of a lorry holy hitching
Dreadfully sorry, apple scrumping
Born in the war, birthday punching

He man drag in the glittering ballroom
Gravely outrageous in my high heel shoes
Tightly undone, know what they're showing
Sadly ecstatic that their heroes are news

Inside, outside - leave me alone
Inside, outside - nowhere is home
Inside, outside - where have I been
Out of my brain on the five fifteen
Out of my brain on the train
Out of my brain on the train, on the train
Woo, I'm out of my brain, woo
Out of my brain on the train, here it comes
Woo, out of my brain on the train, on the train
Out of my brain on the train

Why should I care, why should I care

Here by the sea and sand nothing ever goes as planned
I just couldn't face going home, it was just a drag on my own
They finally threw me out, my mom got drunk on stout
My dad couldn't stand on two feet as he lectured about morality
And now I guess the families complete
With me hanging round on the streets or here on the beach

The girl I love is a perfect dresser
Wears every fashion, gets it to the tee
Heavens above I've got to match her
She knows just how she wants her man to be, leave it to me

My jacket's gonna be cut slim and checked
Maybe a touch of seersucker with an open neck
I ride a G.S. scooter with my hair cut neat
I wear my wartime coat in the wind and sleet

I see her dance across the ballroom
UV lights making starshine of her smile
I am the face, she has to know me
I'm dressed up better than anyone within a mile, whoa yeah

So how come the other tickets look much better
Without a penny to spend they dress to the letter
How come the girls come on oh, so cool
Yet when you meet 'em every one's a fool

Come sleep on the beach, keep within my reach
I just want to die with you near, I'm feeling so high with you here
I'm wet and I'm cold but thank God I ain't old
Why didn't I say what I mean, I should have split home at fifteen
There's a story that the grass is so green
What did I see, where have I been
Nothing is planned by the sea and the sand

I'm the face if you want it, babe, I'm the face if you want it
I'm the face if you want it, babe, I'm the face if you want it
I'm the face if you want it, I'm the face if you want it, babe

If you want it, if you want it, if you want it
If you want it, if you want it, babe
If you want it, if you want it, if you want it
If you want it, if you want it, babe
Ah, the face
I'm the face

There are men high up there fishing, haven't seen quite enough of the world
Woo, I ain't seen a sign of my hero and I'm still diving down for pearls
Let me flow into the ocean, yeah, let me get back to the sea
Let me be stormy and let me be calm - let the tide in and set me free

I'm flowing under bridges then flying through the sky
I'm travelling down cold metal, just a tear in baby's eye
Let me flow into the ocean, oh, let me get back to the sea
Let me be stormy and let me be calm - let the tide in and set me free
Set me free

I am not the actor, this can't be the scene
But I am in the water as far as I can see

Ooh, I'm remembering distant memories, recalling other names
Rippling over canyons and boiling in the train

Oh, let me flow into the ocean, let me get back to the sea
Let me be stormy and let me be calm - let the tide in and set me free
Set me free, set me free
I wanna drown in cold water

Come sleep on the beach, keep within my reach

A beach is a place where a man can feel
He's the only soul in the world that's real
But I see a face coming through the haze
I remember him from those crazy days, crazy days, crazy days

Ain't you the guy who used to set the paces
Riding up in front of a hundred faces
I don't suppose you would remember me
But I used to follow you back in '63

I've got a good job and I'm newly born
You should see me dressed up in my uniform
I work in hotel, all gilt and flash
Remember the place where the doors were smashed

Bell Boy - I got to get running now
Bell Boy - keep my lip buttoned down
Bell Boy - carry this baggage out
Bell Boy - always running at someone's bleedin' heel
You know how I feel, always running at someone's heel

Some nights I still sleep on the beach
Remember when stars were in reach
I wander in early to work
Spend my day licking boots for my perks

A beach is a place where a man can feel
He's the only soul in the world that's real

But I see a face coming through the haze
I remember him from those crazy days
Crazy days, crazy days, crazy days, crazy days

Ain't you the guy who used to set the paces
Riding up in front of a hundred faces
I don't suppose you would remember me
But I used to follow you back in '63

People often change but when I look in your eyes
You could learn a lot from a life like mine
The secret to me, it ain't flown on a flag
I carry it behind this bleeding little badge, what says

Bell Boy - I got to get running now
Bell Boy - keep your lip buttoned down
Bell Boy - turn the bloody baggage out
Bell Boy - always running at someone's heel
You know how I feel, always running at someone's heel

Laugh and say I'm green, I've seen things you've never seen
Talk behind my back, I'm off the beaten track
I'll take on anyone, ain't scared of a bloody nose
Drink till I drop down with one eye on my clothes

What is it, I'll take it
Who is she, I'll rape it
Got a bet there, I'll meet it
Gettin' high, you can't beat it

Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim
When I'm pilled you don't notice him
He only comes out when I drink my gin

You say she's a virgin but I'm gonna be the first in
Her fellah's gonna kill me, oh fucking will he
I'm seeing the double, don't miss me if you can
There's gonna be trouble when she chooses her man

What is it, I'll take it
Who is she, I'll rape it
Got a bet there, I'll meet it
Gettin' high, you can't beat it

Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim
When I'm pilled you don't notice him
He only comes out when I drink my gin

Is it me for a moment, the stars are falling
The heat is rising, the past is calling
Is it me for a moment, the stars are falling
The heat is rising, the past is calling

I'm going back soon, home to get the baboon
Who cut up my eye, tore up my Levis
I'm feeling restless, bring another score around
Maybe something stronger could really hold me down

What is it, I'll take it
Who is she, I'll rape it
Got a bet there, I'll meet it
Gettin' high, you can't beat it

What is it, I'll take it
Who is she, ooo, I'll rape it

Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim
When I'm pilled you don't notice him
He only comes out when I drink my gin

Is it me for a moment, the stars are falling
The heat is rising, the past is calling
Is it me for a moment, the stars are falling
The heat is rising, the past is calling

INSTRUMENTAL

Only love can make it rain
The way the beach is kissed by the sea
Only love can make it rain
Like the sweat of lovers laying in the fields

Love, reign o'er me
Love, reign o'er me, reign o'er me, reign o'er me

Only love can bring the rain
That makes you yearn to the sky
Only love can bring the rain
That falls like tears from on high

Love, reign o'er me, reign o'er me
Love, reign o'er me, reign o'er me, reign o'er me

On the dry and dusty road
The nights we spend apart alone
I need to get back home to cool, cool rain

I can't sleep and I lay and I think
The night is hot and black as ink
Oh God, I need a drink of cool, cool rain

Love, reign o'er me, reign over me, over me, over, whoa
Love, reign o'er me, o'er me