The Quiet One with the Dark Imagination
Onstage, John Entwistle was known as “The Ox,” a stoic anchor standing firm amidst the whirlwind of flailing arms and crashing cymbals. While Pete Townshend was composing rock operas about spiritual quests and teenage angst, Entwistle was quietly writing
songs about spiders, sadistic cousins, and homicidal wives. His lyrical world was a complete departure from Townshend’s grand, socially-conscious statements. Entwistle’s songs were short, sharp shocks of black humor and macabre storytelling, often delivered with a cynical smirk. They were less like anthems and more like twisted little folk tales set to a rock beat. This stark contrast was the primary source of his bandmates' bewilderment; the songs coming from the quietest man in the room were often the most unsettling and bizarre.
Boris, Kevin, and My Wife
To understand the confusion, one need only look at Entwistle’s most famous contributions. His first credited song for the band, “Boris the Spider,” reportedly came about after a night of making up silly animal names with the Rolling Stones' bassist Bill Wyman. The tune, with its creepy-crawly falsetto and deep, booming chorus, became a live favorite and even Jimi Hendrix’s preferred Who song, much to Townshend’s mock chagrin. Later, for the rock opera Tommy, Townshend found himself unable to write about the darker aspects of abuse, so he handed the task to Entwistle. The result was “Cousin Kevin,” a chillingly cheerful song about a bully’s cruelty, and “Fiddle About,” a track concerning molestation. Entwistle approached these grim subjects with a disarming simplicity that made them even more sinister. Then there was “My Wife,” a standout track from Who's Next. Born from a real-life argument, the song is a paranoid fantasy about a man convinced his wife has hired a hitman, forcing him to arm himself with tanks and machine guns for protection. Entwistle later admitted he wrote it simply because he was tired of playing “Boris the Spider” live.
A Different Musical Language
The confusion wasn’t just lyrical; it was musical. Entwistle was the only member of The Who with formal musical training, having played French horn and trumpet from a young age. This background informed his compositions, which often featured complex brass arrangements that he played himself, as heard on “My Wife.” His approach to the bass was revolutionary, treating it as a lead instrument that could carry melody, harmony, and rhythm simultaneously. He famously developed a “typewriter” technique, using all his fingers to tap the strings percussively, creating a sound that was as much lead guitar as it was bass. Townshend himself later admitted that Entwistle's expansive, harmonically rich playing filled so much sonic space that when he was gone, Townshend had to relearn how to play and fill that void himself. This musical sophistication was often at odds with the raw, chord-driven power of Townshend’s writing, creating songs that felt like they belonged to a different, more intricate band.
Admiration, Envy, and Bewilderment
Pete Townshend’s reaction to Entwistle's work was a potent mix of admiration and what he called “professional jealousy.” Upon first hearing “Boris the Spider,” he admitted it sent him “back to my pad writing hits furiously.” He acknowledged that Entwistle was a great songwriter stuck in a band with a genius one, but the fundamental difference in their styles remained a point of disconnect. Townshend often framed his own role as providing the rhythmic discipline that held the band together, contrasting it with the “difficult” and explosive styles of Moon and Entwistle. While Roger Daltrey had the job of interpreting these strange narratives, he recognized Entwistle as a pioneer who changed how the bass was played entirely. Ultimately, the band respected Entwistle’s immense talent but never fully seemed to grasp where his ghoulish, witty, and musically dense ideas came from. They were brilliant, but they weren't Who songs in the way a Townshend epic was a Who song. They were Entwistle songs, smuggled into the catalog from another, stranger dimension.
