Saturday, July 17th, 1971
Roger discusses the possibility of playing Tommy in a film in Record Mirror
Transcript:
Will Roger be Tommy?
STEVE ELLIS, LON GODDARD AND ROGER AT THE OLD FISHING HOLE.
ROGER Daltry isn’t too tall — a very unassuming guy if you met him on a busy street (which you wouldn't, because he isn't fond of cities at all).
On stage, he is gigantic. Overpowering. The colossal front man behind the huge vibration of the Who.
Roger likes to sweat, probably because he seems to enjoy nothing better than hard work. Whether it’s a wild, vigorous set with the band or ploughing the old north forty — he can be seen soaking up exercise like an athlete in training.
That’s why we chose a day at the old fishing hole to have a chat and maybe get a bite. It was nice and hot for tanning, the water was calm and there were plenty of horseflies to provide exercise scratching.
“I think I’m allergic to these things’’, he exclaimed, grabbing his shoulder and casting his worm at the same time. “Watch it — there’s one hanging on your shirt’’. I flipped it off. “I think there’s nothing but Orfes in this pond and they’ve all pissed off, as well. This is the life”, he said, “I don’t see how people can live in the city. They look really strained in the towns and I tell you it’s really frightening. How often do you see somebody smile?
PRETTY
“’I just don’t dig crowds when people are all tense and not enjoying it. You don’t see many enjoying Oxford Street, do you? The worst part of it is that London is really a beautiful city — if you could see it. You have to get on top of a double-decker bus to do that. There are just rows and rows of cars that should all be removed. It’s disgraceful.
London is really pretty. Take Los Angeles — if you took all the cars out of that place, it wouldn’t make any difference. New York — can you imagine New York without millions of cars? You’d be like a flea in a graveyard — it’s frightening. At least they could outlaw cars in London.”
Needless to say, Rog stays in the country most of the time. The other members of the Who have completely different concepts of how life should be lived. I doubt if there is another group in existence with more varied ideas about enjoying life.
“Man, do I itch”, Roger said, standing up and scraping his arm with fingernails. “They got flies as big as saucepan lids around here. Yeah, the others all have different ways of surviving. I think our secret is that none of us are alike.
“Similar to a little government with a lot of ideas coming in from all sides. We have our arguments and fights, but we never become like a load of sheep and we always manage to come up with something. Pete really digs city life — the hustle of a lot of people moving.
“John stays in London for other reasons — his family lives there and so on. Keith could live out in the country if there was a pub at the end of his driveway and the Speakeasy was in his back garden.
“As for me, I just love the country England has. I’d never move anywhere else, no matter what people say about the taxes and the expense. I’ve never seen St Tropez and I never want to — this is my country and I like it.
“’I wouldn’t mind Ireland — Southern Ireland, I can’t figure out the North. Religious wars in 1971 . . . it’s incredible.”
You got a bite out there, I said, looking at the float drifting in the breeze. “No, it’s just the wind”, he replied. “Look, here comes Daisy —”. “Daisy” was in fact, Steve Ellis, who’d come along for a laugh and maybe a fish. “Daisy, that is not the way you put the worm on the hook”, said Roger, chastising, “if you do it that way, the fish will get everything but the hook.”
Between the incalculable number of bites, I reminded Roger that a Who album was long overdue and that the planned maxi-single containing the new number ‘Water’, heard as long ago as the last Isle of Wight Festival, was also a little late.
As most people know, this is not due to laziness on the group’s part, for there aren’t many who work as hard or as much. Rog belted another mosquito and Steve slung his worm into another corner of the pond.
STRAIN
“The maxi-single never came off, because there just wasn’t enough room for the material we wanted to put on it — still, a single is finally out now. As for the next album, it’s going to be great. It’s the only one we’ve done that I was really into — there weren’t any hassles or hold-ups — it just breezed right along.
“’Tommy’ breezed right along until about halfway through and then began to be a strain. We thought about the follow-up being a concept album and so on, but decided against it, so it’s just a straight album. We’re fighting to get it released quickly here and in the States before we go there on the 24th of this month.
“I’d like it to be there before us so people won’t ask us to do ‘Tommy’ again. You know there’s a film of ‘Tommy’ in the pipeline and it’s about 95 per cent certain. I’ve been asked to play the part of Tommy, but I haven’t quite decided yet.
“We’ll be doing the music, whether we appear in it or not — they’re just sorting out the script right now. We also have another album in the can, so we’re well up on work. Still doing gigs once or twice a week, there’s no time to be lazy. I think the Who are just starting up the ladder about now.”
We sat around, chewed a few weeds and swore at the fish who never showed, then packed up the worms and headed back through the fields — keeping an eye out for adders. The only bites received were from insects, but the weather was great and for the most part, the world couldn’t be better.
I couldn’t wait to get home and flake out on the sofa. As for Roger — he couldn’t wait to get behind a lawn mower or a paintbrush or just anything that means work. That’s how a guy keeps the flab off, I thought to myself — I should try it.
Lon Goddard