Overture (The Who song)

"Overture from Tommy"
Single by The Who
from the album Tommy
A-side	"See Me, Feel Me"
Released	September, 1970 (U.S.) October, 1970 (UK)
Format	7" 45 RPM
Recorded	Early 1969[1]
Genre	Rock
Length	3:50
Label	Decca, Polydor
Writer(s)	Pete Townshend
Producer	Kit Lambert

Overture is a song by English rock band The Who, written by Pete Townshend. The track is one of three instrumental tracks released on Tommy; the other two being "Underture" and "Sparks". The song is considered to be an early example of Synth-rock and features John Entwistle as a one-man horn section.^[2]

On October 9, 1970 song was released as the b-side of "See Me, Feel Me" - which did not chart - and was titled Overture from Tommy.^[1]

Song Structure

As an overture the song features samples of Tommy's most famous songs:

• 0:00 - 0:34 Adapted from "1921"
• 0:35 - 1:01 Adapted from "We're Not Gonna Take It"
• 1:02 - 1:35 Adapted from "Go to the Mirror!"
• 1:36 - 1:52 Adapted from "See Me, Feel Me"
• 1:53 - 2:20 Adapted from "Go to the Mirror!" with "Pinball Wizard"
• 2:21 - 2:58 Adapted from "Listening to You"
• 2:59 - 3:22 Adapted from "We're Not Gonna Take It"
• 3:23 - 3:50 Adapted from "Pinball Wizard"

There is no pause between the tracks "Overture" and "It's a Boy" so the songs are often combined as "Overture".^[3]

The Assembled Multitude version

The Assembled Multitude, an instrumental ensemble group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, scored with a remake of "Overture" which peaked at #16 in August, 1970 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[4]

Citation

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.thewho.com/index.php?module=discography&discography_item_id=39&discography_tag=singles
2. ^ The Classics episode "Syth-rock"
3. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKdusyjiuvY
4. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=likEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18&dq=billboard+aug+29,+1970&hl=en&ei=6l6_TaTPGNODtgfEy9ipBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=billboard%20aug%2029%2C%201970&f=false