With all due respect to Pete Townshend, I’ve seen enough in my time to know that we will get fooled again — over and over and over again. That’s why I like this Richie Havens version — he sings it not with defiance but with the resignation of a man who knows the title is aspirational, not predictive.
The inspiration for Havens’ cover might well have been the acoustic version Townshend himself started playing back in the ’70s and still performs in solo concerts.
Any fan of the Who knows that “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was written for the band’s Lifehouse project and repurposed to close the “Who’s Next” LP that was salvaged from the Lifehouse wreckage. The band first attempted to record the song in New York in 1971, and it included Leslie West of Mountain on guitar.
And here, in Keith Moon’s final performance, is the Who performing the song in 1978 for the finale of the film “The Kids Are Alright.”
