Wire & Glass by The Who

Album: Endless Wire (2006)

License This Song

lyrics

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

The centerpiece of The Who's first original studio album since 1982, this is a rock mini-opera written almost entirely by Pete Townshend. The mini-opera is based upon The Boy Who Heard Music, a novella written by Townshend in 2005-2006 and published on his website. Both are about (and the opera sung from the perspective of) fictional aging former rock star Ray High, as he looks back on his music career with a band called The Glass Household, and the drug-induced mental breakdown that led to his present confinement in a mental institution.
Two versions of this song were released. The "single" version, released on iTunes in July of 2006, consisted of 6 segments: "Sound Round," "Pick Up The Peace," "Endless Wire," "We Got A Hit," "They Made My Dream Come True" and "Mirror Door." The full-length version that appears on the album (released 3 months later) is expanded to 10 segments: "Sound Round," "Pick Up The Peace," "Unholy Trinity," "Trilby's Piano," "Endless Wire," "Fragments Of Fragments," "We Got A Hit," "They Made My Dream Come True," "Mirror Door" and "Tea & Theatre."
The album features extended stand-alone versions of 2 of the mini-opera's segments, "Endless Wire" and "We Got A Hit." They are placed at the end of the CD, immediately following "Wire & Glass" itself. At least 2 other tracks on the CD, "Fragments" and "In The Ether," also closely parallel various elements and themes from the mini-opera.
The mini-opera's title has a double meaning. The "wire" may be taken as a reference to Ray High's delusions (described, in part, as "gathered wire and angels" in the "Endless Wire" segment) and the "glass" as his former band The Glass Household. Alternately, "Wire & Glass" as a whole could simply refer to High's surroundings in the mental institution.
The Who's regular touring drummer Zak Starkey - the son of one Richard Starkey, who is better known to the world as Ringo Starr - was unavailable due to commitments with his other band Oasis, so session drummer Peter Huntington filled in. Pino Palladino played bass in place of the late John Entwistle.
Townshend has said that the Ray High character represents Townshend himself, but his story bears an even stronger resemblance to the drug-induced downfall of Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett, who died ten days before the iTunes release of "Wire & Glass." >>
Suggestion credit:
Joshua - Twin Cities, MN, for all above

Comments: 7

Dan from Orlando, FlOf coarse there are parallels but none bigger than Tea and Theatre! LOVE that song!
S from San Gabriel, CaMichael, nobody's voice is as good at 65 as it was at 45. Daltrey's voice can't do everything he'd like it to do, but it's not shot.
He sounded great at the VH-1 Honors concert and he sounded even better when The Who played the Nokia Theater in L.A.
Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, Macca, Bono... none of them can do everything they used to, but it isn't time for any of them to hang it up yet.
Mike from Boston, MaMichael, listen to Mike Post Theme (also from 2006's Endless Wire) and then tell us whether or not you feel the 64-year-old Daltrey's voice is shot.
Michael from Oxford, EnglandWhy the hell doesn't anybody admit that Roger Daltrey's voice is shot? Let's face it, if the band had wanted to preserve the man's vocal cords, they shouldn't have played "Won't Get Fooled Again" in every concert since the release of Who's Next. "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" indeed.
Chris from Nc, CtI totally agree, the parallel of "Unholy Trinity" being Pete, Keith, and John (Why Roger isn't included remains a mystery) and also the line "people died where I performed" from They Made My Dream Come True reminds me of the tragedy in Cincinnati when 11 people were crushed from the mob trying to get into the concert.
Lukas from Long Island, NyThe Who have denied that this song is about the bands personal history, but you have to admit, there are a lot of parallels.
Colin from New Egypt, NjThe best songs on Wire & glass are Sound Round and We got a hit

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Open ArmsJourney

"Open Arms" was a pioneering power ballad. Stadium rock bands like Journey shied away from slow songs, but when they reluctantly agreed to record the song, it became their biggest chart hit.

That's The Way Love GoesJanet Jackson

The longest-running #1 US hit for a member of the Jackson family is Janet's "That's The Way Love Goes," with eight weeks on top.

Born In The U.S.A.Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The U.S.A." was inspired by the book (later a movie) Born On The Fourth Of July by Ron Kovic, a Vietnam veteran who protested the war when he returned home.

St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)John Parr

"St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" was not written for the movie, but for Rick Hanson, a wheelchair athlete whose 1985 "Man In Motion" tour logged 24,856 miles on his wheelchair in 34 countries while raising $26 million for spinal cord research.