Being a Huge fan of THE WHO lead quite naturally to a all-encompassing love of lead guitarist/ songwriter Pete Townshend’s work as well, and from albums like Who Came First down through the Lifehouse project and more, his songs have always been just as meaningful to me as his accomplishments with the band.
In the early 80’s, Pete released an unusual collection called SCOOP…this was an album made up of unreleased songs, ideas, and precious demos that had been gathering up in Pete Townshend’s vaults. Among the many, many incredible songs, was a track called “You Came Back”, a tune that immediately got my attention with its catchy guitar riff...
Listening to the song’s lyrics for the first time, I had the distinct feeling it was another bawdy ditty of Pete’s a la Squeezebox, when I heard the line “That girl with the umbrella used to be a fella”…my first thoughts were that it was a song about a transvestite! Then the next verse sang about “remembering being dead and alive”, and trying to remember names of people’s faces…was this a “drinking til you blackout” song like Who Are You?
I didn’t know, but something about the gentle way the song was played and orchestrated made me feel like it was a particularly intimate song, really wistful and dreamy-like in feeling, despite not knowing its meaning, the melody still had that power to move me.
I’d love to say that I figured it out all by myself, but the fact of the matter is, after puzzling about the song for weeks, I finally gave up and took a peek at the liner notes in the CD booklet, and read the explanation given by Pete himself:
You Came Back:
“This is a real favorite of mine about, you guessed it, Reincarnation.
The fact that I never got around to putting drums on it makes the exchanged guitar rhythms, played on an inexpensive CORAL guitar, more effective. Lead Guitar also missing, I’m afraid.”
OH MY GOSH! REINCARNATION? I hurriedly went back and put the CD in again and listened to the song with renewed eyes…it ALL made sense! Now all those confusing lyrics lent itself to one of the most gentle, wistful tunes ever!
Listen to Pete’s singing. This is one of the most sincere, heartfelt songs I think I’ve ever heard him sing, and when you consider the man has made a career out of wearing his heart on his sleeve, that’ s quite an accomplishment. Sometimes when I listen to it, I can’t believe it’s this unknown song tucked away on an “obscure and unreleased” CD package, but that’s alright by me…finding songs like these are like finding hidden treasures! And Pete? Yeah, It’s a real favorite of mine, too!
