English Boy
Encyclopedia
"English Boy" is the first song on Pete Townshend
's 1993 album Psychoderelict
. This song is used to introduce the character Ray High, as well as journalist Ruth Streeting, host of Street On The Street. There are three versions of this song:
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
's 1993 album Psychoderelict
Psychoderelict
Psychoderelict is a concept album written, produced and engineered by Pete Townshend. Some characters and issues presented in this work were continued in Townshend's later opus The Boy Who Heard Music, first presented on The Who's album Endless Wire and then adapted as a rock musical.This is...
. This song is used to introduce the character Ray High, as well as journalist Ruth Streeting, host of Street On The Street. There are three versions of this song:
- the first, lengthier version features dialog by Ruth Streeting over instrumental parts of the song.
- the second was released as an edited, no dialog version, and appeared on both single releases in 1993 and on the Pete Townshend compilation albums coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking, Anthology, and Gold.
- a repriseRepriseReprise is a fundamental device in the history of art. In literature, a reprise consists of the rewriting of another work; in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the...
, which ends the album and features a slightly different backing (including harmonica by Peter Evans-Hope and additional cowbell) and dialog by Ray High, wrapping up the album and imploring "what happened to all that lovely hippieHippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
shit?"
Single
In the UK, the song was released as a single in the following variations:- "English Boy" (non-dialog) / "English Boy" (dialog) (7" vinyl)
- "English Boy" (dialog) / "Fake It" / "Psycho Montage" (CD single 1)
- "English Boy" (non-dialog) / "Fake It" / "Flame" (Simon TownshendSimon TownshendSimon Townshend is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the younger brother of The Who's Pete Townshend, and is most associated with The Who and the various side projects of its original members, despite many other musical ventures in his career....
demo) / "Early Morning Dreams" (Pete Townshend demo) (CD single 2)