This One's For Jimmy

Those of you that know Jimmy probably also know that he is a big fan of The Who and the music of Pete Townshend.

What I present here is a work by Petra Haden that pays tribute to The Who.

''Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out" is is a homemade one-woman a capella re-creation of the Who's 1967 album. Haden, the daughter of jazz bassist Charlie Haden, sings every word, every drum roll, every guitar solo, and every mock commercial, note for note, front to back.

''I would never have thought of doing this. It was Mike Watt's idea." says Haden.
Watt, who co-produced the album, brought Haden the concept and an eight-track cassette recorder with the ''The Who Sell Out" loaded onto track eight. She spent three years pressing rewind.

''I was a little embarrassed to realize I was enjoying my own music so much, for in a way it was like hearing it for the first time. What Petra does with her voice, which is not so easy to do, is challenge the entire rock framework: the traditions, the processes, the decor, the accessories, the entirety of the established dynamics of traditional pop-rock. 'I Can See For Miles' is powerful not for the restrained electric guitars and suppressed and distant thundering drums of Keith Moon but for the torturously sustained vocal harmonies that John Entwistle added over my fairly conventional four-part. Petra is the first analyst who heard the vocal harmonies as they were written and reproduced them properly. When she does depart from the original music she does it purely to bring a little piece of herself -- and when she appears she is so very welcome. I felt like I'd received something better than a Grammy."~ Pete Townshend

Here's a clip of Petra Haden and The Sell Outs performing live in Los Angeles, July 1, 2005