Lyrics for singles by Pete Townshend

Pure and Easy
Rough Boys
Let My Love Open The Door
Jools and Jim
Gonna Get Ya
Slit Skirts
Give Blood
Crashing by Design



Pure and Easy

There once was a note, pure and easy
Playing so free like a breath rippling by
The note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me
Forever we blend as forever we die

I listened and I heard music in a word
And words when you played your guitar
The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
And a child flew past me riding in a star

As people assemble, civilization
Is trying to find a new way to die
But killing is really merely scene changer
All men are bored with other men's lives

[chorus]

Gas on the hillside, oil in the teacup
Watch all the chords of life lose their joy
Distortion becomes somehow pure in its wildness
The note that began all can also destroy

We all know success when we all find our own dream
And our love is enough to knock down any wall
And the future's been seen as men try to realize
The simple secret of the note in us all

[solo]

[chorus]

Today is the day when sound curdled mountains
Flowing and blowing each man in its wake
Destroying itself in the end with vibration
There's nothing on earth its challenge can take

. . . excepting one note

Excepting one note, pure and easy
Playing so free like a breath rippling by

Listen!

[chorus]




Rough Boys

Tough boys
Running the streets
Come a little closer
Rough toys
Under the sheets
Nobody knows here
Rough boys
Come over here
I wanna bite and kiss you

I wanna see what I can find
Tough kids
Take a bottle of wine
When your deal is broken
Ten quid
She's so easy to blind
Not a word is spoken
Rough boys
Don't walk away
I'm still pretty blissed here
Tough boys
I'm gonna carry you home
You got pretty pissed dear

Gonna get inside you
Gonna get inside your bitter mind

Rough boys
Don't walk away
I wanna buy your leather
Make noise
Try and talk me away
We can't be seen together
Tough kids
What can I do?
I'm so pale and weedy
Rough fits
In my Hush Puppy shoes
But I'm still pleadin

Tough boys
Running the streets
Come a little closer
Rough toys
Under the sheets
Nobody knows her
Rough boys
Come over here
I wanna bite and kiss you

I wanna see what I can find




Let My Love Open The Door

When people keep repeating
That you'll never fall in love
When everybody keeps retreating
But you can't seem to get enough

Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
To your heart

When everything feels all over
When everybody seems unkind
I'll give you a four leaf clover
Take all the worry out of your mind

[chorus]

I have the only key to your heart
I can stop you falling apart
Try today, you'll find this way
Come one and give me a chance to say
Let my love open the door
It's all I'm living for
Release yourself from misery
Only thing's gonna set you free
That's my love

[chorus]

When tragedy befalls you
Don't let them bring you down
Love can cure your problems
You're so lucky I'm around

[chorus]




Jools and Jim

Anyone can have an opinion
Anyone can join in and jump
Anyone can pay or just stay away
Anyone can crash and thump

But did you read the stuff that Julie said?
Or little Jimmy with his hair dyed red?
They don't give a shit Keith Moon is dead
Is that exactly what I thought I read?

Typewriter tappers
You're all just crappers
You listen to love with your intellect
A4 pushers
You're all just cushions
Morality ain't measured in a room he wrecked

Anyone can buy some leather
Ain't no better than wearing sheep
Anyone can sell lucky heather
You can see that words are cheap!

But did you read the stuff that Julie said?
Or little Jimmy with his hair dyed red?
They have a standard of perfection there
That you and me can never ever share

Typewriter bangers on
You're all just hangers on
Everyone's human 'cept Jools and Jim
Late copy churners
Rock and Roll learners
Your hearts are melting in pools of gin

But I know for sure that if we met up eye to eye
A little wine would bring us closer, you and I
'Cos you're right, hypocrisy will be the death of me
And there's an i before e when you're spelling ecstasy
And you, you two . . . . . . . .

Did you hear the stuff that Krishna said?
Or know for you that Jesus' blood was shed?
Is it in your heart or in your head?
Or does the truth lie in the centre spread?

Anyone can have an opinion
Anyone can join in and jump
Anyone can pay or just stay away
Anyone can crash and thump

Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma
OK




Gonna Get Ya

I'm walking                        Stand still
Not running                        Sit tight
Soft talking                       I'm thrilled
Not gunning                        By your light
Not flying                         Lady
I'm falling                        This way
Not crying                         Maybe
I'm calling

And I'm gonna get you anyway
I'm gonna get you anyway

Im cooking                         Hot me
Not raping                         Blue eyes
Just looking                       You got me
Not gaping                         No lies
Not chasing                        Lady
I'm trailing                       This way
Not racing                         Crazy
I'm walking

And I'm gonna get you anyway
I'm gonna get you anyway

I'm gonna get you anyway
By sheer persistance
I'm gonna get you anyway
Break down your resistance
I'm gonna get you anyway
Babe I'm gonna woo yer
I'm gonna get you anyway
Gilr I'm gonna do yer
I'm gonna get you anyway

Athletic                           Boogey down
Hustle                             Turn back
Feel pathetic                      Sugar town
No muscle                          Soul hack
I'm jumping                        You move
No dancer                          Beside me
I'm thumping                       You prove
Don't get no answer

But I'm gonna get you anyway
I'm gonna get you anyway




Slit Skirts

I was just thirty four years old and I was still wandering in a haze
Wondering why everyone I met seemed like they were lost in a maze
I don't know why I thought I should have some kind of divine right to the blues
It's sympathy not tears people need when they're the front page sad news

The incense burned away and the stench began to rise
And lovers now estranged avoided catching each others' eyes
And girls who lost their children cursed the men who fit the coil
And men not fit for marriage took their refuge in the oil
No one respects the flame quite like the fool who's badly burned
From all this you'd imagine that there must be something learned....

Slit skirts - Jeannie never wears those slit skirts
And I don't ever wear no ripped shirts
Can't pretend that growing old never hurts

Knee pants - Jeannie never wears no knee pants
We have to be so drunk to try a new dance
So afraid of every new romance

Slit skirts slit skirt
Jeannie isn't wearing those
Slit skirts slit skirt
She wouldn't dare in those
Slit skirts slit skirt
Wouldn't be seen dead in no slit skirt

Romance romance
Why aren't we thinking up
Romance
Why can't we drink it up
True heart romance
Just need a brief new romance

Let me tell you some more about myself you know I'm sitting at home just now
The big events of the day are passed and the late TV's around
I'm number one in the home team but I still feel unfulfilled
A silent voice in her broken heart complains that I'm unskilled
And I know that when she thinks of me she thinks of me as "Him"
But unlike me she don't work off her frustration in the Gym
Recriminations fester and the past can never change
A woman's expectations run from both ends of the range
Once she woke with untamed lovers' face between her legs
Now he's cooled and stifled and it's she who has to beg

Slit skirts slit skirt
Jeannie isn't wearing those
Slit skirts slit skirt
She wouldn't dare in those
Slit skirts slit skirt
Wouldn't be seen dead in no slit skirt

Romance romance
Why aren't we thinking up
Romance
Why can't we drink it up
True heart romance
Just need a brief new romance




Give Blood

Give Blood
But you may find that blood is not enough
Give blood
And there are some who say it's not enough
Give blood
But don't expect to ever see reward
Give blood
You can give it all but still you're asked for more

Give blood
But it could cost more than your dignity
Give blood
Parade your pallor in iniquity
Give blood
They will cry and say they're in your debt
Give blood
But then they'll sigh and they will soon forget

So give love and keep blood between brothers




Crashing by Design

Nothing {must,can} pass this line
Unless it is well defined
You just have to be resigned
You're crashing by design

You once believed that crazy accidents
were happening to you
You were chasing a capricious wind
Whenever bad luck and trouble
happened to pursue you
The dice would surely save your skin
But when you look back you must realize
That nothing in your life's divine
Everything that's ever befallen you
Happened simply 'cause it crossed your mind
You're crashing by design

In your single-roomed flat in a courtyard building
You sit alone just like a broken toy
Where's your mother, where's your lover,
Where are your children?
Are you a man or still a boy?
Who left you behind, or did you run
From the crush of so many options?
Now you know the special despair of the man
Discussed, debated and offered for adoption

Another man without a woman
Dropped like a useless tool no longer required
A man who longs for the stifling milk flowing bosom
A fool who's no longer desired

Another man without a woman
Too many rages have cost you this time
Another man among a hundred children
You're just a child who is lost in time

Nothing can pass this line
Unless it is well defined
You'll just have to be resigned
You're crashing by design