Line #16 Music/AQuickOne


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e85714e12a8332bee65453c719fda0f7.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:''A Quick One''.]]
3
4	''A Quick One'' is the second studio album by Music/TheWho, released in 1966. This album marks a major GrowingTheBeard moment for Pete Townshend as a songwriter - and the band in general. Though this is the album least dominated by Townshend's song-writing, it does contain the mini rock opera "A Quick One, While He's Away", which foreshadows their later work such as ''Music/{{Tommy}}'' and ''Music/{{Quadrophenia}}''.
5
6	In the US, the album was released as ''Happy Jack'' in May 1967, with the same cover (but with title ''A Quick One'' obviously replaced by ''Happy Jack'') and an altered track-listing. Fan favourites include "Boris the Spider", "Whiskey Man", "So Sad About Us" and "A Quick One, While He's Away".
7
8	----
9	!! Tracklist (''A Quick One''):
10
11	[[AC:Side One]]
12	# "Run Run Run" (2:43)
13	# "Boris the Spider" (2:29)
14	# "I Need You" (2:25)
15	# "Whiskey Man" (2:57)
16	# "Heat Wave" (1:57)
17	# "Cobwebs and Strange" (2:31)
18
19	[[AC:Side Two]]
20	# "Don't Look Away" (2:54)
21	# "See My Way" (1:53)
22	# "So Sad About Us" (3:04)
23	# "A Quick One, While He's Away" (9:10)
24
25	----
26	!! Tracklist (''Happy Jack''):
27
28	[[AC:Side One]]
29	# "Run Run Run" (2:44)
30	# "Boris the Spider" (2:30)
31	# "I Need You" (2:25)
32	# "Whiskey Man" (2:57)
33	# "Cobwebs and Strange" (2:31)
34	# "Happy Jack" (2:11)
35
36	[[AC:Side Two]]
37	# "Don't Look Away" (2:53)
38	# "See My Way" (1:53)
39	# "So Sad About Us" (3:04)
40	# "A Quick One, While He's Away" (9:10)
41
42	----
43	!!Principal Members:
44
45	* Roger Daltrey - lead vocals, trombone, bass drum
46	* John Entwistle - bass, backing and lead vocals, french horn, trumpet, keyboard
47	* Keith Moon - drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals, tuba
48	* Pete Townshend - guitar, backing and co-lead vocals, keyboard, penny-whistle
49
50	----
51	!! Don't Trope Away:
52
53	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The title character in "Happy Jack" is a social outcast, although he seems blissfully unaware of it.
54	->The kids couldn't hurt Jack\
55	They tried and tried and tried\
56	They dropped things on his back\
57	And lied and lied and lied and lied and lied\
58	But they couldn't stop Jack, or the waters lapping\
59	And they couldn't prevent Jack from feeling happy
60	* AlliterativeTitle: "'''R'''un '''R'''un '''R'''un".
61	* BlackComedy: "Boris the Spider", a horror song in which the animal is squashed dead near the end.
62	* BreakUpSong:
63	** "I Need You":
64	--->Please talk to me again\
65	I need you
66	** Also, "So Sad About Us"
67	--->Sad - never meant to break up\
68	Sad - suppose we'll never make up\
69	Sad about us
70	* CoverVersion: "Heat Wave", originally by Martha and the Vandellas.
71	* DarkerAndEdgier: At least compared to the rest of the album, "Whiskey Man", which is a song about a drunk who gets committed to a mental institution to cure him of a booze-induced ImaginaryFriend.
72	* ADayInTheLimelight: This is the only Who to contain songs written by ''all four'' members of the band (one by Daltrey, two each by Moon and Entwistle, and the rest by Pete - discounting the one cover); their manager had finagled a deal with their label that would net each contributing songwriter the then princely sum of £500 (approximately £7300 in 2022 pounds).
73	* DeliciousDistraction: The promo film for "Happy Jack" has the band as a gang of [[BlatantBurglar Blatant Burglars]] who sneak into an apartment and start trying to break into the safe... only to be quickly distracted by a lovely cake.
74	* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The somewhat psychedelic album cover by Alan Aldridge.
75	* DrunkenSong: "Whiskey Man"
76	-->Whiskey Man's my friend, he's with me nearly all the time\
77	He always joins me when I drink, and we get on just fine
78	* EasilyForgiven: The girl who is the subject of "A Quick One, While He's Away" is forgiven by her long-absent boyfriend immediately after admitting her infidelity with Ivor the engine driver. A rare justified example - said boyfriend mentions he wasn't entirely faithful himself.
79	* EpicRocking: At 9:10, "A Quick One, While He's Away".
80	* FaceOnTheCover: The band members are drawn in a frame.
81	* FreakyIsCool: "Whiskey Man"
82	-->Seemingly I must be mad, insanity is fun
83	* HarshVocals: John Entwistle's growled refrain in "Boris the Spider" has been cited as one of the earliest examples of a [[DeathMetal death-growl]].
84	* HereWeGoAgain: The group made a video for "Cobwebs and Strange" that featured Keith finding a strange hat which, once he put it on, caused him to go berserk. The rest of the band chased him around for the length of the video until they finally got it off and he returned to his normal self--except at the end of the video we see Pete is wearing the hat now.
85	* ImaginaryFriend: "Whiskey Man"
86	-->Doctors say he just a figment of my twisted mind\
87	If they can't see my Whiskey Man they must be going blind
88	* {{Instrumental}}: "Cobwebs and Strange", one of the two songs written by Keith Moon, is an instrumental.
89	* ListSong: "Run Run Run" lists all kinds of superstitions, yet the protagonist tells the woman in the song: "well, you ain't the luckiest girl I know and you won't get luckier the way you're going".
90	* LongestSongGoesLast: "A Quick One, While He's Away" (9:10) ends the album.
91	* LoveTriangle: There's one between the main couple and Ivor the Engine Driver on "A Quick One, While He's Away".
92	* LyricalDissonance: When we get to "You raise your hatchet in the yellow crowd", things have gotten very dark in the bright and poppy "I Need You".
93	* MarketBasedTitle: The US version of this album changes its title to ''Happy Jack'' and replaces "Heat Wave" with "Happy Jack".
94	* {{Medley}}: "A Quick One, While He's Away", which is essentially several songs in one.
95	* MundaneMadeAwesome: "Boris the Spider", a song about a spider who is squashed dead with a book.
96	* NewSoundAlbum: This album sees The Who move away from the RAndB of ''Music/MyGeneration'' and into a more commercial territory - and in the case of "A Quick One, While He's Away", proto-ProgressiveRock.
97	* NonAppearingTitle: "A Quick One, While He's Away".
98	* OneManSong: "Whiskey Man", and the "Ivor the Engine Driver" section of "A Quick One, While He's Away".
99	* {{Onomatopoeia}}: The band's instruments making written down noises on the cover.
100	* ThePowerOfLove: "Heat Wave".
101	* SanitySlippageSong: "Whiskey Man"
102	-->Two men dressed in white collected me two days ago\
103	They said there's only room for one and Whiskey Man can't go
104	* ShoutOut: The "Ivor the Engine Driver" section of "A Quick One, While He's Away" puns on the BBC children's series ''Ivor the Engine''.
105	* SiameseTwinSongs: "Boris the Spider" received a sequel in the form of the song "My Size" from John Entwistle's debut solo album ''Smash Your Head Against the Wall'' from 1971, where the closing riff is similar to the one heard throughout "Boris the Spider".
106	* SopranoAndGravel: John Entwistle actually does that with himself in the song "Boris the Spider", where he switches from his normal voice to some of the deepest growl you'll ever hear during the chorus, and a funny falsetto during the bridge.
107	* SpidersAreScary: "Boris the Spider", a song about a spider who is described as a "creepy crawly" too.
108	-->Creepy, crawly / Creepy, crawly / Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly...
109	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Keith Moon sings lead vocals on "I Need You". John Entwistle sings lead vocals on "Boris the Spider" and "Whiskey Man", as well as co-lead vocals on "Happy Jack" and "A Quick One, While He's Away" (as Ivor the Engine Driver). Pete Townshend sings co-lead vocals on "Heat Wave" and "A Quick One, While He's Away" (the final section).
110	* SuperstitionEpisode: "Run Run Run" lists all kinds of superstitions:
111	-->Well you ain't the luckiest girl I know\
112	And you won't get luckier the way you're going\
113	Your horseshoe's rusty and your mirror's cracked\
114	You walk under ladders then you walk right back
115	* TruckDriversGearChange: "So Sad About Us" modulates upwards for its final verse.
116	* UncommonTime: While "Happy Jack" is mostly in 4/4, the choruses contain occasional bars of 5/4.
117	* UnsoundEffect: Because they couldn't afford to hire additional musicians, Pete, Roger and John had to sing "cello cello cello cello" for the part in "A Quick One, While He's Away" that was supposed to have strings.
118	* YouNeedToGetLaid: During one point in "A Quick One, While He's Away", the friends of the protagonist tell her that they 'have a remedy' for her when she's distraught about the long absence of her partner. This remedy comes in the form of Ivor the Engine Driver, who the friends set her up with.

Context Music / AQuickOne