Name: Pete Townshend, "A Friend Is a Friend" on Letterman, June 28, 1989 (st.)
Uploaded: 2018-10-27T23:16:51.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Pete Townshend, "A Friend Is a Friend" on Letterman, June 28, 1989 (st.)' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2018-10-27. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Pete Townshend, "A Friend Is a Friend" on Letterman, June 28, 1989 (st.)' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2018-10-27. Transcript available.

Our next guest is a part, certainly a part, a big part of the history of rock
and roll music
with the group The Who. He produced numerous hit singles and albums and of
course the rock opera
Tommy. And as you know, The Who is currently being reunited in a national tour.
And this man
has also currently, recently produced this solo album right here entitled The
Iron Man.
Ladies and gentlemen, here he is, Pete Townsend. Pete, how are you there?
If you're a friend, nothing can change them. Arguments, squamers, can't break
their contract.
Each of you makes, to the death, to the end, deliver your future.
To the hands of your friend
"Be friendly, Be friendly now, Be friendly, Be friendly now, Be friendly, Be
friendly now, Be friendly."
"Promise is a promise, A handshake will seal it, No amount of discussion could
ever repeat it, Commit for forever, To borrow your land, Deliver your future."
"Be friendly, Be friendly, Be friendly, Be friendly, Be friendly, Be friendly
now, Be friendly, Be friendly."
"A path can be made, You need a life-long alliance, They won't be betrayed, Won't
be betrayed."
You need a mate, we're facing the end. But what is the fate? Now facing my
friend, now facing my friend, yeah. What faces me?
Be brandy, be brandy now. Be brandy, be brandy now. Be brandy now. Be brandy.
A friend is a friend, nothing can change that. Arguments, squabbles, can't
break the contract. And each of you makes, to the death, to the end, deliver
your future into the hands of your friends.
*Sounds of applause*
Great audience. Nice to see you. Have a seat.
*Sounds of applause*
Look, look what you've done.
Nice to have you here. Congratulations on everything. I think the last time you're
here is like four or five years ago. And you and I were talking about your job.
You're working at a publishing house, right?
I still do that.
Still do that? Yeah.
Work as an editor?
Well, now I'm sort of, uh, doing the lavatories and...
You're cleaning up then, eh?
Yeah, I, I, I still do that stuff, yeah.
Uh, and now you're out on tour again with the old band. And, uh, how did this
come about? What was the, the final reason that you just said, "Okay, let's do
it"?
Well, actually it was the Hall of Fame awards. So I came over and, uh, to give
the Stones their thing, to induct the Stones into the Hall of Fame. And I, and
up to that point I decided not to do anything for the Who's 25th birthday. I
thought that I would just let it go. And, uh, I just found it a very moving
experience seeing Paul.
Yeah, Paul, Paul and the guys, you're always the house musicians for the
induction awards.
We moved you to bring the Who back, seeing us.
It's true.
Is that what happened?
I'm nuts.
Go for it.
Hey, hey!
Yeah.
We, we, we, we, we, you know, we, jeez, I wish I hadn't seen you nuts.
We musicians have a, have a code.
Oh.
We have a code.
Uh, so what is it, what is it like now when you go out there on stage and the
audience just goes nuts? Is it, does it mean something different to you now
than it did when you were doing it night after night?
Well, now I, now, now I know they're stupid.
Oh, really?
Why is that?
No, I, I'm kidding.
The, the, I, no, it, I, I, I don't know. I can't, I think something really
strange is going on and it's very important.
But I can't explain it. It's not really to do with the Who, it's not really to
do with any of the other bands that have, because the Stones are having a 25th
this year and lots of other bands too.
Maybe the time that we came over was really important. Maybe in the 60s when we
brought R&B. I suppose in a way we brought it back to America where it was born.
So when you say, when you say that something strange is going on.
So when, what's strange is, is that the response to a tour like the Who tour is
strange because of the, it's so generous, so enormous, so, so friendly, so, you
know, it's just been so fantastic.
And, and I, I, it's difficult to feel a part of it. It's difficult to take the
credit for it. It's difficult to think, well, this is because we're such great
people, because we know that we're not.
And we know that although we've worked hard in the States, we, it's so, it's,
it's really a part of what's something that's happening in America right now.
People are looking back, but they're not looking back in just a nostalgic way.
They're looking back for something else.
And I think rock and roll has become part of the ideology of America to such an
extent that a lot of people of my age in their forties with, with teenage kids,
they're watching their teenagers looking back for something a little more than
music to listen to.
Yeah. Well, you know, I was, I was trying to explain something like that to, uh,
Ringo Starr was here last week. And I was saying, is it drunk?
He was drunk? Of course he was drunk.
But, but, you know, the whole time he was here, he kept his fly up. So I don't
know.
Uh, he, he. I thought men with big noses. I don't know anything about that.
Uh, but by and large, it's fun. You're enjoying it so far?
Yeah. I mean, I, I have it. I'm, I find it very difficult to have fun. That's
why I came here.
No, I, I, I enjoyed it so much when I was, no, well, I had a good time when I
came last time.
Oh, good. Well, I'm glad you came again. And, and you're, this is going to be
like a, you're out for three months, two months, six months, a couple of months.
Yeah. And, uh, it must bring back some really gratifying memories.
It is, but it's weird. What, what, where, where a lot of that's coming from is
in music. We're doing a long show. We're doing three and a half to three and
three quarter hours. And it gives us time to play quite a lot of unfamiliar
stuff to our audience. We're playing songs that we've never played. You know,
we're playing some of the really early hits. I'm playing some of my solo stuff,
songs which Roger has always wanted to play. He does a fantastic version of I'm
a man, which we haven't played for 20 years.
Are you guys getting along okay now?
You said you wouldn't ask that.
No, I mean, everything is all right.
Yeah, yeah. It's like, uh, getting to know people all over again. You know, I,
I, I sometimes wonder really what, what, what did go wrong because there
definitely were times when we didn't communicate very well. And I suppose it's
because, you know, the other two guys in the band can't speak.
Well, that's interesting. Uh, it's a pleasure to have you here. Congratulations
on everything.
Thank you for coming back.
It's a thousand.