Monday, March 12, 2007

Pinball Wizard

My obsession for the month has been to play Pinball Wizard at maximum volume in office. Early in the morning or late in the evening. I sing along and play the air guitar too but am not able to keep up with Roger Daltry's vocals or Townsend's lead for that matter.

I find it energetic and uplifting, in a spiritual way even. The boyishness of the idea of a Pinball Champ is bound to appeal to the boy in any man.

The song is sung by the champ who is in awe of a deaf, dumb and blind kid called Tommy (though only psychosomatically) who whips him at Pinball. It's described how an obsessed child would clinically dissect his obsession.

"He stands like a statue
Becomes part of the machine
Feeling all the bumpers
Always playing clean
He plays by intuition
The digit counters fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball"

"He ain't got no distractions
Can't hear those buzzers and bells
Don't see lights a flashin'
Plays by sense of smell
Always gets a replay
Never tilts at all
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball"

The part where the champ hands his crown to Tommy is particularly endearing.

"I thought I was
The Bally table king
But I just handed
My pinball crown to him"

Trivia: The metere of the song has been aped in a very popular hindi film song. Identify the song?

3 comments:

Mukul said...

yahaan ke hum sikandar..? chahein to rakh lein sab ko apni jeb ke andar..?

anshuman kishore said...

sahi jawab!!

Mukul said...

yeah!!