"Going Mobile" is a song written by

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

and originally released by

the Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

on their 1971 album ''

Who's Next ''Who's Next'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released on 2 August 1971, by Track Records in the United Kingdom and by Decca Records in the United States. It developed from the aborted '' Lifehouse'' project, a m ...

''. It was originally written for Townshend's abandoned '' Lifehouse'' project, with lyrics celebrating the joy of having a

mobile home A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabrication, prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or ...

and being able to travel the open road. The Who's lead singer

Roger Daltrey Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona ear ...

did not take part in the recording of the song, leaving the rest of the band to record it as a

power trio A power trio is a rock band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit, leaving out a dedicated vocalist or an additional rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quart ...

; Townshend handles the lead vocals, guitars, and synthesizers, with

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band the Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band ...

on bass guitar and

Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 1946 – 7 September 1978) was an English musician who was the drummer for the rock band the Who. Regarded as one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music, he was noted for his unique style of playing and ...

on drums. The song has attracted mixed reviews from music critics. This is one of only two songs on ''Who's Next'' not to feature Daltrey. (The

-penned composition "

My Wife My Wife may refer: *My Wife (1918 film), ''My Wife'' (1918 film), an American silent film *''My Wife'', English language title for the 1942 Indian film ''En Manaivi'' *My Wife (1964 film), ''My Wife'' (1964 film), an Italian comedy film *My Wife (so ...

" was the other one)

Lyrics and music

"Going Mobile" is one of the lighter moments on ''

''. It was originally conceived as part of Townshend's abandoned '' Lifehouse'' project. Townshend described the use of the song in the proposed project as follows: "As the story unfolded, because of the vagaries of the modern world, because of pollution being caused mainly by people's need to travel, to be somewhere else. (People) had been told, 'You can't do that anymore. You have to stay where you are.' But people have got this lust for life, and adventure, and a bit of color." It celebrates the joys of having a

and being able to travel the highways at will – Townshend himself had acquired a mobile home about a year before the song was recorded. An example of the theme is illustrated by such lyrics as: "Going Mobile" was recorded without Who lead singer

. Rather, guitarist and songwriter Townshend handled the vocals on the song. Instrumentation includes

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and drums. A

VCS 3 The VCS 3 (or VCS3; an initialism for ''Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3'') is a portable analogue synthesizer with a flexible modular voice architecture introduced by Electronic Music Studios (EMS) in 1969. EMS released the product un ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

is also

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

on part of the song. Further, on his guitar solo, Townshend plays the instrument through an

envelope follower An envelope detector (sometimes called a peak detector) is an electronic circuit that takes a (relatively) high-frequency signal as input and outputs the ''envelope'' of the original signal. Diode detector A simple form of envelope detecto ...

, a feature of the

ARP synthesizer ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan R. Pearlman, Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the ...

that produces what Townshend describes as a "fuzzy wah-wah sound". Author Chris Charlesworth describes the effect as being as if Townshend is playing underwater.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic Tom Maginnis describes Entwistle's bass playing on the song as "ultra-fluid" and Moon's drumming as "exuberant."

Critical reception

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

s John Mendelsohn described the song as "faintly inane", adding that it "celebrates the joys of, ho hum, being free to roam the highways and byways in one’s trailer." However, in ''

The Rolling Stone Record Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'', John Swenson described "Going Mobile" as one of "Townshend's most beautiful songs".

's Tom Maginnis states that "Going Mobile" "shows the tremendous energy of the band without the support of powerful guitar amplification". Charlesworth states that "Going Mobile" "lacks the grandeur" of some other ''Who's Next'' songs, but nonetheless considers it "a witty and worthy contender".

Other appearances

The Who never performed "Going Mobile" live. Townshend included a version of "Going Mobile" on his solo album ''

The Lifehouse Chronicles ''Lifehouse Chronicles'' is a box set released in 2000 by Pete Townshend with the focus of the box being the formerly "abandoned" '' Lifehouse'' rock opera. The set contains song demos by Pete Townshend; including solo versions of "Baba O'Riley ...

''. In 2011,

Simon Townshend Simon Townshend (; born 10 October 1960) is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the younger brother of the Who's guitarist Pete Townshend, and is most associated with The Who and the various side projects of its original members ...

performed the song with

's No Plan B band on its "Tommy Reborn" concert tour.

References

{{Authority control 1971 songs The Who songs Songs written by Pete Townshend Song recordings produced by Glyn Johns Pete Townshend songs Song recordings produced by Pete Townshend Songs about cars Decca Records singles Polydor Records singles Track Records singles MCA Records singles