{"id":515588,"date":"2026-04-06T09:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/515588\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T09:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:23:11","slug":"the-who-song-they-couldnt-make-work-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/515588\/","title":{"rendered":"The Who song they couldn\u2019t make work live"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Roger<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Dena Flows)<\/p>\n

Mon 6 April 2026 7:32, UK <\/p>\n

For a rock band like The Who<\/a>, if they nailed down a song in the studio, then it would grow arms and legs to become even greater when they performed it during a live show.<\/p>\n

After all, The Who built their reputation as a live phenomenon with the stage being the place where they always thrived, even if their albums were occasionally hit and miss. In the back of their minds, while in the studio, was likely often how it would translate to a concert, with their mission being to send arenas into a collective state of euphoria.<\/p>\n

On one very rare occasion, though, they couldn\u2019t replicate the beauty of the live recording during concerts, by Roger Daltrey\u2019s own admission. The song in question is the delightful \u2018Pictures of Lily\u2019, which is always a perfect antidote if you\u2019re having a bad day and want to have a smile planted on your face.<\/p>\n

If you dig a little deeper beyond the gorgeous melody, the story told in the song is somewhat troubling, admittedly. In \u2018Pictures of Lily\u2019, a father passes on a collection of risqu\u00e9 images to his teenage son, who becomes infatuated with one specific woman. <\/p>\n

The track then takes a dark turn upon the protagonist, realising that the woman of his dreams has passed away, as Daltrey mournfully sings, \u201cOh, how I cried that night, If only I\u2019d been born in Lily\u2019s time, It would have been alright, There were always pictures of Lily to help me sleep at night.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/a>(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Although Daltrey was well aware of the song\u2019s meaning, which Pete Townshend wrote, he tried his best to conceal the underlying theme of masturbation, telling Uncut, \u201cWhen Kit and Pete came in and said this is the next single, yeah, straight away I saw the words and knew what it was about. So I deliberately thought I\u2019d sing it the opposite way, with complete innocence. So instead of it being something suggestive, it tweaks it the other way and gives it a little bit more intrigue.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Daltrey did a fine job not making \u2018Pictures of Lily\u2019 sound sleazy, so much so that radio stations didn\u2019t realise it involved masturbating and played it on repeat, it never worked live. Daltrey conceded, \u201cBut \u2018Pictures Of Lily\u2019 never sat well on stage for some reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not an easy, explicable reason for \u2018Pictures of Lily\u2019 not working as a live song. The Who could have turned the phonebook into a rock \u2018n\u2019 roll anthem during their heyday, yet they never managed to get \u2018Pictures of Lily\u2019 to click into place.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t for a lack of trying, either. The Who attempted to make \u2018Pictures of Lily\u2019 part of their set on numerous occasions, but it\u2019s never become a staple. In total, they have only played the track live on 94 occasions, with the first performance at a concert in Cologne in 1966. In the next two years, it was aired 30 times before losing its position.<\/p>\n

After a prolonged absence, they gave it another shot in 1979 before leaving it on the shelf for another 12 years, when they played it 11 times in 1989. It once again failed to retain its place but did return to their set lists a quarter of a century later, but was aired for the final time in 2017.<\/p>\n

When they had a huge headline show at Hyde Park<\/a> in 2015, it was brought out to appease a friend of the band, Paul Weller, who requested to hear it. Townshend warned the 50,000-plus fans that it might sound \u201ccrap\u201d due to it not being a regular part of the set, and while crap is overly harsh, it certainly isn\u2019t as special as the studio version.<\/p>\n

Clearly, The Who\u2019s Townshend and Daltrey do hold affection for the song, otherwise they\u2019d have refused to play it entirely. On the other hand, the band\u2019s late bassist, John Entwistle<\/a>, couldn\u2019t stand it one bit, telling Mojo in 1994: \u201cThe thing I hate about \u2018Pictures of Lily\u2019 is that bloody elephant call on the French horn. I also hated the backing vocals, the mermaid voices, where we\u2019d sing all the \u2018oooooohs.\u2019 I hated \u2018oooooohs.’\u201d<\/p>\n

In the grand scheme of things, \u2018Pictures of Lily\u2019 failing to translate to the live environment was nothing to lose sleep over, as The Who already had more hits than they knew what to do with to put in their set. But, still, the intriguing, unsolvable mystery about why it never quite worked remains.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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