"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is a song by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band,

the Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

. It was written by the band's

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

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

. The song is about drummer

Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 19467 September 1978) was an English drummer for the rock band the Who. He was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour and addiction to drugs and alcohol. Moon grew ...

's drinking problems. This is the first of two songs from The Who written about Keith Moon, the second being "Doctor Jimmy" from the album '' Quadrophenia''. Who biographer John Atkins calls it "a macabre tribute to Keith Moon." "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been compared to a Hammer horror film. The lyrics describe the good and evil elements within a single character, reminiscent of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

's novel '' Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''. The music incorporates a "scarey opening" and has a

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

led by Entwistle's

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

line, which Chris Charlesworth describes as "menacing" and Atkins describes as "grinding." It also contains a

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

solo that Charlesworth describes as "spooky." Atkins describes the melody as being "strongly inventive." "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" had been considered as a possible single release, along with " Call Me Lightning," but it was released as the B-side of "Call Me Lightning" instead. Atkins laments this decision, stating that although its horror film imagery was not ideal for a single, it was far better than "Call Me Lightning." He considers it one of Entwistle's best songs, saying that the "music and performance combine to create a perfectly chilling horror-comic

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

mood piece." Charlesworth states that the song "succeeds admirably." ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" a "psychedelified throbber on the lid that could attract added attention." Two very different versions of this song exist. The first one, running 2:24, is the B-side to the US single "Call Me Lightning". It is still available on the 1968 compilation album '' Magic Bus: The Who on Tour''. The second version, which exceeds the former's length by 14 seconds, was the B-Side to the UK single "Magic Bus". This version has a more prominent guitar line, as well as spooky "Mr. Hyde" effects (the voice John Entwistle had used in chorus of the song " Boris the Spider") and can be found on the Japanese release of the ''Who's Missing/Two's Missing'' compilation released in 2011. This song, as well as "Boris the Spider" and "Silas Stingy" all had lyrics that suited children. Kit Lambert had the idea of making a kids' album composed entirely of songs like these, but it never saw the light of day.

References

External links

The Hypertext Who -- Liner Notes
{{authority control The Who songs 1968 songs Songs written by John Entwistle Song recordings produced by Kit Lambert