"Overture" is a song by English rock 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 ...

, written by

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

. The track is one of three instrumental tracks released on ''

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

'', the other two being "Underture" and "Sparks". On 9 October 1970, the song was released as the B-side of "See Me, Feel Me" – which did not chart – and was titled "Overture from Tommy".

Song structure

As an

overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

the song features samples of ''Tommy''s themes: *0:00 – 0:32 Adapted from "1921" *0:33 - 0:36 Adapted from “The Hawker” *0:36 – 0:58 Adapted from "We're Not Gonna Take It" *0:59 – 1:33 Adapted from "Go to the Mirror!" *1:34 – 1:55 Adapted from "See Me, Feel Me" *1:56 – 2:18 Adapted from "Go to the Mirror!" *2:19 – 2:55 Adapted from "Listening to You" *2:56 - 3:03 Adapted from “Go to the Mirror!” *3:04 – 3:19 Adapted from "We're Not Gonna Take It" *3:20 – 3:50 Adapted from "Pinball Wizard” * There is no pause between the tracks "Overture" and "It's a Boy" so the songs are often combined as "Overture".

The Assembled Multitude version

The Assembled Multitude The Assembled Multitude was an instrumental ensemble, consisting entirely of studio musicians, which music producer Tom Sellers organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1970. The "Multitude" released a self-titled album on the Atlantic Records lab ...

, an instrumental ensemble group from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania, scored with a remake of "Overture" which peaked at #16 in August, 1970 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Overture (The Who Song) Rock instrumentals Songs written by Pete Townshend 1970 singles The Who songs