"Tattoo" is a song 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 ...

that was first released by

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 ...

on their 1967 album ''

The Who Sell Out ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. A "

rite of passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...

" song, "Tattoo" tells the story of two teenaged brothers who decide to get

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...

s in their attempts to become men. Themes of the song include peer pressure to conform and young men's insecurity about their manhood. The song has been heavily praised by critics and has appeared on several of The Who's live and compilation albums. It has also been covered by Tommy Keene and Petra Haden.

Lyrics and music

"Tattoo" is a "

" song. The singer sings that he and his brother, as teenagers, were discussing "what makes a man a man." They decided to get

s. Their father disapproved of the tattoos and beat the singer. However, his mother approved the singer's tattoo, which said "Mother," but beat the brother because the brother got a tattoo of "a lady in the nude." The song ends with the singer revealing that he now "tattooed all over" and his "wife is tattooed too". Themes of the song include peer pressure to conform and young men's insecurity about their manhood. Townshend has said that the inspiration for the song came from memories from the time he was about eleven or twelve years old of seeing men with tattoos all up and down their arms, and being concerned that that would happen to him eventually. Townshend originally did not expect Who lead singer

Roger Daltrey Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is a co-founder and the lead singer of the Rock music, rock band The Who. Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Ge ...

to be willing to sing such a song about questioning one's manhood, and when Daltrey sang it, and well, Townshend realized that despite his bravado Daltrey shared many of the insecurities Townshend had. Townshend has also stated that the song was written as an album track at a time he had begun to feel that his guitar playing was being overshadowed by the likes of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and so he decided to start writing "a different kind of song...story–songs, cameos, essays on human experience." "Tattoo" begins with

arpeggio A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...

s played on both electric and

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, ...

. The song is mixed such that the electric guitar is heard only through the left

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

channel and the acoustic guitar is heard only through the right stereo channel. Author

Chris Charlesworth Chris Charlesworth is a British-based music journalist and author; and, between 1983 and 2016, managing editor of Omnibus Press. He is particularly noted for his work about, and with, The Who, for whom he has worked as an executive producer. Char ...

describes the

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 ...

as being "particularly attractive and mature" and also comments on the "unusually complex

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

s" used. Authors Steve Grantley and Alan Parker praise Daltrey's vocal performance, noting that it "intrigues and seduces" and finds him projecting an uncharacteristically "passive, pensive mood." Who author John Atkins praises the "immaculate" vocal

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However, ...

and imaginative instrumentation. The Who recorded "Tattoo" on October 12, 1967 at IBC Studios.

Critical reception

Music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

considers "Tattoo" one of his three favorite songs from ''

'', an album he considered The Who's "only great album" at the time, and one with "no bad songs." ''

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

'' magazine considers "Tattoo" to be "one of those gems of guitar playing from Peter Townshend, one which shows flawless mastery of rock and roll chording."

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

states that "Tattoo" "shows introspective, vulnerable sides to the singer/songwriter that had previously been hidden." Charlesworth calls it a "standout track" and "one of ownshend'sfinest 'rite of passage' songs. Grantley and Parker note that "Tattoo" is "full of pathos" and "an excellent example of Townshend finding in the humdrum something of universal resonance and appeal." Atkins, calling the song "masterly" puts forth similar views, and Atkins and Grantley and Parker all find that this element of the song is a characteristic that only The Kinks might be able to match.

Other appearances

"Tattoo" is one of Townshend's favorite songs, and it was included in The Who's live repertoire into the mid-1970s. Live versions of the song were released on the 1995 CD version of the 1970 album '' Live at Leeds'' and the video '' The Who At Kilburn: 1977'' (although the performance on the video was actually from the London Coliseum). The song was also included on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

Thirty Years of Maximum R&B ''Thirty Years of Maximum R&B'' is a box set by British rock band, The Who released by Polydor Records internationally and by MCA Records in the U.S.; since 2003, it has been issued in America by Geffen Records. The set consists of four CDs that ...

''. The song was also played occasionally on

The Who Tour 1982 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

tour with Kenney Jones on drums. "Tattoo" has also been covered by Tommy Keene on '' The Real Underground'' and by Petra Haden on '' Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out''. It was also included on the Pete Townshend and

Raphael Rudd Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

album '' The Oceanic Concerts''.

References

{{The Who Sell Out 1967 songs The Who songs Songs written by Pete Townshend Song recordings produced by Kit Lambert Media depictions of tattooing