"Waspman" is a mainly

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

song 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 ...

, credited to their drummer Keith Moon. The song is the B-side to The Who's single "

Relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

" (entitled "The Relay" in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

). The song is supposedly a tribute to Link Wray, who became famous for his 1958 instrumental hit " Rumble" by Link Wray and his Ray Men. He introduced "the

power chord A power chord (also fifth chord) is a colloquial name for a chord in guitar music, especially electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played on ...

, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists" such as Pete Townshend of The Who. It is thought that John Entwistle wrote the song but gave the credit to Moon, as all members of The Who were supposed to write at least two B-sides, although

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 band The Who. Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include " My Generation", " Pinball Wizard", " Won't Get Fooled ...

only wrote one, "Here for More", the B-side for " The Seeker" in 1970.

Origin and meaning of the song

"Waspman" originates from an incident in the late 1960s during one of The Who's many plane flights while touring. During some white-knuckle

turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between ...

, Moon and a

groupie The term groupie is a slang word that refers to a fan of a particular musical group who follows the band around while they are on tour or who attends as many of their public appearances as possible, with the hope of meeting them. The term is us ...

escaped to the bathroom. Shortly after, Moon burst forth with the groupie's

bra A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, or ; ), is a form-fitting undergarment that is primarily used to support and cover breasts. It can serve a range of other practical and aesthetic purposes, including enhancing or reducing the appea ...

wrapped over his head and announced, "I'll save you! I'm Wasp Man!" In addition to writing this song, Keith Moon also bought a

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

costume and wore it whenever the mood struck him.

References

External links

The Who.com
official site
The Who biography
from ''Rolling Stone'' *

* {{Authority control 1972 songs The Who songs Song recordings produced by Glyn Johns Rock instrumentals