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WCSX Classic Cuts : My Generation

WCSX Classic Cuts The Who: “My Generation” The Hook: Be careful what you ask for. Album: The Who Sings My Generation Year: 1966 Writer: Pete Townshend Stats: Although it peaked…

INDIO, CA – OCTOBER 16: Musicians Roger Daltrey (L) and Pete Townshend of The Who perform during Desert Trip at the Empire Polo Field on October 16, 2016 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Credit: Frazer Harrison / Gettyimages

WCSX Classic Cuts

The Who: "My Generation"

The Hook: Be careful what you ask for.

Album: The Who Sings My Generation

Year: 1966

Writer: Pete Townshend

Stats: Although it peaked at a lowly number-74 on the Billboard Hot 100, it got to number-two on the British singles chart.

Background: Practically since he wrote it, Pete Townshend has been answering questions about the line in The Who's "My Generation" declaring, "I hope I die before I get old." Here's what he had to say about it at a 1989 press conference in New York.

At a 1989 press conference, Pete Townshend addresses his famous words from “My Generation,” “I hope I die before I get old.” OC:…adequately today. :22

“The only thing now is that looking back on those words, ‘I hope I die before I get old,’ I really know now that that will happen – that will happen to all of us – and in a sense, in a lot of ways, it has already started, that process. Certain bits of me, which were operating extremely well when I wrote those lines, don’t function quite so adequately today.”