"Squeeze Box" | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yugoslavian single sleeve
|
||||||||||||||||||
Single by The Who | ||||||||||||||||||
from the album The Who by Numbers | ||||||||||||||||||
B-side | "Success Story" | |||||||||||||||||
Released | November 1975 (US) 16 January 1976 (UK) |
|||||||||||||||||
Recorded | 30 May 1975 on the Shepperton Studios' soundstage using Ronnie Lane's mobile studio | |||||||||||||||||
Genre | Rock | |||||||||||||||||
Length | 2:42 | |||||||||||||||||
Label | Polydor Records (UK) MCA Records (US) |
|||||||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Pete Townshend | |||||||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Glyn Johns | |||||||||||||||||
The Who singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
10 tracks |
---|
|
"Squeeze Box" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Poison | ||||
from the album Hollyweird | ||||
B-side | Hollyweird | |||
Released | March 4, 2002 | |||
Length | 2:29 | |||
Label | Cyanide Records | |||
Writer(s) | Pete Townshend | |||
Producer(s) | Thom Panunzio | |||
Poison singles chronology | ||||
|
"Squeeze Box" is a song by The Who from their album The Who by Numbers. Written by Pete Townshend, the lyrics are couched in sexual double entendres. Unlike many of the band's other hits, the song features country-like elements, seen in Townshend's guitar finger picking.
"Squeeze Box" was a commercial success, peaking at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and number 16 in the US Billboard Hot 100. The song is also their only international number-one hit, reaching number one in Canada, and reached number two on the Irish singles chart.
"Squeeze Box" was originally intended for a Who television special planned in 1974. In the planned performance of the song, the members of the band were planned to have been surrounded by 100 topless women playing accordions as they played the song.
A demo of the song featured a farfisa organ-based arrangement, as well as bluegrass banjos. Authors Steve Grantley and Alan Parker compared this early version to The Beatles' 1968 song, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da". This demo appeared on Pete Townshend's demo collection, Scoop.
"Squeezebox" is a slang term for accordions and related instruments. The song's lyrics consist mostly of sexual innuendo. Although Pete Townshend later said that the song originated as a dirty joke, he said that there was no double entendre, claiming "It's not about a woman's breasts, vaginal walls, or anything else of the ilk." The Who's bassist, John Entwistle also commented on the lyrics, saying "I dunno. Most songs have double meanings or no meaning at all. 'Squeeze Box' isn't that dirty. It doesn't say 'tits.'" Lead singer Roger Daltrey, however, acknowledged the double meaning, saying, "There's nothing wrong with a bit of 'in-and-out,' mate!"
"Squeeze Box" was released as the first single from The Who by Numbers in 1975 in America and 1976 in Britain. It became an international hit, becoming the band's first Top 10 hit in Britain since 1972's "Join Together". Despite this, Pete Townshend did not think highly of the song, and was astonished at its chart success.