Face Dances, Pt. 2 Explained

Face Dances, Pt. 2
Cover:Face Dances, Pt. 2.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Pete Townshend
Album:All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes
B-Side:"Man Watching"
(non-album track)
Released:July 1982
Recorded:1982
Genre:New wave[1]
Length:3:24
Label:Atco Records
Producer:Pete Townshend
Chronology:Pete Townshend UK
Prev Title:Keep On Working
Prev Year:1980
Next Title:Uniforms (Corps d'Esprit)
Next Year:1982

"Face Dances, Pt. 2" is single written and composed by Pete Townshend, most famously known as the guitarist for the Who. The song appears on Townshend's 1982 solo album All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes.

Background

Pete Townshend said that the song, in addition to the other songs on All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, was about his personal experiences of alienation from both his wife and band members from the Who that he experienced during the early 1980s.

Although it shares a title with it, "Face Dances Pt. 2" was not released on Townshend's band The Who's album Face Dances. In the liner notes for Face Dances, it is claimed that the song was written after the release of the Who album, but authors Steve Grantley and Alan Parker claim in their book, The Who By Numbers: The Story Of The Who Through Their Music, that the song was cut from the album.[2] [3]

Billboard suggested that the "eccentric time shifts and circular melodic scheme" would reduce its appeal to pop music radio stations.[4]

Music video

A companion video for All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes was also released, featuring "Face Dances, Pt. 2" as one of the concept videos. In some parts of the video, the covers for both the album and "Face Dances, Pt. 2" single sleeves are mimicked while Townshend lip-syncs to the song.

This video has been out of print for years, even though Townshend put the videos of this song and others from the album up on his website in 2000, which were then subsequently uploaded to other video websites on the Internet.

Chart

Chart (1982)Peak
position
US Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100105
US Billboard Top Tracks15

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pete Townshend: Truancy: The Very Best of Pete Townshend. 7 July 2015. PopMatters.
  2. Web site: Cady . Brian . 'Face Dances' Liner Notes . thewho.net . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141219112406/http://www.thewho.net/linernotes/FaceDances.htm . 2014-12-19 .
  3. Book: Grantley. Parker. Steve. Alan. The Who by Numbers: The Story of The Who Through Their Music. Helter Skelter. 196.
  4. Billboard. August 7, 1982. 2023-01-29. 65. Top Single Picks.