"Give Blood" is a song by Pete Townshend, the guitarist for The Who. The song is the opening track for Townshend's fourth solo album, a concept album titled White City: A Novel, and was released as a single. "Give Blood" features Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. He also appears on another song from the album, "White City Fighting", the music for which was written by Gilmour.
"Give Blood" | ||||
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Single by Pete Townshend | ||||
from the album White City: A Novel | ||||
Released | 1985 | |||
Recorded | 1985 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 5:44 | |||
Label | Atco | |||
Songwriter(s) | Pete Townshend | |||
Producer(s) | Chris Thomas | |||
Pete Townshend singles chronology | ||||
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The song was used to encourage blood donation on June 14, 2021 on World Blood Donor Day.[1]
Background
editWhen Townshend was asked about the song he said:
Give Blood was one of the tracks I didn't even play on. I brought in Simon Phillips, Pino Palladino and David Gilmour simply because I wanted to see my three favourite musicians of the time playing on something and, in fact, I didn't have a song for them to work on, and sat down very, very quickly and rifled threw [sic] a box of stuff, said to Dave, "Do one of those kind of ricky-ticky-ricky-ticky things, and I'll shout 'Give Blood!' in the microphone every five minutes and let's see what happens." And that's what happened. Then I constructed the song around what they did.[2]
In an interview with Modern Drummer, Phillips recalled that the instrumental track originally lacked a bass guitar and instead consisted of an electric guitar with echo. For the purpose of augmenting the electric guitar track, Phillips created a drum part built around sixteenth note rhythms and a prominent backbeat. His drum work on "Give Blood" was later highlighted in the 1986 edition of Modern Drummer's Best Recorded Performance Chart.[3]
Release and reception
editThe single failed to chart in UK or to make the Billboard Hot 100 US Pop Chart, but reached number 5 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts.[4]
Cash Box said that the song was "strong paean to world peace."[5] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic ranked "Give Blood" as one of Townshend's best compositions, calling it "anthemic".[6]
Charts
editChart (1986) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] | 77 |
Germany (Official German Charts)[8] | 61 |
References
edit- ^ Matheka, Grace (2021-06-14). "Pete Townshend's 'Give Blood' to be featured in this year's World Blood Donor Day blood drive". HapaKenya. Retrieved 2021-07-24.
- ^ "Coolwalkingsmoothtalking Liner Notes". The Hypertext Who - Bill's Pete Townshend Pages. 2008-08-01. Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
- ^ "Back Through The Stack: Simon Phillips, December 1986". Modern Drummer Magazine. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
- ^ "Mainstream Rock Airplay Chart". Billboard.
- ^ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. February 8, 1986. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "White City: A Novel - Pete Townshend". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 312. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Pete Townshend – Give Blood" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 5 July 2024.