Lots of Woolworth's makeup, a pair of Black Watch trews,
Your out-of-tune piano, sentimental photographs,
A million little memories, a million little laughs.
I say without reservation we ain't getting no higher.
Nothing matters you'll see, when in paradise you live,
The plane is diving faster, we're getting near the ground,
Nobody is screaming, no one makes a sound.
It's a girl, Mrs. Walker, it's a girl,
It's a girl, Mrs. Walker, it's a girl,
It's a girl, Mrs. Walker, it's a girl.
This song basically describes a woman going through her purse while descending in a plane about to crash.
This is sort of the back story to the rock-opera Tommy, which they would release later According to Pete Townshend's notes:
"It's a rock and roll airplane crash song with a real Pop Art plane crash and a happy reincarnation ending... I rarely leave any good idea unused. 'Rael' themes crop up in Tommy and so do the last lines of this. Of course, Tommy was a dear little boy."
This, like nearly all songs from the "Sell Out" period, as it was aptly added to that album for the cd release, have the most brilliant vocal melodies, they are just incredibly catchy, with a sort of whimsy to them. Absolutely perfect songs for radio, which is hilariously ironic in a sad way that the album didn't really do as well as it should have, and that it only had one single. A real shame.
It's a very sad song in my opinion, but it seemed to be a musical prototype of Tommy. Even the intro and such sounds like the one from "Sensation"
Holy crud it does! Thanks for pointing that out, 'third to the left'!