Wikipedia: "The lyrics are a first-person lament from a man in the Lifehouse story, variously identifed as 'Brick' or 'Jumbo', who is always angry and full of angst because of all the pressure and temptation that surrounds him, and the song was intended to be his "theme song" had the project been successful. (The lyrics of the rocking section near the end were actually written by Townshend as a prayer when he was a disciple of Meher Baba after being tempted by a groupie, and incorporated into the song when it was written.)"
So, yeah. I find the prayer part very interesting - if Pete really did write that originally for himself, the "when I smile" line seems kind of odd to me... I've never heard of Townshend being particularly frown-ish. Maybe, then, the line is a somewhat subtle way of saying "When I'm falling into temptation please stop me from going further" - as in a sort of "when I smile at the groupie, tell me some bad news, before I laugh and give in to her charm" kind of thing. Er... yeah.
Wikipedia: "The lyrics are a first-person lament from a man in the Lifehouse story, variously identifed as 'Brick' or 'Jumbo', who is always angry and full of angst because of all the pressure and temptation that surrounds him, and the song was intended to be his "theme song" had the project been successful. (The lyrics of the rocking section near the end were actually written by Townshend as a prayer when he was a disciple of Meher Baba after being tempted by a groupie, and incorporated into the song when it was written.)"
So, yeah. I find the prayer part very interesting - if Pete really did write that originally for himself, the "when I smile" line seems kind of odd to me... I've never heard of Townshend being particularly frown-ish. Maybe, then, the line is a somewhat subtle way of saying "When I'm falling into temptation please stop me from going further" - as in a sort of "when I smile at the groupie, tell me some bad news, before I laugh and give in to her charm" kind of thing. Er... yeah.