“How Many Friends” by The Who

On “How Many Friends”, the singer is not chiming in on the subject of friendship per se. His focus is on the fact that as a successful musician and celebrity he has been denied true friendship, due to both internal and external reasons. He goes on to use three different cases to illustrate this point.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for The Who's How Many Friends at Lyrics.org.

Case #1

The first is of a young male admirer whom even the vocalist must admit is attractive. The boy is even more drawn to Roger, due to Daltrey’s style or what have you, and he proceeds to initiate a friendship with him. However, the vocalist is leery because he thinks the boy may be gay and resultantly is trying to sexually seduce him. 

This conspiracy theory, if you will, is buttressed by the fact that Roger notices no one pays him any attention except this dude. And no, there’s no actual proof that the guy is gay. But conclusively concerning the matter, the vocalist is convinced that this person has some type of ulterior motive in “being so kind” to him.

Case #2

Meanwhile, the second verse is about his relationship with a romantic interest. The lyrics rely heavily on metaphors and such, some imagination has to be used to decipher what’s going on. But what it appears the vocalist is saying is that he hooked up with a famous actress, someone who is just as big of a celebrity as he is. And one of the things he’s most concerned is how he will perform in bed.

But also taking the bridge into consideration, said concern is not only about his machismo, so to speak.  Instead, it’s like the rumor mill is real. And as a celebrity, he knows that associates can and will use personal matters against you. Indeed they will even go as far as to lie for that very purpose. So again, the implication is that you don’t know who to trust.

Case #3

The third verse takes us in a bit of a different direction though. Here, Roger is harping back to The Who’s early goings. Anyone familiar with this band would likely know that they are considered music legends, even holding down the Super Bowl Halftime Show as recently as 2010. And back in the day, everything was all gravy between the main parties involved. But since coming up, whereas the business agreements may still be there, the love is not. And the vocalist also implicates gossipers in this matter. It’s like they’re hating on Roger and The Who without actually knowing anything about the crew.

In Conclusion

So again, it feels like the vocalist is asserting that with stardom comes an intrinsic sense of distrust. When you’re nobody, you know that the people who befriend you are genuine. But when you’re a star, you have questions why anyone would want to get close to you. Moreover, on the road to success even relationships that were once true can and sometimes will deteriorate.

The Who, "How Many Friends" Lyrics

Facts about “How Many Friends”

This track is derived from “The Who by Numbers” which, as The Who’s seventh studio album, hit store shelves on 3 October 1975. The labels behind this outing are Polydor and MCA.

The Who’s lead guitarist, Pete Townshend, served as the writer of this song, with its producer being regular collaborator Glyn Johns.

How Many Friends

3 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    I don’t know why you’re looking at this from Roger’s point of view, it’s Pete’s song.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Ow ????

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may also like...