The Who | 515 & Sea Of The Sand | Reaction 

Girls of 15 reference is Townshend remembering The Who opening for The Beatles in 1964. The girls would get so excited they pee themselves wetting their seats in the process he said the stench was horrendous. Between sets and before the new audience came in the ushers in the theatre would spray cheap cologne on the seats to try and mask the smell.

LOVE YOU Did this!! I'm 65 & The Who one of FAVS since a Kid !! ...!978 had tickets to concert in Philly Pa to see them...Moon died...concert cancelled...Thought I Never be able to see again....2018-19 Got to see...AFTER Original Concert Cancelled...We held on to tickets A year( or more) after 1st concert cancelled ..Roger had problems...polyps... Had GREAT Time when the concert was rescheduled...since we held the tickets We got Upgrade 6th row center...one of the best & saddest things...20 yr old kid sitting next to us...was Over a year from Original tickets...theKid & his Dad had bought tickets for 1st too...His Dad died before this concert...He got Upgrade too...We sang Pictures Of Lily His Dad's Fav song together...Was Awesome night !!

"Faces" and "tickets" as referenced in "Sea And Sand", were terms used by mods to describe members of the hierarchy within the subculture. The "faces" were the leaders while the lowly "tickets" were the followers, basically.

John 5:15 The story goes that when the Beatles ride on the train (See A hard days night) that young girls get so excited they would pee themselves, so the train conductors would spray cologne to cover the odor.

The Small Faces were a Mod band and whe Rod (the Mod) joined them, they became The Faces. In England , a "Face" was a noticible person. In Liverpool a noticible person was a "La". Hense the band The Las.

5:15 - "nowhere is home' - reflecting on who he was (club punk) and how it isn't him anymore - while riding home on the train in the morning. Sand and Sea - he realizes that while nothing ever goes as planned (for him), the sea and the sand are simply "themselves" and everything works out for the best. Just my ideas on what it means.

"Uppers and downers/Either way blood flows" ... one of my favorite all time lyrics.

For me the best album ever made , its the life and times of The Who , the 60’s , modism, the British post war generation it’s absolutely different class

I've heard Pete talking about that part of 5.15. He mentioned when The Who were touring England that sometimes they would play a show a day after the Beatles. He said the seats in the theatre smelled like urine. All the young girls would pee in their seats. The next day the ushers would walk around in-between all the seats, splashing the cologne, Au de cologne (Perfume) to cut down on the smell permeating everywhere.

The reference to the Beatles playing in concert, young girls screaming peeing in their panties, the ushers have to spray eau de cologning, to mask the urine smell.

Wartime coat, us army surplus coats, as Jimmy wears on the cover. Essential mod uniform

This album saved me in my teenage years. One of the greatest records ever.

The best way to enjoy this album is to just pop it in and listen to it, from beginning to end, without worrying about the lyrics. then read up a little, first the original one page story and picture book that came with the album. the story is less important than the musical experience, but some knowledge of certain english 1960's references is helpful.

the obsession with fashion was a thing back then, a sense of belonging and peer pressure

John, when you finish this album, you should listen again all the way through. You’ll notice that many of these songs are hinted at in the overture

I'm the face if you want it babe is from the Who's first single, when they had briefly changed their name to the High Numbers (another mod term for aspiring faces). The song was pretty much a reworking of Slim Harpo's got love if you want it

The whole opera surrounds the two major branches of music fans in 1960's London. Mods and Rockers. The Rockers were bikers who wore black leather jackets and other motorcycle-related attire. The Mods rode scooters and dressed in suits and neat clothing. You have to listen to the whole album, in order, to fully understand the brilliance that is Quadrophenia. Same with Tommy.

I have always appreciated the moment in "Sea and Sand" where Jimmy's like 'okay, so it's fine for YOU to be drunk off your asses but not for ME to be getting high as an escape? Sure. Suuuuure.'

A face was a mod who others looked up to. Looked better, dressed better. The mod common herd were called tickets

We're talking about the same man that wrote tommy

We never knew the words of the songs we loved. We had no idea what it was about. Lol

Great Song! Great album. Glad you are getting to go through the whole album. Cheers!

I'm the face is the who's first single. A remake of got love if you want it.

yeah the reference could also be in the context that jimmy is a teenager also as far as the 15 year old

Jimmy's taking the 5:15 commuter train into the city and taking in the exciting sights and sounds and smells as his drugs kick in. He was a teen, so sexualizing teenage girls was too be expected. This is this only song that was released as a single from Quadrophenia. I remember hearing on the radio back then but I thought it was the Roling Stones.

Dont Forget that he's stoned on a train so plenty of imagery and free association.

Mod Slang: Face = A Mod who stands out for the right reasons Ticket = basic Mod Back then with no internet, most of the things somebody would experience would be kind of local. To distinguish yourself, it could be as easy as getting a pair of Levi's jean (from America). If you've ever seen "Mad Men" from AMC. The same kind of culture was going on during the Golden Age of advertising on Madison Ave. Have to stay on top of what's happening.

5:15 and the real me are my two favorite Who songs

Greatest album ever

Is that Jimmy, or is THIS Jimmy…? It’s ALL JIMMY. Pete wrote 4 themes- one for each member of the Who- that all represent a part of “Jimmy The Mod”

Excellent !!!!

I never heard this Who song before.

John Slop , this is definitional brilliance .

Such a great song, My Wife is another great song.

5:15 - Jimmy tripping on a train ( the 5:15)

You’re on the 15 crazy train to WebbervilleDuh

The lyrics tell you the imagery he sees on the train. Also he is a split personality, he has 4 sides to him and often sees himself transitioning from one persona to another. The sexually knowing is the teen girls being provocative.

I can't believe that by this point you haven't hipped to the fact that this a rock opera about a teenager

Sea and Sand is fantastic.

These part of the movie is great

"Girls of 15, sexually knowing " First of all, he's a teenager. He's on the train listening to 15 year old girls talking about their sexual experiences. It's his point of view. And, he's also high as fuck.

You wrote Sea of the Sand on both the thumbnail and title. It's Sea and Sand.

Awesome album still

Its a rock opra grew up with the who there's a movie

Sea of the sand is not the name of the song. It's Sea and Sand.

Nobody named jimmy in this band

Dude, you really need to watch the film when you are done.

Fifteen year olds sexualize themselves. Don't be so millennial. The album is genius, you should already understand the story of a guy split into four personalities depending on the drug or drink he's on. Takes place in the fifties when rockers and mods would fight it out over style and music. Watch the movie as it's great in itself.

🤔😂😂🤡