THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,055) The Who — “Postcard”
The Who (see #119, 548, 833, 976, 1,912) gives us another hilarious John Entwistle song — recorded for release in ’70 but not released (except maybe in Japan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcard_(The_Who_song)) until Odds & Sods came out in ’74 (and then in slightly altered form). “Postcard” is “a fun travelogue of the Who’s roadwork, penned with the droll wit we’ve come to expect from John Entwistle.” (Mike Segretto (author of The Who FAQ), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcard_(The_Who_song))
The Odds & Sods liner notes tell us:
Produced by The Who at Eel Pie Studios (a/k/a Pete’s garage in Twickenham) late May 1970 with additional horns produced and played by John Entwistle [and a rerecorded bass part (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcard_(The_Who_song))] and recorded at Ramport Studios, London 1974 . . . . This EP was listed in Gary Herman’s 1970 book The Who as being their next release. The track listing he gave was “Water”; “Don’t Know Myself”/”Naked Eye” [see #1,912]; “Postcard”. During the Summer 1970 North America tour Pete said, perhaps jokingly, that this EP’s title would be called 6 ft. Wide Garage, 7 ft. Wide Car, a reference to it being recorded in Pete’s garage. After the tour, Pete told Disc and Music Echo that the tracks would be “Water”, “I Don’t Even Know Myself”, “Postcard” and “Now I’m a Farmer”. “Postcard” was the single pulled from Odds & Sods in the U.S. (the first U.S. Who single with an Entwistle A-side) . . . . It hit the Cash Box charts November 23, 1974 where it peaked at #64 (it did not make the Billboard charts).
https://web.archive.org/web/20070701183016/http://www.thewho.net/linernotes/Odds%26Sods.htm
Pete Townshend wrote in The New Musical Express that:
“Postcard” is a John Entwistle song about touring on the road. He describes in luscious detail the joys and delights of such romantic venues as Australia (pause to fight off temporary attack of nausea), America (pause to count money), and of course that country of the mysterious and doubting Customs official, Germany. (Pause, whether they like it or not, for “God Save The Queen”). Listen out for the field sound effects actually recorded in the countries we toured. “Postcard” was originally recorded in my house for a maxi-single, as they came to be known here. Maxi-singles were EPs that only cost as much as a single. Unfortunately, ours never got released! We realised at the last minute that we wouldn`t make a profit doing stupid things like that. I engineered this one with one hand on the controls and the other on the guitar. That’s why I only play one chord throughout the whole song. If John’s bass sound is a little distant, it could be because his speaker cabinet was in the house next door.
Here is the ’74 version:
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