The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend is the sixth solo studio album by Pete Townshend of the Who, released in 1989 as a concept album adaptation of Ted Hughes' science fiction novel The Iron Man (1968). It also stars Roger Daltrey, Deborah Conway, John Lee Hooker, and Nina Simone.

The three then-surviving original members of the Who (Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Townshend) performed as a band on two songs, "Dig" and "Fire", although the latter was a cover of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown's hit (the Who would later perform "Dig" live during their 1989 reunion tour).

"A Friend Is a Friend" and "I Won't Run Anymore" were commercially released as singles; "Fire" was issued as a promo-only single in the United States. Cashbox said that "A Friend is a Friend" "finds Pete in an uplifting vein, with falsetto vocals and strummed guitar."

A stage version was mounted at the Young Vic theatre in London in 1993. On the strength of this, Warner Bros. optioned the story for a film that, with a very different adaptation of the story, became The Iron Giant (1999); Townshend received an executive-producer credit.

Characters

  • Hogarth: Pete Townshend
  • The Vixen: Deborah Conway
  • The Iron Man: John Lee Hooker
  • The Space Dragon: Nina Simone
  • Hogarth's Father: Roger Daltrey
  • The Crow: Chyna
  • The Jay: Nicola Emmanuelle
  • The Frog: Billy Nicholls
  • The Owl: Simon Townshend
  • The Badger: Cleveland Watkiss

Track listing

All tracks are written by Pete Townshend, except where noted.

  1. "I Won't Run Any More" – 4:51 <small>Vocals by Pete Townshend with Deborah Conway</small>
  2. "Over the Top" – 3:31 <small>Vocals by John Lee Hooker</small>
  3. "Man Machines" – 0:42 <small>Vocals by Simon Townshend</small>
  4. "Dig" – 4:07 <small>Performed by the Who</small>
  5. "A Friend Is a Friend" – 4:44 <small>Vocals by Pete Townshend</small>
  6. "I Eat Heavy Metal" – 4:01 <small>Vocals by John Lee Hooker</small>
  7. "All Shall Be Well" – 4:02 <small>Vocals by Pete Townshend with Deborah Conway and Chyna</small>
  8. "Was There Life" – 4:19 <small>Vocals by Pete Townshend</small>
  9. "Fast Food" – 4:26 <small>Vocals by Nina Simone</small>
  10. "A Fool Says..." – 2:51 <small>Vocals by Pete Townshend</small>
  11. "Fire" (Arthur Brown, Vincent Crane, Mike Finesilver, Peter Ker) – 3:47 <small>Performed by the Who</small>
  12. "New Life/Reprise" – 6:00 <small>Vocals by Chyna with Pete Townshend and Nicola Emmanuel. </small> Contains small extract of a live performance of "Magic Bus"

Bonus tracks from the 2006 US Hip-O Records release

  1. <li value=13> "Dig" (Simon Townshend vocal version) – 4:09
  2. "Man Machines" (long version) – 4:34
  3. "I Eat Heavy Metal" (demo) – 4:04

Bonus tracks from the 2006 Japanese Imperial release

  1. <li value=13>"A Friend Is a Friend" (live at the Fillmore West, 1996)
  2. "All Shall Be Well" (live at the Fillmore West, 1996)

Non-album tracks

  1. "Real World" (instrumental released on 12" and CD singles of "A Friend Is a Friend", a different mix of it was on Scoop 3 in 2001)
  2. "Penny Drop" (appeared on the Timothy White Radio Show; promo copies of the interview were pressed on vinyl by DIR Broadcasting)
  3. "Dig" (demo released on the 1989 UK CD single of "I Won't Run Anymore")
  4. "Iron Man Recitative", "Can You Really Dance?", and "Man and Machines (demo)" appeared on Scoop 3 in 2001
  5. "Dig" (concert version appeared on the Who's 1989 reunion tour concert album Join Together)

References

  • Liner notes on songs – "Dig", "Fire"