No, John Entwistle didn't write love songs. In some songs, for example in “My Wife” from 1971, it was about the moment when a previously intimate connection between two people culminates in jealousy and stalking. But even such pieces are rare in his author's work for The Who, which is mainly due to the fact that Entwistle hardly appeared as a composer or lyricist anyway: between 1964 and 1984 he wrote just over 20 songs for his band as the sole creator, in addition, he is named as a co-author of a few songs. As is well known, it was the genius of Pete Townshend who was responsible for the big hits from “My Generation” to “Substitute” and “Pinball Wizard” to “Join Together”.

Unlike the Beatle George Harrison, who was overshadowed by Lennon / McCartney, but was allowed to have his own hits, Entwistle was not allowed to do so: The Who, at least in Europe and North America, did not plan a single with his own track. The creative hierarchy of the band was already established when it was founded in 1964 - it did not change later when LPs were the focus of the band's interest.

In 1966 it went like this: No single was released from the second Who LP "A Quick One" in Great Britain.

The top 5 hit “Happy Jack”, which was released six days before the album, is actually only to be found on the US version of “A Quick One” - which is why it is also called “Happy Jack”.

The LP contains two songs by John Entwistle: "Whiskey Man" and "Boris The Spider".

Both were played live over and over again and are still among the favorites of the Who appendix to this day.

And finally the dynamic Entwistle duo made it, even if only noticed by hardcore fans in this country, on a single: In the early summer of 1967, “Whiskey Man” with the B-side “Boris The Spider” was released exclusively in Japan.

Sing about the fear of spiders?

John Entwistle was born in Chiswick, London, in October 1944. It could have been a sheltered childhood in one of the brick row houses typical of this area. But, unusually for the 1940s, the Entwistles divorced shortly after John's birth. The boy grew up with his grandparents in nearby Acton. For his later life it was a happy move. Because at school he made friends with another boy from Chiswick, Pete Townshend. He later joined Entwistle's Dixie band, which formed the nucleus of The Who. But back to grandma and grandpa: The property in Acton also had a small garden. Presumably all kinds of spiders crawled around there and now and then found their way into little John's room. And it is rumored that he suffered from arachnophobia.

It is not that easy to get rid of the fears acquired in childhood. It is also easy to imagine that John Entwistle, at the age of ten or eleven, passed one of those magnificent movie theaters in London on his way to school or while wandering around, possibly the “Rialto” or “Granada”, and one day there were posters and pictures of “ Tarantula ”in the showcases. Given the very large monster with red-rimmed eyes, his fear may have been given an extra boost. Maybe John was brave enough to sneak into the afternoon show with a buddy and watch the giant spider spread fear and terror across an entire area. Joseph Gerhenson's lurid soundtrack underlined the danger posed by Tarantula even more drastically.

Would it be a good idea for an adult to sing about this pent-up spider fear?

Why not!

If given the gift, it is a good coping strategy and would probably be labeled a "therapeutic gift" by benevolent psychologists.

The fatal end for Boris

In the song “Boris The Spider”, which Entwistle also sings himself, Boris crawls around with his eight legs over the narrator's head, drops to the floor, hides, becomes invisible, and perhaps walks into the bedroom unnoticed. He's a hairy little monster. But maybe, Entwistle asks himself, “Is it just as afraid of me as I am of him?” That is quite possible, but what does this knowledge do for people who experience horror and do not dare to go to bed as long as the monster is “creepy , creepy, crawly, crawly “, strolling around almost silently and could be anywhere? As fear is known to make aggressors, Boris is struck dead with a book before he can bite.