Lyrics to
Who Are You

This version of Who Are You was released by The Who in 1978.

Our The Who Songs profile has Who Are You lyrics from 1978 and most if not all of the lyrics by The Who that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to The Who or about the 1970s in general.

Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

I woke up in a Soho doorway
A policeman knew my name
He said “You can go sleep at home tonight
If you can get up and walk away”

I staggered back to the underground
And the breeze blew back my hair
I remember throwin’ punches around
And preachin’ from my chair

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
‘Cause I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

I took the tube back out of town
Back to the Rollin’ Pin
I felt a little like a dying clown
With a streak of Rin Tin Tin

I stretched back and I hiccupped
And looked back on my busy day
Eleven hours in the Tin Pan
God, there’s got to be another way

Who are you?
Ooh wa ooh wa ooh wa ooh wa …

Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

I know there’s a place you walked
Where love falls from the trees
My heart is like a broken cup
I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole
Yet still recieve your kiss
How can I measure up to anyone now
After such a love as this?

---

Want more lyrics and songs by The Who?

The Who has released many songs over the years besides Who Are You. The Who released songs from 1965 to 1982 spanning across albums like The Who Sings My Generation, A Quick One / Happy Jack, The Who Sell Out, Tommy, Who's Next, Quadrophenia, The Who By Numbers, Who Are You, Face Dances, and It's Hard. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Who.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Who Are You by The Who

When you decide to study the lyrics to Who Are You, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1978 song by The Who. Some of the lyrics to Who Are You have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only The Who and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Who Are You if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Who Are You" means the words set to the music of Who Are You, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Who. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Who Are You and the lyrics to Who Are You are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Who who came here looking just for the lyrics to Who Are You, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by The Who

Visit our The Who profile for more The Who songs, lyrics & info!

)