<P> Townshend originally wrote "Baba O'Riley" for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera that was to be the follow - up to the Who's 1969 opera, Tommy . In Lifehouse, the song would be sung at the beginning by a Scottish farmer named Ray, as he gathers his wife Sally and his two children to begin their exodus to London . When Lifehouse was scrapped, eight of the songs were salvaged and recorded for The Who's 1971 album Who's Next, with "Baba O'Riley" as the lead - off track . </P> <P> Townshend stated in an interview that "' Baba O'Riley' is about the absolute desolation of teenagers at Woodstock, where audience members were strung out on acid and 20 people had brain damage . The irony was that some listeners took the song to be a teenage celebration:' Teenage Wasteland, yes! We're all wasted!"' </P> <P> The "Baba O'Riley" title combines the names of Meher Baba and Terry Riley, two of Townshend's philosophical and musical mentors . The song is often mistakenly called "Teenage Wasteland", after the phrase repeated in the song . "Teenage Wasteland" was in fact a working title for the song in its early incarnations as part of the Lifehouse project, but eventually became the title for a different but related song by Townshend, which is slower and features different lyrics . A demo of "Teenage Wasteland" is featured on Lifehouse Chronicles, a six disc set of music related to the Lifehouse project, and on several Townshend compilations and videos . </P> <P> The song uses a I-V - IV chord progression and is composed in the key of F major . However, it was recorded using the European "A" which is 446 HZ rather than the standard 440 HZ . </P>

Where did the name baba o'riley come from