Fiddle About

"Fiddle About" is a song written by John Entwistle of The Who. It appears as the twelfth track on the group's first rock opera, Tommy (1969). In the song (Following Tommy's parents discussing whether or not they should leave him with his Uncle Ernie in the song "Do You Think It's Alright?") Tommy is sexually abused by his "wicked" Uncle Ernie.

"Fiddle About" and "Cousin Kevin" were the only two songs on Tommy written by John Entwistle. When asked why he wrote the songs John replied:

Pete said that there were two characters that he thought he himself couldn't do as good a job as me in describing. One was a homosexual uncle and the other was a cruel cousin, which were supposed to be two of Tommy's traumatic experiences, that and the acid queen. I found it so easy that I'd written "Fiddle About," with the character of Uncle Ernie, by the time I'd got back to the room. If I've got a subject, an idea for a song, then it comes almost immediately.

This song's particularity is the unusual rhythmic signature, which could be described as some kind of 17/4 bars, although divided into two 4/4 bars and three 3/4 bars. It features a French horn played by Entwistle, which is an overdub of the bass guitar part.

This song was first performed live on the band's first tours for the album from 1969-1970 with Entwistle on vocals. It was brought back for the 1975-1976 tours, but this time with Keith Moon on vocals. This was also played in 1989. Live performances of this song can be found in Live at Leeds, Join Together, Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 and At Kilburn 1977 + Live at the Coliseum.