"Sea and Sand" is a song by The Who. It was released on the group's 1973 rock opera album Quadrophenia, where it is the second track of the third side of the record.
The first song to take place once Quadrophenia's narrative moves to Brighton, "Sea and Sand" portrays opera protagonist Jimmy's affinity for the beach as an escape from the unpleasant realities of home and life, as well as his memories from past mod gatherings at Brighton. With singing by both Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, slow dreamy parts and fast angry parts, and a coda that reprises the early Who single "I'm the Face", "Sea and Sand" is almost a mini-opera unto itself, and is one of the album's most characteristic tracks.
"Sea and Sand" also marks a point of reflection in the narrative. After the protagonist leaves home, he is left on the beach. He reflects about his inadequacy in love and inability to fit in at home or with the other tickets and faces within the Mod subculture. The song also speaks to Townshend's growing alienation from his band and the music scene as a whole. As such, it serves as a telling sign of the years to come and the state of the Who during and directly after this period.
While not released as a single, the song gained significant airplay on progressive rock radio; Richard Neer of WNEW-FM in New York labeled it the album's best. "Sea and Sand" remains a fan favourite, and the line "Here by the sea and sand/Nothing ever goes as planned" is a well-remembered Who lyric. Indeed following The Who's 1996 performances of Quadrophenia at Madison Square Garden, fans sung that and other lines from the song as they were leaving the arena.
The song was memorably treated by keyboardist Page McConnell of the jam band Phish in their 1995 concert album, Phish: New Year's Eve 1995 - Live at Madison Square Garden.
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Famous quotes containing the words sea and, sea and/or sand:
“Everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,—Liberty and Union, now and for ever; one and inseparable!”
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852)
“Light breaks where no sun shines;
Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart
Push in their tides;”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“This sand seemed to us the connecting link between land and water. It was a kind of water on which you could walk, and you could see the ripple-marks on its surface, produced by the winds, precisely like those at the bottom of a brook or lake. We had read that Mussulmans are permitted by the Koran to perform their ablutions in sand when they cannot get water, a necessary indulgence in Arabia, and we now understand the propriety of this provision.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)