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The Iron Man
To download this recording via iTunes, click here: 
To buy this recording from Amazon.com, click here: The Iron Man: A Musical
___________________________________________________
At dawn, somewhere in the English countryside near a rockface by the sea, Hogarth is fishing in a peaceful but fast moving river. The sky is a strange mixture of colours and there is an air of tension. Distant bells ring out an eiry round and he can hear some beautiful singing. He becomes afraid, but is quite exhausted from a night without sleep, and he begins to doze. Suddenly he is surrounded by a group of inquisitive woodland creatures led by a Vixen. He starts with scream. The animals urge Hogarth not to be afraid and he is cheered by their friendship. – I WON’T RUN ANYMORE – As they sing, a strange new star appears in the sky.
Hogarth’s reverie ends as the Iron Man, his eyes like searchlights illuminating the clouds, appears on the hilltop. All the animals run for cover and only the boy sees the metal man lose balance and topple back down the cliff, smashing into a dozen pieces on the beach below. He runs home to tell his father what he has seen, hearing the squawking of the gulls and the battle cries of old soldiers echoing down on the beach. – OVER THE TOP
Hogarth’s father hears his son’s story and finds it hard to believe. But across the countryside, some awful machine has eaten up every bit of metal in his path: barbed wire, farm machinery and electrical pylons. The Owl who has followed Hogarth observes wryly that this machine was obviously built by men to protect them from their own awful inventions. – MAN MACHINES
The Iron Man is clearly to blame and Hogarth and his father, together with a group of old farmers, set out angrily to look for the terrible giant. They find the wreckage he has left and discover his enormous footprints leading in and out of the sea. They decided to dig a great trap for him. – DIG
After a time, the Iron Man comes near the trap, but pauses near the edge. Hogarth lures him into the abyss by tapping a nail on a knife edge. Once the Iron Man is trapped, the men gleefully bury him. But as the soil starts to cover the sad metal face, Hogarth feels remorse: the Iron Man had trusted him. As his woodland friends gather around him he thinks about what friendship really means to him. – A FRIEND IS A FRIEND
Meanwhile, some carefree but messy picnickers have come to sit on the Iron Man’s grave and he is disturbed by the sound of their metal knives, forks and kettle. His enormous, angry fist breaks upward through the soil. Hogarth’s tiny finger touches the Iron Man’s enormous claw and the great giant slowly pulls himself up out of the ground. He then rampages across the countryside once again looking for food, this time eating military equipment wherever he finds it deployed against him. The government plans an all-out nuclear attack. – I EAT HEAVY METAL
Hogarth has an inspiration: he persuades the Iron Man to follow him to a scrap-metal yard where the giant lives happily eating all he wants. But one day the star Hogarth saw earlier begins to grow larger in the sky, dark and forbidding. The Vixen and her posse of woodland creatures agree with Hogarth: the star represents a strange new force entering his life and great suffering will have to be endured before everything comes right. – ALL SHALL BE WELL
Hogarth gazes up at the star as it rushes toward the earth and sees there the face of a beautiful girl. He falls instantly and deeply in love with her. – WAS THERE LIFE
But the star crashes down on to the earth, and is revealed to be an awful Space Dragon that covers the whole of Australia, spilling over the edges. All the nations of the world join together to bombard the monster with their weapons. But they cannot hurt her. She gives a final ultimatum: she wants living flesh to eat or she will destroy the entire planet. – FAST FOOD
Hogarth feels ridiculous for having professed his love for this awful creature. – A FOOL SAYS
But Hogarth want to defeat the Dragon and free his beloved, and runs to the Iron Man to ask for help. The Iron Man agrees to be his champion. The Iron Man challenges the Space Dragon to an ordeal by fire on one of Australia’s enormous white-hot beaches. The Space Dragon accepts believing that she can beat the relatively tiny Iron Man. The Iron Man must endure being heated to melting point on a massive grid that has to be fired up by Hogarth’s father. The Space Dragon is so big that she has to fly into the heart of the sun, the only fire large enough to encompass her. – FIRE
After a series of terrible tests which neither opponent seems likely to survive, the Dragon gives in. She lands back on earth for the last time, so badly burned that her skin has hardened into precious gems which scatter all over the earth. At that moment Hogarth sees his beloved walk from the body of the Dragon to his side. The terrible Space Dragon, so awful on the outside, had trapped not only the soul of this girl, but the souls of millions of children all crying for liberation. They all walk free at last, singing confidently. – NEW LIFE
The Iron Man makes the Dragon his slave and becomes a world hero. He asks the Dragon why she threatened the earth and what she can do. She explains that she used to fly around space singing the beautiful music of the spheres, but the awful things that men were doing on earth distracted her, and she wanted to join in. The Iron Man tells her she must go to the dark side of the moon so that she can make her music without frightening people. This will ensure that the earth remains a peaceful place where the screams of children are never heard.
As the joyful people sing, the Iron Man sits once again in his yard, chewing up scrap. The Space Dragon takes off to the moon filling the air with music.
___________________________________________________
1. I WON’T RUN ANYMORE
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend with Deborah Conway
2. OVER THE TOP
(Pete Townshend)
John Lee Hooker
3. MAN MACHINES
(Pete Townshend)
Simon Townshend
4. DIG
(Pete Townshend)
The Who
5. A FRIEND IS A FRIEND
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend
6. I EAT HEAVY METAL
(Pete Townshend)
John Lee Hooker
7. ALL SHALL BE WELL
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend with Deborah Conway and Chyna
8. WAS THERE LIFE
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend
9. FAST FOOD
(Pete Townshend)
Nina Simone
10. A FOOL SAYS…
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend
11. FIRE
(Brown/Crane/Kerl/Finesilver)
The Who
12. NEW LIFE / REPRISE
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend and Nicola Emmanuel
___________________________________________________
Twelve Songs from the Musical by PETE TOWNSHEND
based on the original story by TED HUGHES
Starring
JOHN LEE HOOKER
NINA SIMONE
DEBORAH CONWAY
ROGER DALTREY
PETE TOWNSHEND
also starring
CHYNA
CLEVELAND WATKISS
NICOLA EMMANUEL
BILLY NICHOLLS
SIMON TOWNSHEND
Special Guests on “Dig” and “Fire”
THE WHO
Drums:
SIMON PHILLIPS
CHARLIE MORGAN (“Fast Food” and “Friend Is A Friend”)
Bass:
CHUCHO MERCHAN
JOHN ENTWISTLE (“Dig” and “Fire”)
Piano:
JOHN “RABBIT” BUNDRICK (“Friend Is A Friend”)
Brass:
PETER BEACHILL (“Dig”)
JOHN BARCLAY (“Dig”)
Sax:
PATRICK CLAHAR (“New Life”)
Guitars / other keys:
PETE TOWNSHEND
Strings:
Leader: PAT HALLING (“A Fool Says”)
Chorus vocals: GINA FOSTER, DEREK GREEN, JANICE HOYTE, RUBY JAMES, JULIAN LITTMAN, MICHAEL NICHOLLS, EARNESTINE PEARCE, RAYMOND SIMPSON, THE CHILDREN OF ST. STEVENS AND ORLEANS SCHOOLS
Produced by PETE TOWNSHEND
Assistant Producer JULES BOWEN
Executive Producer NICOLA JOSS
Vocal Music Director BILLY NICHOLLS
Orchestral Arranger CHUCHO MERCHAN
Recording Engineer JULES BOWEN
Remix Engineer BILL PRICE
Assistant Engineers ASHLEY ALEXANDER, DARREN WESTBROOK, NIGEL GILROY
Strings Recorded by KEITH GRANT
Technical Supervisor ROGER KNAPP
Synclavier programming PETE TOWNSHEND and JULES BOWEN
Design by DEWYNTERS PLC, London
All tracks written and produced by Pete Townshend, published by Heavy Metabolics Limited, except for “Fire” which was arranged and produced by Peter Wolf, engineered by Bino Espinoza and Paul Ericson. Mixed by Brian Malouf.
All lyrics © 1989 Heavy Metabolics Limited. All rights for the U.S.A. controlled and administered by Towser Tunes Inc., BMI except “Fire” © 1968 Gowmonk, ASCAP
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
Special thanks to Virginia Astley, Glyn Johns and Amy Nicholls for advice and experimental work.
Deborah Conway appears courtesy of Virgin Records
Roger Daltrey appears courtesy of Atlantic Records (USA)
Simon Townshend appears courtesy of Dignity Records
The Iron Man theatrical rights are owned by Iron Man Productions Limited
© Heavy Metabolics 1989
Some of Pete Townshend’s income from NEW LIFE is being paid to black African educational charities
Some of Pete Townshend’s income from ALL SHALL BE WELL is being paid to the Lincoln Trust, a non-aggressive Anti-Apartheid group including white South Africans
ATLANTIC
Atlantic Recording Corporation, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York 10019, A Warner Communications Company. (P) © 1989 Heavy Metabolics Limited. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A. Warning: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by Federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.
7 81996-4
To buy this recording from Amazon.com, click here: The Iron Man: A Musical
___________________________________________________PETE TOWNSHEND
THE IRON MAN: The Musical by Pete Townshend
THE IRON MAN: The Musical by Pete Townshend
At dawn, somewhere in the English countryside near a rockface by the sea, Hogarth is fishing in a peaceful but fast moving river. The sky is a strange mixture of colours and there is an air of tension. Distant bells ring out an eiry round and he can hear some beautiful singing. He becomes afraid, but is quite exhausted from a night without sleep, and he begins to doze. Suddenly he is surrounded by a group of inquisitive woodland creatures led by a Vixen. He starts with scream. The animals urge Hogarth not to be afraid and he is cheered by their friendship. – I WON’T RUN ANYMORE – As they sing, a strange new star appears in the sky.
Hogarth’s reverie ends as the Iron Man, his eyes like searchlights illuminating the clouds, appears on the hilltop. All the animals run for cover and only the boy sees the metal man lose balance and topple back down the cliff, smashing into a dozen pieces on the beach below. He runs home to tell his father what he has seen, hearing the squawking of the gulls and the battle cries of old soldiers echoing down on the beach. – OVER THE TOP
Hogarth’s father hears his son’s story and finds it hard to believe. But across the countryside, some awful machine has eaten up every bit of metal in his path: barbed wire, farm machinery and electrical pylons. The Owl who has followed Hogarth observes wryly that this machine was obviously built by men to protect them from their own awful inventions. – MAN MACHINES
The Iron Man is clearly to blame and Hogarth and his father, together with a group of old farmers, set out angrily to look for the terrible giant. They find the wreckage he has left and discover his enormous footprints leading in and out of the sea. They decided to dig a great trap for him. – DIG
After a time, the Iron Man comes near the trap, but pauses near the edge. Hogarth lures him into the abyss by tapping a nail on a knife edge. Once the Iron Man is trapped, the men gleefully bury him. But as the soil starts to cover the sad metal face, Hogarth feels remorse: the Iron Man had trusted him. As his woodland friends gather around him he thinks about what friendship really means to him. – A FRIEND IS A FRIEND
Meanwhile, some carefree but messy picnickers have come to sit on the Iron Man’s grave and he is disturbed by the sound of their metal knives, forks and kettle. His enormous, angry fist breaks upward through the soil. Hogarth’s tiny finger touches the Iron Man’s enormous claw and the great giant slowly pulls himself up out of the ground. He then rampages across the countryside once again looking for food, this time eating military equipment wherever he finds it deployed against him. The government plans an all-out nuclear attack. – I EAT HEAVY METAL
Hogarth has an inspiration: he persuades the Iron Man to follow him to a scrap-metal yard where the giant lives happily eating all he wants. But one day the star Hogarth saw earlier begins to grow larger in the sky, dark and forbidding. The Vixen and her posse of woodland creatures agree with Hogarth: the star represents a strange new force entering his life and great suffering will have to be endured before everything comes right. – ALL SHALL BE WELL
Hogarth gazes up at the star as it rushes toward the earth and sees there the face of a beautiful girl. He falls instantly and deeply in love with her. – WAS THERE LIFE
But the star crashes down on to the earth, and is revealed to be an awful Space Dragon that covers the whole of Australia, spilling over the edges. All the nations of the world join together to bombard the monster with their weapons. But they cannot hurt her. She gives a final ultimatum: she wants living flesh to eat or she will destroy the entire planet. – FAST FOOD
Hogarth feels ridiculous for having professed his love for this awful creature. – A FOOL SAYS
But Hogarth want to defeat the Dragon and free his beloved, and runs to the Iron Man to ask for help. The Iron Man agrees to be his champion. The Iron Man challenges the Space Dragon to an ordeal by fire on one of Australia’s enormous white-hot beaches. The Space Dragon accepts believing that she can beat the relatively tiny Iron Man. The Iron Man must endure being heated to melting point on a massive grid that has to be fired up by Hogarth’s father. The Space Dragon is so big that she has to fly into the heart of the sun, the only fire large enough to encompass her. – FIRE
After a series of terrible tests which neither opponent seems likely to survive, the Dragon gives in. She lands back on earth for the last time, so badly burned that her skin has hardened into precious gems which scatter all over the earth. At that moment Hogarth sees his beloved walk from the body of the Dragon to his side. The terrible Space Dragon, so awful on the outside, had trapped not only the soul of this girl, but the souls of millions of children all crying for liberation. They all walk free at last, singing confidently. – NEW LIFE
The Iron Man makes the Dragon his slave and becomes a world hero. He asks the Dragon why she threatened the earth and what she can do. She explains that she used to fly around space singing the beautiful music of the spheres, but the awful things that men were doing on earth distracted her, and she wanted to join in. The Iron Man tells her she must go to the dark side of the moon so that she can make her music without frightening people. This will ensure that the earth remains a peaceful place where the screams of children are never heard.
As the joyful people sing, the Iron Man sits once again in his yard, chewing up scrap. The Space Dragon takes off to the moon filling the air with music.
___________________________________________________
1. I WON’T RUN ANYMORE
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend with Deborah Conway
2. OVER THE TOP
(Pete Townshend)
John Lee Hooker
3. MAN MACHINES
(Pete Townshend)
Simon Townshend
4. DIG
(Pete Townshend)
The Who
5. A FRIEND IS A FRIEND
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend
6. I EAT HEAVY METAL
(Pete Townshend)
John Lee Hooker
7. ALL SHALL BE WELL
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend with Deborah Conway and Chyna
8. WAS THERE LIFE
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend
9. FAST FOOD
(Pete Townshend)
Nina Simone
10. A FOOL SAYS…
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend
11. FIRE
(Brown/Crane/Kerl/Finesilver)
The Who
12. NEW LIFE / REPRISE
(Pete Townshend)
Pete Townshend and Nicola Emmanuel
___________________________________________________
Twelve Songs from the Musical by PETE TOWNSHEND
based on the original story by TED HUGHES
Starring
JOHN LEE HOOKER
NINA SIMONE
DEBORAH CONWAY
ROGER DALTREY
PETE TOWNSHEND
also starring
CHYNA
CLEVELAND WATKISS
NICOLA EMMANUEL
BILLY NICHOLLS
SIMON TOWNSHEND
Special Guests on “Dig” and “Fire”
THE WHO
Drums:
SIMON PHILLIPS
CHARLIE MORGAN (“Fast Food” and “Friend Is A Friend”)
Bass:
CHUCHO MERCHAN
JOHN ENTWISTLE (“Dig” and “Fire”)
Piano:
JOHN “RABBIT” BUNDRICK (“Friend Is A Friend”)
Brass:
PETER BEACHILL (“Dig”)
JOHN BARCLAY (“Dig”)
Sax:
PATRICK CLAHAR (“New Life”)
Guitars / other keys:
PETE TOWNSHEND
Strings:
Leader: PAT HALLING (“A Fool Says”)
Chorus vocals: GINA FOSTER, DEREK GREEN, JANICE HOYTE, RUBY JAMES, JULIAN LITTMAN, MICHAEL NICHOLLS, EARNESTINE PEARCE, RAYMOND SIMPSON, THE CHILDREN OF ST. STEVENS AND ORLEANS SCHOOLS
Produced by PETE TOWNSHEND
Assistant Producer JULES BOWEN
Executive Producer NICOLA JOSS
Vocal Music Director BILLY NICHOLLS
Orchestral Arranger CHUCHO MERCHAN
Recording Engineer JULES BOWEN
Remix Engineer BILL PRICE
Assistant Engineers ASHLEY ALEXANDER, DARREN WESTBROOK, NIGEL GILROY
Strings Recorded by KEITH GRANT
Technical Supervisor ROGER KNAPP
Synclavier programming PETE TOWNSHEND and JULES BOWEN
Design by DEWYNTERS PLC, London
All tracks written and produced by Pete Townshend, published by Heavy Metabolics Limited, except for “Fire” which was arranged and produced by Peter Wolf, engineered by Bino Espinoza and Paul Ericson. Mixed by Brian Malouf.
All lyrics © 1989 Heavy Metabolics Limited. All rights for the U.S.A. controlled and administered by Towser Tunes Inc., BMI except “Fire” © 1968 Gowmonk, ASCAP
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
Special thanks to Virginia Astley, Glyn Johns and Amy Nicholls for advice and experimental work.
Deborah Conway appears courtesy of Virgin Records
Roger Daltrey appears courtesy of Atlantic Records (USA)
Simon Townshend appears courtesy of Dignity Records
The Iron Man theatrical rights are owned by Iron Man Productions Limited
© Heavy Metabolics 1989
Some of Pete Townshend’s income from NEW LIFE is being paid to black African educational charities
Some of Pete Townshend’s income from ALL SHALL BE WELL is being paid to the Lincoln Trust, a non-aggressive Anti-Apartheid group including white South Africans
ATLANTIC
Atlantic Recording Corporation, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York 10019, A Warner Communications Company. (P) © 1989 Heavy Metabolics Limited. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A. Warning: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by Federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.
7 81996-4
