I'm Free

"I'm Free" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the Who on the album Tommy. The song has since been released as a single, becoming one of the best known tracks from Tommy. Background Pete Townshend has claimed that the song was partly inspired by the song "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones. On "I'm Free," drummer Keith Moon only played on the breaks of the song. According to bassist John Entwistle, Moon was unable to perform the intro the way Townshend wanted, resulting in Townshend and Entwistle having to perform part of the drums. Townshend and Entwistle had to signal Moon to play the song during live performances by taking very large steps. Within the plot of the album, "I'm Free" tells of Tommy's vision to spiritually enlighten others due to his sudden and immense popularity. The "Pinball Wizard" riff (earlier on the album) appears at the end of the song during the "How can we follow?" part. Townshend has since noted "I'm Free" and "Pinball Wizard" as "songs of the quiet explosion of divinity. They just rolled off the pen."