The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend


The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend is the sixth solo studio album by Pete Townshend of the Who, released in 1989 as a concept album adaptation of Ted Hughes' science fiction novel The Iron Man. It also stars Roger Daltrey, Deborah Conway, John Lee Hooker, and Nina Simone.
The three then-surviving original members of the Who performed as a band on two songs, "Dig" and "Fire", although the latter was a cover of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown's hit.
"A Friend Is a Friend" and "I Won't Run Anymore" were commercially released as singles; "Fire" was issued as a promo-only single in the United States. Cashbox said that "A Friend is a Friend" "finds Pete in an uplifting vein, with falsetto vocals and strummed guitar."
A stage version was mounted at the Young Vic theatre in London in 1993. On the strength of this, Warner Bros. optioned the story for a film that, with a very different adaptation of the story, became The Iron Giant ; Townshend received an executive-producer credit.

Characters

Hogarth: Pete TownshendThe Vixen: Deborah ConwayThe Iron Man: John Lee HookerThe Space Dragon: Nina SimoneHogarth's Father: Roger DaltreyThe Crow: ChynaThe Jay: Nicola EmmanuelleThe Frog: Billy NichollsThe Owl: Simon TownshendThe Badger: Cleveland Watkiss

Track listing

All tracks are written by Pete Townshend, except where noted.
  1. "I Won't Run Any More" – 4:51 Vocals by Pete Townshend with Deborah Conway
  2. "Over the Top" – 3:31 Vocals by John Lee Hooker
  3. "Man Machines" – 0:42 Vocals by Simon Townshend
  4. "Dig" – 4:07 Performed by the Who
  5. "A Friend Is a Friend" – 4:44 Vocals by Pete Townshend
  6. "I Eat Heavy Metal" – 4:01 Vocals by John Lee Hooker
  7. "All Shall Be Well" – 4:02 Vocals by Pete Townshend with Deborah Conway and Chyna
  8. "Was There Life" – 4:19 Vocals by Pete Townshend
  9. "Fast Food" – 4:26 Vocals by Nina Simone
  10. "A Fool Says..." – 2:51 Vocals by Pete Townshend
  11. "Fire" – 3:47 Performed by the Who
  12. "New Life/Reprise" – 6:00 Vocals by Chyna with Pete Townshend and Nicola Emmanuel. Contains small extract of a live performance of "Magic Bus"

Bonus tracks from the 2006 US Hip-O Records release

  2. "Dig" – 4:09
  3. "Man Machines" – 4:34
  4. "I Eat Heavy Metal" – 4:04

Bonus tracks from the 2006 Japanese Imperial release

  2. "A Friend Is a Friend"
  3. "All Shall Be Well"

Non-album tracks

  1. "Real World"
  2. "Penny Drop"
  3. "Dig"
  4. "Iron Man Recitative", "Can You Really Dance?", and "Man and Machines " appeared on Scoop 3 in 2001
  5. "Dig"