Boris The Spider by The Who Songfacts
Boris The Spider by The Who Songfacts
Songfacts
This was the first Who song written by their bass player, John Entwistle. Pete Townshend ordered him to write a song for their second album. To encourage the band to write their own songs, their record company offered them a £500 advance if each member wrote a song on the album.
Entwistle was afraid of spiders as a kid. He wrote this about seeing a spider crawling from the ceiling and squishing it.
Entwistle wrote this as a joke, but it became a concert favorite. It is a fun song that offset many of the more serious Who songs.
This was the only song from the album that they continued to play live.
In the UK, the album was called A Quick One. It was changed to Happy Jack in the US to avoid being offensive.
After he wrote this, Entwistle started wearing a spider medallion at concerts.