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The lyrics of "Who Are You" were inspired by an incident Townshend experienced. After going out drinking with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, Townshend was found in a "Soho doorway" by a policeman, who recognized him and said he would let him go if he could safely walk away. "Who Are You" was written about meeting Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols after an awful 13-hour encounter with Allen Klein who, in my personal opinion, is the awesome rock leech-godfather. In one sense the song is more about the demands of new friendship than blood-letting challenge. Roger's aggressive reading of my nihilistic lyric redirected its function by the simple act of singing "Who the fuck are you..." when I had written "Who, who, who are you..." Steve and Paul became real 'mates' of mine in the English sense. We socialized a few times. Got drunk (well, I did) and I have to s
ay to their credit, for a couple of figurehead anarchists, they seemed sincerely concerned about my decaying condition at the time. —?Pete Townshend However, as explained by Townshend in his autobiography Who I Am, the last verse is about an early incident, that happened on the last North American leg of the 1971 tour: the day before the first concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, Townshend took the opportunity to visit the Meher Spiritual Center—a retreat owned by his guru Meher Baba—in nearby Myrtle Beach. "Who Are You" was released as a double-A side with the John Entwistle song, "Had Enough," but "Who Are You" was the more popular song, reaching the Top 20 in both the United States and UK. The song has since been featured on multiple compilation albums. The single mix contains an alternate acoustic guitar solo
