Give Blood (song)
"Give Blood" is a song by Pete Townshend, the guitarist for The Who. The song is the opening track for Townshend's fourth solo album, a concept album titled White City: A Novel, and was released as a single. "Give Blood" features Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. He also appears on another song from the album, "White City Fighting", the music for which was written by Gilmour.
| "Give Blood" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Pete Townshend | ||||
| from the album White City: A Novel | ||||
| Released | 1985 | |||
| Recorded | 1985 at Eel Pie Studio, Twickenham; Eel Pie Studio, Soho, London; A.I.R. Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 5:44 | |||
| Label | Atco | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Pete Townshend | |||
| Producer(s) | Chris Thomas | |||
| Pete Townshend singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
When Townshend was asked about the song he said:[1]
Give Blood was one of the tracks I didn't even play on. I brought in Simon Phillips, Pino Palladino and David Gilmour simply because I wanted to see my three favourite musicians of the time playing on something and, in fact, I didn't have a song for them to work on, and sat down very, very quickly and rifled threw [sic] a box of stuff, said to Dave, "Do one of those kind of ricky-ticky-ricky-ticky things, and I'll shout 'Give Blood!' in the microphone every five minutes and let's see what happens." And that's what happened. Then I constructed the song around what they did.
Cash Box said that the song was "strong paean to world peace."[2]
The single failed to chart in UK or to make the Billboard Hot 100 US Pop Chart, but reached number 5 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts.[3]
The song was used to encourage blood donation on June 14, 2021 on World Blood Donor Day.[4]
Charts
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] | 77 |
References
- "Coolwalkingsmoothtalking Liner Notes". The Hypertext Who - Bill's Pete Townshend Pages. 2008-08-01. Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
- "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. February 8, 1986. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
- "Mainstream Rock Airplay Chart".
- Matheka, Grace (2021-06-14). "Pete Townshend's 'Give Blood' to be featured in this year's World Blood Donor Day blood drive". HapaKenya. Retrieved 2021-07-24.
- Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 312. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.