The Who have unveiled the one new song from their forthcoming 50th anniversary compilation, The Who Hits 50.
Be Lucky is the closing track on Who Hits 50. It was recorded with bassist Pino Palladino, Ringo’s son Zak Starkey on drums, and keyboard-player Mick Talbot.
In Be Lucky, Roger Daltry explicitly references AC/DC. In one line Daltry sings, “You wanna climb without a safety line/ AC/DC’s gonna be fine.” Then later, he alludes to the commercial appeal of AC/DC’s music: “If you want to want to sell/ you’ve got to kiss and tell/ And you’ve got to do a cover of Highway to Hell.” There are also references to Daft Punk who had a hit with the similarly titled, Get Lucky.
Royalties from Be Lucky will reportedly benefit Teen Cancer America, a US outgrowth of Daltrey’s successful UK charity, the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of the anthology is out on October 27th.
-Spencer