Cousin Kevin Model Child

The Who's bass player John Entwistle wrote this at Pete Townshend's request, as part of The Who's rock opera Tommy, where the titular character experiences bullying. Entwistle based the melody around the piano song "Chopsticks," and based "Cousin Kevin" on an actual neighborhood bully he met as a child. Both this song and "Fiddle About" dealt with the most traumatic experiences that Tommy would face in his quest for spiritual enlightenment: bullying and molestation at the hands of family, respectively. Townshend had suffered both as a child, and it would be too difficult for him to write on either subject. Entwistle rose to the task.

This song was excluded from live performances for years because of the tough three-part harmony between Entwistle, Townshend, and Daltrey.

John Entwistle was the only member of The Who who could read music, having taken up the piano at the age seven of seven. Before he reached his teens, Entwistle was also learning trumpet and French horn, and was playing in the Middlesex Youth Orchestra. He composed this song using nearly every chord from A-F#, both majors and minors. Like The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus," you will hear almost every chord in the musical scale being played here.