Pete Townsend of the 70’s supergroup, The Who, is releasing his memoir ‘Who Am I’ next week. I don’t usually read celebrity memoirs mainly because I can’t really relate to them. Someone is famous and all kinds of things happen to them that don’t normally happen to ordinary people like myself. There are exceptions, of course – some of what I experienced back in the day easily rivals some of the excesses these celebrities are writing about, but I don’t have an army of people helping me with my story.
Townsend talks about a great many things in his memoir, especially his arrest on child pornography charges nine years ago. He insists he was merely conducting research and that he paid to gain access on a particular site but then cancelled the subscription. I wasn’t there, but from what was in the news it seems his name was on record as having subscribed, and the police confiscated his computer, gave him a warning, and put him on a sex offenders list for five years. He also goes on about wanting to bed Mick Jagger, and about his drug overdose that nearly killed him. Yawn.
Obviously that’s not what intrigues me about this memoir. What does is his reaction to finally getting it done.
But even after spending nearly two decades writing it, Mr Townshend says he still ‘feels muddled’.
“There is no lesson here,” he told The Times.
“I’m drawing a line with the book and saying: now I can move on.”
We’re told by supposed experts that in order to succeed our writing must, MUST have a lesson. You have to overcome an obstacle with the idea that others will be inspired by your strength and courage, etc. and want to buy the book. That’s the theory, at least, and several books I’ve read or read about do exactly that.
I’ve struggled to find the lesson in The Troubles. I thought it was about letting go of the past, and maybe it is, but it’s hard to feel like that’s really hitting the nail on the head. Maybe because a big part of the story, my brother, is ongoing and I don’t see it ever resolving. That hurts, more so since there’s nothing I can do about it.
Am I drawing a line with this book so I can move on? Maybe, but that’s not really a bad thing. I want to get back to the things I love, the things I’ve missed over the years. I’ve lost too much time not to. The good news is that I’ve reached a point where I can see light and not just the torch carried by someone else but real daylight, and I can’t tell you how important that is.
