Legendary rock star lists what he thinks are his top 5 songs

Pete Townshend, the legendary guitarist and principal songwriter for The Who, has been creating music for more than six decades, leading to dozens of memorable hits.

So is it possible for him to list what he believes are his five best songs?

Stephen Colbert put him to the test Wednesday during an appearance on "The Late Show," asking Townshend, 80, what he thought were the best songs he had ever written.

"I think the top is 'Love, Reign O'er Me,'" Townshend said, citing the song that closes the 1973 album "Quadrophenia." The album about mods and rockers in England during the 1960s has been turned into a ballet and Townshend was on Colbert's show to promote upcoming performances in New York.

He goes on to name "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Baba O'Riley," two classics from the 1971 album "Who's Next," and also "Let My Love Open the Door," a hit from Townshend's 1980 solo album "Empty Glass."

He also names "Won't Get Fooled Again," the closing track on "Who's Next," saying he believes it's "most applicable to the modern world."

"Our leaders are never any good," Townshend says. "And when people try to tell us who to vote for, we always don't feel quite right about that, so I wrote this song called 'Won't Get Fooled Again.'

"It's a kind of a comment on the fact that the people we put in power always seem to end up breaking their promises," he said. "And that's not directed at anybody now, today, but just everybody who's ever been.

"Politicians promise stuff that they sort of know, they have their fingers crossed behind them, they know that they can't deliver some of the stuff that they promise."

The Who recently completed its final tour of North America, ending Oct. 1 in Palm Springs, Calif.

Read the original article on cleveland.com .