This began as part of Townshend’s “Lifehouse” project. He wanted to make a double album with music that would interact with the audience. The idea was to select fans, enter their vital information (height, age, etc.) into a synthesizer, and use the information to program the synthesizer. Townshend created this by using Meher Baba’s information. He never finished Lifehouse, but the songs he wrote were used on Who’s Next
Read more about this song at http://www.songfacts.com/detail.lasso?id=1529