Love Ain't for Keeping
"Love Ain't for Keeping" is a song written by Pete Townshend and originally released by the Who on their 1971 album Who's Next. Its themes include the joy of physical love, the power of nature and the need to live for the moment. Music and lyrics At two minutes and ten seconds, "Love Ain't for Keeping" is the shortest song on Who's Next. It is also one of the lightest songs on the album, and one of the few not to use synthesizers. However, an earlier version of the song, recorded in New York City with Kit Lambert producing, was more of a hard rock song, and included synthesizers as well as electric guitars (with Leslie West guesting on lead guitar). The hard rock version appears on reissues of Odds and Sods and on the deluxe version of Who's Next, and was used as the concert opener for Who live shows for some shows in 1971. A live recording, from a concert at the Young Vic in 1971, appears on the deluxe version of Who's Next. "Love Ain't for Keeping" was originally conceived as part of Townshend's abandoned Lifehouse project, and the demo version (which, like the hard rock version,