"I deep sea fish a lot"
About this Quote
"I deep sea fish a lot" lands like a shrug, and that’s the point. Coming from John Entwistle - the Who’s famously unflappable bassist, nicknamed "The Ox" for his steady, immovable presence - it reads as a tiny act of self-definition in a culture that kept trying to turn him into a mythic component of a louder machine. While bandmates performed chaos and catharsis as a full-time job, Entwistle often projected the opposite: technician’s calm, private appetite, minimal explanation. The sentence has the blunt, workmanlike rhythm of someone refusing to audition for your fascination.
The intent is disarmingly literal, yet it functions as image management. Deep sea fishing isn’t cute-hobby trivia; it’s a deliberate counter-program to rock stardom’s expected vices and theatrics. You imagine distance, patience, quiet, control - the exact virtues that make a bassist great and a celebrity interview boring. That boredom is the subtextual flex: he’s telling you he won’t bleed on command.
Context matters. Entwistle lived inside one of the noisiest brands in 20th-century music, where personal narrative was part of the product. By choosing an activity defined by waiting and silence, he sketches a boundary between the stage persona and the person. There’s also a sly masculinity here: not confessional, not sentimental, just a practical statement about what he does when the amps are off. It’s an anti-anthem from a man who mastered supporting roles so well they became iconic.
The intent is disarmingly literal, yet it functions as image management. Deep sea fishing isn’t cute-hobby trivia; it’s a deliberate counter-program to rock stardom’s expected vices and theatrics. You imagine distance, patience, quiet, control - the exact virtues that make a bassist great and a celebrity interview boring. That boredom is the subtextual flex: he’s telling you he won’t bleed on command.
Context matters. Entwistle lived inside one of the noisiest brands in 20th-century music, where personal narrative was part of the product. By choosing an activity defined by waiting and silence, he sketches a boundary between the stage persona and the person. There’s also a sly masculinity here: not confessional, not sentimental, just a practical statement about what he does when the amps are off. It’s an anti-anthem from a man who mastered supporting roles so well they became iconic.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ocean & Sea |
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