In the performance on their Live at Leeds album Townshend calls the nine-minute "epic" track a "mini-opera" and introduces it as "Tommy's parents".
A mixed studio and live version can be found on The Who's four disk set Thirty Years of Maximum R&B.
A short tease of the final section, "You Are Forgiven", was used to end a concert at the Wembley Arena on 16 November 2000.
As Pete Townshend showed producer Kit Lambert the songs he had demoed, one was a mock oratorio called "Gratis Amatis".
Going from that, Lambert asked about a "pop opera" played more seriously, possibly inspired in the single "Happy Jack", so that it could fill the remaining space in the upcoming and lead into a quick release.
[12] The "Her Man's Been Gone" section refers to Townshend's separation from his parents and spending time with his grandmother, Denny.
[16] Graham Coxon performed the song in late 2004 at the Queens of Noize Christmas Party.
My Morning Jacket performed a cover of the song at the 2006 Bonnaroo Music Festival and on several European dates during their stint as an opening act for Pearl Jam in the same year, when the latter's frontman Eddie Vedder would join them on stage.
One such occasion (9/19/06, PalaIsozaki, Torino) is documented as a bonus track on the DVD version of the Pearl Jam concert film Immagine in Cornice.
My Morning Jacket covered the song again during the encore of night 4 of their 5-day concert series at New York City's Terminal 5 in 2010.
Green Day recorded a cover that was included as a bonus track on deluxe editions of their album 21st Century Breakdown.
The band performed the song in its entirety at their 28 July 2009 concert at New York City's Madison Square Garden, on 25 April 2010 at New York City's Bowery Electric as their side-project Foxboro Hot Tubs, on 24 August 2013 at the Leeds Festival and on 15 March 2014 at SXSW.