The B-side of the "Pinball Wizard" single is an instrumental credited to Keith Moon, titled "Dogs Part Two".

Following this, Townshend, as Tommy's principal composer, discussed the album with Cohn and concluded that, to lighten the load of the rock opera's heavy spiritual overtones (Townshend had recently become deeply interested in the teachings of Meher Baba), the title character, a "deaf, dumb, and blind" boy, should also be particularly good at a certain game.

Cash Box said "Pinball Wizard" was "sensational", saying "Retaining the joyful exaltation of early pop rock, the Who add a proficiency and modernization that clicks with the accuracy of a Beatles-gone-heavy.

The live performances rarely deviated from the album arrangement, save for an occasional jam at the end sometimes leading to another song.

His adaptation also features additional lyrics specially written by Townshend for the movie version, as well as a subtle inclusion of musical phrases from the Who's 1960s hit "I Can't Explain" during the outro.

Similarly, the Who's later cover of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" included parts of "Take Me to the Pilot".

Unlike most of the soundtrack's music, which featured various combinations of the Who and some of the era's best session players, Elton John used his own band and producer Gus Dudgeon for the track.

This version appears on the 2-CD 30th Anniversary release of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, with the live disc of the June 21, 1975 concert from Wembley Stadium.

[17] In Chicago, "Pinball Wizard" remained on the WLS Musicradio Survey as an "extra" for five and a half months, from mid-April to late September as an album track in heavy rotation.

Several pinball tables feature a "wizard mode", a state of play which is meant to be reached only by skilled players.

Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, a table ostensibly with an Elton John licence, used the singer's likeness as he appeared in the film, where he played the "Pinball Wizard".