Townshend wrote the song during the summer of 1965, and the band recorded it consistently with his home demos. Music journalist, Chris Charlesworth calls the melody "attractive". But
Steve Grantley and
Alan G. Parker describe the song as being "so-so" and "pretty conventional".
Nicky Hopkins joins the band on piano for the song, and author Mike Segretto claims that his "hyper piano runs contribute much
amphetamine fuel to it.
Rolling Stone critic
Dave Marsh called it "as personal as anything Pete Townshend ever wrote". Christopher Ketcham sees "La-La-La-Lies" as representing a related theme common to several Who songs: the difficulty of seeing "the
other". Ketcham sees this as also being a theme of
Quadrophenia and songs such as "
My Generation" and "
Who Are You". ==Single release==