DESCRIPTION:
I do not own any of the audio.
Copyright goes to Polydor Records (UK) Warner Bros (US)
It appears as the first track on the group's tenth studio album It's Hard, released in 1982. It was released as the first single from that album, achieving moderate chart success at number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100, but received good airplay on album oriented rock and later classic rock radio formats. "Athena" reached number 40 on the UK Singles Chart.
Pete Townshend wrote this song after an encounter with actress Theresa Russell. He promptly fell in love with her, and his frustration of being rejected is contained in this song. In this context, associated with an issue with a film director, it became a subplot of the much later The Lifehouse Chronicles. Townshend initially changed the title to "Athena" to disguise who the song was really about. Roger Daltrey and Townshend share lead vocals on this song.

Despite this being the first single from the album and well-received on rock radio, The Who only played "Athena" a total of ten times on the band's 1982 tour, and has not played the song again ever since.

"Athena" was originally written by Pete Townshend after an encounter with the American actress Theresa Russell. After seeing a Pink Floyd performance on their Wall Tour, with Russell and his friend, Bill Minkin, Townshend was rejected by the actress when he attempted to romance her. Townshend said of the incident:

The song was written after I had been to see The Wall with my friend Bill Minkin and the actress Theresa Russell who was about to marry the film director Nic Roeg with whom I hoped to work on a new version of Lifehouse. I got drunk as usual, but I had taken my first line of cocaine that very evening before meeting her and decided I was in love. When I came to do the vocal on the following day [Feb. 15, 1980] I was really out of my mind with frustration and grief because she didn't reciprocate.

Under the working title "Teresa," the song's name was changed to "Athena."Despite this alteration, Townshend still felt the song was too personal, claiming, "It was just too revealing." Roger Daltrey, however disliked the song for this change.

No, I never liked that song ["Athena"]. It's a great record. I think what happened with that song, it was originally called "Teresa" and then Pete was talking to me about Nick Roeg's girlfriend and how he fancied her, and that song was written about her - but then it changed into 'She's a bomb' and I think I've got a psychological problem with it. I listened to it on the record the other day, and it's a great record; there's so much energy on that thing but I still don't think there's a center to that song. The fact that he changed the title in that and didn't stick to what it was supposed to be lost its center to me.
— Roger Daltrey, The News of the World, 2010

Lyrics:
Athena, I had no idea how much I'd need her
In peaceful times I hold her close and I feed her
My heart starts palpitating when I think my guess was wrong
But I think I'll get along
She's just a girl - she's a bomb

Athena, all I ever want to do is please her
My life has been so settled and she's the reason
Just one word from her and my troubles are long gone
But I think I'll get along
She's just a girl - she's a bomb

Just a girl just a girl
Just a girl just a girl
Just a girl just a girl
She's just a girl

Athena, my heart felt like a shattered glass in an acid bath
I felt like one of those flattened ants you find on a crazy path
I'd of topped myself to give her time she didn't need to ask
Was I a suicidal psychopath?
She's just a girl - she's a bomb

Consumed, there was a beautiful white horse I saw on a dream stage
He had a snake the size of a sewer pipe living in his rib cage
I felt like a pickled priest who was being flambed
You were requisitioned blondie
She's just a girl - she's a bomb

I'm happy, I'm ecstatic
Just a girl just a girl
Just a girl just a girl
Just a girl just a girl
She's just a girl

Look into the face of a child
Measure how long you smiled
Before the memory claimed
How long would children remain
How long would children remain

Athena, you picked me up by my lapels and screamed "leave her"
It felt like waking up in heaven on an empty meter
And now you're stuck with a castrated leader
And I hate the creep, I didn't mean that
She's a bomb
I just said it
She's a bomb
I didn't mean it, please
She's a bomb

Athena, I had no idea how much I need her
My life has been so settled and she's the reason
Just one word from her and my troubles are long gone
But I get along
She's just a girl, she's a bomb
She's just a girl, she's a bomb