Fact #122299
When:
Short story:
Full article:
Roger Daltrey : We already knew Pete could write songs, but it never seemed a necessity in those days to have your own stuff, because there was this wealth of untapped music that we could get hold of from America. But then bands like The Kinks started to make it,and they were probably the biggest influence on us…
John Entwistle : Pete had heard You Really Got Me by The Kinks at Keith's mother's house, and he went home and tried to play it, but what he came up with was the riff that became I Can't Explain.
Pete Townshend : It was kind of a lift off the feeling The Kinks had in You Really Got Me, but the words … I suppose in a way, it's a moon and June song.
Roger Daltrey : Shel Talmy didn't think that Pete's lead guitar playing was up to it and he didn't think our backing vocals were up to it. He was right about the backing vocals.
Pete Townshend : On I Can't Explain he brought in The Beverly Sisters to do the backing vocals, and Jimmy Page to play lead guitar. I said to him "F**k that, I'm the lead guitarist in this group." It was incredible, it was a typical Love Affair scene – we were the 1965 Love Affair. We were The Who – a few chart successes and then we were gonna be out – we were on, like about half a percent. (Source : interview with John Tobler and Connor McKnight, for Zigzag June 1974)
Roger Daltrey : And obviously in those days, you weren't in overdub facilities. You made the record and that was it. So if you wanted to put a solo on, you had to do it when you were doing the record.
Shel Talmy (producer) : It was my first session with The Who. Jimmy (Page) was there in case Pete couldn't cut it, but Pete was just fine.
I had the (guitar) amp off in a corner. I had both amps, guitar and bass, with rugs and baffles round them.
Pete Townshend : I think Shel Talmy didn't have much money and didn't have much understanding of what the band was about. As far as he was concerned, we were a phenomenon that would come and go and be finished in a month.
John Entwistle : He got Jimmy Page in, reputedly because he was the only guy in England with a fuzz box and Talmy wanted that sound.
Pete Townshend : Jimmy was there at the session to play lead guitar but, no, he didn't do the solo.
Jimmy was a friend of mine… I said to him 'What are you doing here?' He said 'I'm here to give some weight to the guitar. I'm going to double the rhythm guitar on the overdubs. And I said 'Oh great.' And he said, 'What are you going to play?' 'A Rick twelve,' I told him. And he said, 'Oh, OK, I'll play a …' whatever it was. It was all very congenial.
Jimmy Page : I wasn't really needed on the Who's Can't Explain session, but I was there, and all I managed to do was sneak in a couple of phrases on the B-Side.
Pete Townshend : The only song we ever used other musicians on – apart from Nicky Hopkins – was Bald-headed Woman, which was on the same session as 'Can't Explain'. Jimmy Page played lead guitar, 'cause he had a fuzzbox which went 'urggggh'... and three guys on backing vocals on Can't Explain, who turned out to be the Ivy League – I was joking about them being The Beverley Sisters. (Source : interview with John Tobler and Connor McKnight, for Zigzag June 1974)
Pete Townshend : Meanwhile, Keith was over in the corner, telling the (session) drummer, 'Get out of the fucking studio or I'll kill ya. On a Who record, only Keith Moon plays the drums.'
Roger Daltrey : I felt a bit uncomfortable when I had to sing it, because it wasn't like anything we'd ever done before - that kind of rhythm. But I was malleable - ha ha ha! And I think, later on, that added a lot of strength to Pete's writing. It became far easier for him to write for this … well, in some ways, almost a fictitious character, someone who was and wasn't him.
It's a bigger canvas to paint on when you're writing for someone else. By writing for a third person, having the words come out of someone else's mouth, even though he was writing personal songs, Pete could be that much more honest in what he was saying.
John Entwistle : Shel Talmy got The Ivy League in to do the vocal backing. It's a little bit too Beverley Sisters, but it probably saved money. He tried to replace me.
Shel Talmy : I talked to them about it beforehand, and memory's terribly selective when you want to do these kind of things – their backing vocals sucked. That's why I got the Ivy League doing them. Perry Ford was the pianist, who was in the Ivy League, on that session. So I didn't arbitrarily bring guys in without telling anybody what was happening.
Derek Johnson (reviewer, NME) : A pounding shuffle-shaker, with surf-like counter-harmonies behind the main lyric. It's insidious and insistent with an arresting backing – a sort of blend of Merseybeat and surfing! Keep your eye on this one.
Tweet this Fact
John Entwistle : Pete had heard You Really Got Me by The Kinks at Keith's mother's house, and he went home and tried to play it, but what he came up with was the riff that became I Can't Explain.
Pete Townshend : It was kind of a lift off the feeling The Kinks had in You Really Got Me, but the words … I suppose in a way, it's a moon and June song.
Roger Daltrey : Shel Talmy didn't think that Pete's lead guitar playing was up to it and he didn't think our backing vocals were up to it. He was right about the backing vocals.
Pete Townshend : On I Can't Explain he brought in The Beverly Sisters to do the backing vocals, and Jimmy Page to play lead guitar. I said to him "F**k that, I'm the lead guitarist in this group." It was incredible, it was a typical Love Affair scene – we were the 1965 Love Affair. We were The Who – a few chart successes and then we were gonna be out – we were on, like about half a percent. (Source : interview with John Tobler and Connor McKnight, for Zigzag June 1974)
Roger Daltrey : And obviously in those days, you weren't in overdub facilities. You made the record and that was it. So if you wanted to put a solo on, you had to do it when you were doing the record.
Shel Talmy (producer) : It was my first session with The Who. Jimmy (Page) was there in case Pete couldn't cut it, but Pete was just fine.
I had the (guitar) amp off in a corner. I had both amps, guitar and bass, with rugs and baffles round them.
Pete Townshend : I think Shel Talmy didn't have much money and didn't have much understanding of what the band was about. As far as he was concerned, we were a phenomenon that would come and go and be finished in a month.
John Entwistle : He got Jimmy Page in, reputedly because he was the only guy in England with a fuzz box and Talmy wanted that sound.
Pete Townshend : Jimmy was there at the session to play lead guitar but, no, he didn't do the solo.
Jimmy was a friend of mine… I said to him 'What are you doing here?' He said 'I'm here to give some weight to the guitar. I'm going to double the rhythm guitar on the overdubs. And I said 'Oh great.' And he said, 'What are you going to play?' 'A Rick twelve,' I told him. And he said, 'Oh, OK, I'll play a …' whatever it was. It was all very congenial.
Jimmy Page : I wasn't really needed on the Who's Can't Explain session, but I was there, and all I managed to do was sneak in a couple of phrases on the B-Side.
Pete Townshend : The only song we ever used other musicians on – apart from Nicky Hopkins – was Bald-headed Woman, which was on the same session as 'Can't Explain'. Jimmy Page played lead guitar, 'cause he had a fuzzbox which went 'urggggh'... and three guys on backing vocals on Can't Explain, who turned out to be the Ivy League – I was joking about them being The Beverley Sisters. (Source : interview with John Tobler and Connor McKnight, for Zigzag June 1974)
Pete Townshend : Meanwhile, Keith was over in the corner, telling the (session) drummer, 'Get out of the fucking studio or I'll kill ya. On a Who record, only Keith Moon plays the drums.'
Roger Daltrey : I felt a bit uncomfortable when I had to sing it, because it wasn't like anything we'd ever done before - that kind of rhythm. But I was malleable - ha ha ha! And I think, later on, that added a lot of strength to Pete's writing. It became far easier for him to write for this … well, in some ways, almost a fictitious character, someone who was and wasn't him.
It's a bigger canvas to paint on when you're writing for someone else. By writing for a third person, having the words come out of someone else's mouth, even though he was writing personal songs, Pete could be that much more honest in what he was saying.
John Entwistle : Shel Talmy got The Ivy League in to do the vocal backing. It's a little bit too Beverley Sisters, but it probably saved money. He tried to replace me.
Shel Talmy : I talked to them about it beforehand, and memory's terribly selective when you want to do these kind of things – their backing vocals sucked. That's why I got the Ivy League doing them. Perry Ford was the pianist, who was in the Ivy League, on that session. So I didn't arbitrarily bring guys in without telling anybody what was happening.
Derek Johnson (reviewer, NME) : A pounding shuffle-shaker, with surf-like counter-harmonies behind the main lyric. It's insidious and insistent with an arresting backing – a sort of blend of Merseybeat and surfing! Keep your eye on this one.