I Can't Explain

The story behind

When Pete Townshend was eighteen and a half years old, he felt the need to compose something of his own. For him, the music coming from the United States was an inexhaustible source, but the emergence of bands like The Kinks pushed him to create his own material. Thus was born I Can't Explain, a song that, as he himself acknowledged, has a very close feel to the music of The Kinks, without being a direct copy. The lyrics, moreover, have an interesting twist: Townshend described it as a reflection on the difficulty of expressing feelings, in his case, due to having taken too many Dexedrine pills. The creative process was intense; he locked himself in his room, listening to artists like Bob Dylan and Charles Mingus, seeking to capture the emotions they evoked in him. This piece was released as the first single by The Who under that name, after having previously released a track as The High Numbers. The recording took place in November 1964 at Pye Studios in London, under the production of Shel Talmy. There was a participation of Jimmy Page as a session guitarist, playing rhythm guitar on the track and its B-side, Bald Headed Woman. However, there are different versions about his final contribution to I Can't Explain, with some testimonies indicating that his part did not make the final cut, while others assure that he even recorded the guitar solo. Despite these studio anecdotes, the song became a staple of their live performances, often opening their concerts, and remains a fundamental track in their repertoire.