‘I Can’t Explain’: The song Pete Townshend wrote for producer Shel Talmy
Producers are far too often the unsung heroes of the music industry. Even the greatest, most prolific musicians on the planet need a good producer to translate that art onto a recording. For many musicians, particularly in the modern digital age, production is often an afterthought, but it can make or break a release. One person who has never doubted the power or importance of a good music producer is The Who’s Pete Townshend, whose career was spurred on by the pioneering work of producer Shel Talmy.
Originally hailing from Chicago, Talmy always harboured a deep desire to work in the music industry. So, after graduating from high school in the late 1950s, he took a series of jobs as a recording engineer at various studios across the United States. It was not until the budding young producer relocated to the United Kingdom in 1962, however, that his work in the industry started to become recognised. Only a year after touching down in England, Talmy began working with a little-known group called The Kinks.
At the time, The Kinks were a young and largely unheard of rock band in London, but their work with Talmy would see them rocket to the upper echelon of 1960s rock and roll. His first project with the Ray Davies-fronted band was producing the song ‘You Really Got Me’, a track which came to define the sounds of the swinging sixties, blazing a trail for virtually all future rock, punk, and alternative rock in the process.
The producer would go on to work with The Kinks on various other hits, including ‘All Day and All of the Night’, ‘Sunny Afternoon’, and ‘Waterloo Sunset’ among many others, but ‘You Really Got Me’ remained a highlight within his career.
Inevitably, that single earned both The Kinks and Shel Talmy legions of fans and something of a legendary reputation within the music world. A young Pete Townshend took note of the track and quickly sought out Talmy to work with his group, The High Numbers. To get the producer’s attention, the budding songwriter penned a track in a similar vein to the adolescent mod-rock rebellion of ‘You Really Got Me’. The resulting song was titled ‘I Can’t Explain’, and it certainly succeeded in grabbing Talmy’s attention.
The story goes that Talmy agreed to hear The High Numbers, who had since renamed themselves The Who and went along to see them rehearsing at a church hall. Before the band had gotten through one song, the producer enthusiastically agreed to work with them, securing a record deal with Decca Records. ‘I Can’t Explain’ became the band’s very first single under The Who name, and it became a top ten single for the band in 1965.
Aside from Townshend’s gifted songwriting prowess, the success of that single was largely down to how well Talmy was able to replicate the high-energy atmosphere of The Who’s live performances. That inherent aim carried on through the group’s subsequent singles, including the pop-art masterpiece ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’ and the era-defining ‘My Generation’.
Reportedly, Talmy’s pioneering use of guitar feedback, particularly on ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’ was mistaken by music industry executives as a mistake, but went on to become an integral part of rock and alternative music in the years that followed.
The recording and production of ‘I Can’t Explain’ began an incredible relationship between Talmy and The Who, which lasted until he was erroneously fired by the band’s manager, Kit Lambert, following the release of the debut album My Generation. Nonetheless, the producer helped to define the sound of Townshend’s band and set them on a course for the iconic rock and roll reputation that the band would eventually reach.
