“Just bizarre”: The Who song Roger Daltrey wants to delete from history
The sounds of The Who are inseparable from the vibrancy and revolution of the swinging sixties. Rising out of the mod subculture, Pete Townshend and company came to define the abrasive noise of Britain’s post-war youth, penning a seemingly endless amount of hit singles, in addition to profoundly artistic concept albums and rock operas. Townshend’s songwriting talents, at one point, seemed to know no bounds, but that is not to say that everything he touched turned to gold – particularly not in the eyes of singer Roger Daltrey.
From the very beginning of The Who, Townshend established himself as a truly gifted songwriter. Early singles like ‘I Can’t Explain’ and, of course, ‘My Generation’ became iconic songs of the era, typifying the sound of London’s swinging sixties period and providing anthemic tunes for the mod subculture. The beauty of Townshend’s writing, however, was its ability to adapt and develop into something greater. Rather than cement himself to those short, sharp rock tunes, the guitarist focused on developing his skills into profound albums like The Who Sell Out and, later, concept records like Quadrophenia.
No songwriter is without sin, and Townshend certainly had his fair share of misguided or forgettable efforts. After all, the guitarist was still in his teens when The Who formed; he was finding his musical feet just like everybody else. Luckily for the band, they have enough groundbreaking songs to outweigh those disappointing efforts. However, that has not stopped The Who’s frontman from expressing regret over certain tracks.
Roger Daltrey takes issue with the band’s often overlooked single, ‘Dogs’, released in June 1968. A strange composition that marked a departure from the early sounds of The Who, ‘Dogs’ was largely inspired by the world of greyhound racing—a theme that rarely raised its head within the rock music scene of the 1960s. In terms of sound, the track is a bizarrely whimsical effort that evokes music-hall fever dreams.
When asked about the single back in 2015, Daltrey groaned, “Dogs’? Oh… [buries face in hands]… shit! That’s just bizarre.” His assessment of the song is fairly spot-on, and audiences at the time of its release certainly seemed to concur. In fact, ‘Dogs’ only reached number 25 in the UK singles chart, ending an impressive run of top ten singles for the band and marking a fatiguing of the band’s material.
Explaining the inspiration behind the song, the singer told Uncut, “Actually, I’ll tell you what it is: it’s just Pete’s tribute to Ronnie Lane. He was such a lovely geezer, Ronnie, they were great guys, The Faces, all of them.”
Fellow mod rockers The Small Faces had been allies of The Who during the mid-1960s, with each band pursuing a trailblazing new era for British rock and roll music. The influence of Lane and The Small Faces is clear in the sound of ‘Dogs’, which is not a million miles away from the sound of the Faces’ beloved composition ‘Lazy Sunday’.
“I think it’d have been better if Pete had just given the song to Ronnie in the first place,” Daltrey said. “As a Who record, it was all a bit frivolous for me,” he added.
The bizarre style of ‘Dogs’ was indicative of The Who’s transitional phase. Arriving in 1968, shortly after the release of their brilliant, if overlooked, record The Who Sell Out, Townshend and the band were attempting to redefine their sound during that time.
Eventually, the songwriter would land upon the songwriting genius of their 1969 record Tommy, ushering in a new era for the group. This era saw them continue to grow into the 1970s while many of their 1960s contemporaries fell into obscurity. ‘Dogs’ is worlds apart from Tommy, but its release and subsequent failure formed an essential moment in Townshend’s journey to crafting the stunning rock opera.
