The Who, My Generation 1965
The Who, My Generation 1965
Why Don’t You All F-Fade Away
On Oct 13th 1965, The Who recorded ‘My Generation’,
at Pye studios, London. When released as a single
it reached No.2 on the UK chart, held off the No.1
position by The Seekers ‘The Carnival Is Over’, (it
should’ve been a No.1). Roger Daltrey would later say
that he stuttered the lyrics to try to fit them to the
music. The BBC in the UK initially refused to play the
song because it did not want to offend people who
stutter.
‘My Generation’ was named the 11th greatest song by
Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs
of All Time and 13th on VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest
Songs of Rock & Roll. It’s also part of The Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and
Roll and is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for
“historical, artistic and significant” value. High praise
indeed. And it deserves it; the song is 3.19 of pure
energy and attitude. When you hear ‘My Generation’
you hear the Who on their way to becoming one of the
great British rock groups.
The stutter came about as he tried to fit the lyrics
to the music, and Talmy decided it worked well
enough to keep. The BBC initially refused to play “My
Generation” because it did not want to offend people
who stutter, but it reversed its decision after the song
became more popular.
Why does the singer stutter in my generation? Various
stories exist as to the reason for Roger Daltrey’s
distinctive vocal delivery. One is that the song began
as a slow “talking” blues number without the stutter.
Another reason is that it was suggested to Daltrey that
he stutter to sound like a British mod on ‘speed’.
The song went through various stages as they tried to
perfect it. Written by a 20-year-old Pete Townshend,
it began as a slow song with a blues feel, and at one
point had hand claps and multiple key changes. The
final product was at a much faster tempo than the
song was conceived; it was the Who’s manager Kit
Lambert’s idea to speed it up. Like all great songs
from a group defining their sound and feel, all four
members made valuable contributions.
Townshend who reportedly wrote the song on a train
is said to have been inspired by the Queen Mother
who is alleged to have had Townshend’s 1935 Packard
hearse towed off a street in Belgravia, London because
she was offended by the sight of it during