In fact, when Page arrived at the studio, the two guitarists spent much of their time talking about her.<\/p>\n
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The Who photographed at Fleetwood Studios in London in 1964, during the brief period they were known as the High Numbers. (Image credit: Alamy)<\/p>\n
By that point the Who were building a loyal following in London\u2019s clubs, but their first single, \u201cZoot Suit,\u201d released under the name the High Numbers, had failed to chart. Their next record needed to work. Townshend wrote \u201cI Can\u2019t Explain\u201d with a clear objective \u2014 to capture the explosive sound producer Shel Talmy had recently helped create with the Kinks.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d had a mutual girlfriend. She\u2019d been going out with Jimmy before and was still, you know\u2026 kinda hooked on him for a little longer than I was comfortable with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Pete Townshend<\/p>\n
Talmy had produced the Kinks\u2019 breakthrough hits \u201cYou Really Got Me<\/a>\u201d and \u201cAll Day and All of the Night,\u201d which served as Townshend\u2019s template. The Kinks records had reset the expectations for British guitar-driven pop, and Townshend was deliberately aiming at that compressed, aggressive sound.<\/p>\n Talmy liked \u201cI Can\u2019t Explain,\u201d but he wasn\u2019t entirely confident the young band could deliver a tight studio performance. Keith Moon\u2019s timekeeping could be unpredictable, and Townshend himself felt he wasn\u2019t yet much of a lead guitarist<\/a>.<\/p>\n So Talmy reinforced the session. The English vocal trio the Ivy League was brought in to supply backing vocals, and two session players were hired as insurance. The identity of the substitute drummer remains unknown, but the guitarist was Page, a favorite of Talmy\u2019s and one of London\u2019s busiest studio musicians<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n Jimmy Page (far right) with Carter Lewis & the Southerners in 1964, around the time he began his career as a London session guitarist. (Image credit: Alamy)<\/p>\n Page\u2019s presence later fueled speculation that he played the distinctive guitar solo<\/a> on \u201cI Can\u2019t Explain.\u201d Townshend has always rejected that idea. \u201cThe solo\u2019s me,\u201d he told Guitar World<\/a> in 1995. \u201cJimmy doesn\u2019t play like that.\u201d<\/p>\n We just started to talk about what we always talked about. \u2018How’s Anya?’ \u2018How is she? What\u2019s she going through? Has she called you? Has she called me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Pete Townshend<\/p>\n Townshend already knew Page from the London music scene \u2014 and from a more personal connection.<\/p>\n \u201cJimmy was a friend of mine,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019d had a mutual girlfriend. She\u2019d been going out with Jimmy before and was still, you know\u2026 kinda hooked on him for a little longer than I was comfortable with.\u201d<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n The situation, he admitted, left both young guitarists unusually entangled.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway, she was much older than us. We were 19 or 20 and she was about 30. And a fucking sexy woman! She\u2019d obviously fucked him to death and then proceeded to fuck me to death. And we had her in common. We were both kind of cross-eyed with this woman.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Townshend plays a 12-string Rickenbacker with the Who at the Duke of York Barracks, in London, November 12, 1966. (Image credit: Chris Morphet\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n So when Page showed up at the studio that day, the conversation quickly drifted from guitars to their shared romantic history.<\/p>\n I said to him, \u2018What are you doing here?\u2019 He said, \u2018I\u2019m here to give some weight to the guitar. I\u2019m going to double the rhythm guitar on the overdubs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Pete Townshend<\/p>\n \u201cWe just started to talk about what we always talked about,\u201d Townshend said. \u201c\u2018How’s Anya?’ \u2018How is she? What\u2019s she going through? Has she called you? Has she called me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Only after a while did Townshend ask the obvious question.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then I said to him, \u2018What are you doing here?\u2019 He said, \u2018I\u2019m here to give some weight to the guitar. I\u2019m going to double the rhythm guitar on the overdubs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Townshend had no objection. The two discussed their electric guitars<\/a> and settled on their parts easily.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018What are you going to play?\u2019 \u2018A Rick 12<\/a>,\u2019 I told him. And he said, \u2018Oh, okay, I\u2019ll play a\u2026\u2019 whatever it was. It was all very congenial.\u201d<\/p>\n The Who – I Can’t Explain – YouTube![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/euLWrn6Zhu4aM9cMet55jZ.jpg\")
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