854 The Who “I Can’t Explain” 1964

Pete Townshend: “I grew up in Acton, and heard Ken Colyer’s band locally near Hounslow where my friend Jimpy lived. His band was called the Crane River Band, and they played all the Louis Armstrong marching songs. Ken had actually gone to New Orleans in the Merchant Navy, and came back with stories about Louis Armstrong. Before The Who, John Entwistle and I had a jazz band called The Confederates, and we played all those songs. Later, when I made the connection that a lot of skiffle (that grew out of Trad Jazz in the UK) was based on country blues, I started looking further, and found Snooks Eaglin and a few others from New Orleans itself. I think rock ‘n’ roll related to, and grew partly out of New Orleans jazz…” (John Swenson, Offbeat, 2 May 2015).  

The Who “I Can’t Explain”