Recorded over a period of four months at studios in London, New York and Los Angeles during the spring and summer of 1967, “I Can See for Miles” was finally released as a single in the United Kingdom on October 14th, 1967. It is today widely regarded as the Who’s greatest single, arguably one of the best 45 rpm records ever made by anyone, but Townshend’s masterpiece not only failed to top the British charts, it’s peak position of #10 failed even to match the chart success of most of the Who’s previous UK singles. In fact, no fewer than six of the Who’s previous singles had charted higher.
Interestingly, it’s nearly identical chart performance in the United States, where it peaked at #9, was considered the Who’s major commercial breakthrough in America, where “I Can See for Miles” remains their only Top 10 hit (though Townshend himself would crack the Top 10 as a solo artist in 1980, when “Let My Love Open the Door” also reached #9).
Still, it was the rejection in his native country of what he considered to be his best song that may well have caused Townshend to forever give up on the idea of the three-minute single as his principal mode of musical expression. From that point forward, he would begin to think in terms of a far larger canvas, with four LP sides barely enough to contain the sprawling ambitions of his greatest conceptual works.
Here’s Pete’s seldom-heard 1966 demo recording of “I Can See for Miles.” Though several volumes of his “Scoop” series of demo collections have been released, this particular track, surprisingly, has not appeared on any of them.
