Since the formation of the Who, Pete Townshend has made great contributions to the band with his talented musicianship. He not only played the guitar but also played banjo, keyboards, accordion, ukulele, harmonica, mandolin, synthesizer, violin, bass guitar, and drums. Townshend’s musical talent is not limited to playing instruments, either — he has written over 100 songs for the Who’s albums, and many of them ended up being hits.
While they’ve had clashing opinions from time to time, Roger Daltrey has worked together with Pete Townshend in the Who through all those years. Both have domineering personas, so it would be a surprise if they didn’t disagree over numerous things. One of the things they had different thoughts on was who to sing which songs. According to Daltrey, he would want to sing lead on ‘A Legal Matter’ as the song was about him, but he didn’t want to interfere with Townshend’s ego.
Despite their differences, the two always got a way to work things out in the band. While it’s clear from Roger Daltrey’s remarks that Pete Townshend had a big ego, it seems he once allowed Daltrey to help him in a song. According to a 2022 interview with Forbes, the singer gave a hand to Townshend with his lyrics when the musician didn’t have a bridge for the 1965 song ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.’
‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’ was the second single by the Who, and it had a significant meaning for Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey — it was the first and only song they wrote together. Townshend is the Who’s principal songwriter, so this occasion was rare. Speaking to Forbes last year, Roger talked about what their friendship meant to him and recalled what it felt like working with Pete on ‘Anyway Anyhow Anywhere.’
Forbes’ Jim Clash mentioned Roger Daltrey about the friendship between Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon and recalled that Art admitted their history was like the weather. After that, he asked Roger to describe his relationship with Pete. According to the musician, they had chemistry on the stage, but their relationship wasn’t as strong when they weren’t performing together. When the interviewer asked him what Townshend was like to work with, Daltrey recalled when the two wrote ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.’
Roger Daltrey said that it actually happened by accident during a rehearsal for a performance at the Marquee Club that night. He said that Pete still didn’t have a bridge for the 1965 track, but he came up with his own lyrics and added them to the song. So, Roger became one of the writers of ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’ because Pete lacked creativity at that moment.
When the interviewer told him Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon’s history was like the weather, Roger Daltrey said:
“What kind of weather [laughs]? Our relationship is a working one, and that’s about as far as it goes. But when we get on stage, there’s a chemistry that’s created. When we’re playing well, it starts to kick in properly. It’s still as wonderful as ever. We never really had a strong relationship off of the stage, though. It’s as simple as that.”
Asked his thoughts on working with Townshend on ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,’ the singer recalled:
“It happened by accident. Pete had a sketch for a song but didn’t have a bridge for it. We were rehearsing it, getting it down on stage at the Marquee Club. We were doing a show that night. When we got to the bridge part, I added some lyrics, and if you add any lyrics to a song, you’re one of the writers. But apparently that doesn’t happen with everything you do, especially when jamming [laughs].”
In many of his statements, Roger Daltrey didn’t hesitate to praise Pete Townshend’s songwriting talent. Actually, he had once admitted that the quality of the songs Pete wrote was better than his. However, it seems like the musician still needed Daltrey’s help during the writing of ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.’
