I Can See for Miles

In the US, "I Can See for Miles" got a push from television. When the Who played "My Generation" on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Keith Moon set off an explosive at the end. Add a summer of heavy touring, including Monterey, and the single climbed to number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, still the band's best US showing. In the UK it stalled at number 10, their worst placing since their debut. Pete Townshend, who had called it an "ace in the hole" and expected a number one, was crushed. "To me it was the ultimate Who record, yet it didn't sell," he said. "I spat on the British record buyer."

He had written it in the spring of 1966, first scribbling the lyric on the back of his affidavit in Shel Talmy's legal case against the band. He held it back until the Who needed a smash. The jealousy he felt toward his girlfriend, Karen, inspired the words.

The backing tracks were cut at CBS Studios in London in late May 1967. Vocals followed in New York on August 6 and 7, and producer Kit Lambert took the tapes to Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles to mix them, drawn by its echo chamber. It was the only single from The Who Sell Out.