Song · The Who
“I Can't Explain” by The Who
Released 1972
“I Can't Explain” by The Who appears on 14 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 2002 and 2023. It was first released in 1972. Its best result is #124 on the BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,780 indie & aaa song of all time.
With "I Can't Explain", the Who shed the High Numbers for good. Their first single, "Zoot Suit"/"I'm the Face", had gone out under that old name; this Pete Townshend song, produced by Shel Talmy, was the first to carry the new one, issued by Decca in America in December 1964 and by Brunswick in Britain in January 1965.
Townshend never pretended it was original. He later owned up that it was about as straight a Kinks copy as you could cut, with "All Day and All of the Night" the obvious template, and said it simply tumbled out of his head when he was 18. Roger Daltrey agreed about the Kinks, adding that back then writing your own songs hardly seemed necessary, not with so much untapped American music there for the grabbing. David Bowie later covered it.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 460 | 92.3 KGON | KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002) | 923 |
| 2007 | 263 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2011 | 689 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011) | 1100 |
| 2012 | 707 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) | 1200 |
| 2012 | 608 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) | 885 |
| 2013 | 968 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) | 1000 |
| 2014 | 124 | Big 100 | BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2014 | 650 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2015 | 978 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) | 1007 |
| 2015 | 139 | 102.9 The Whale | 102.9 The Whale Hartford 500 (2015) | 500 |
| 2020 | 431 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) | 1025 |
| 2021 | 973 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) | 1043 |
| 2022 | 554 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) | 1025 |
| 2023 | 690 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
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