Who knows why some songs strike a chord with the public and others falter? Songwriters and artists always bemoan how it’s impossible to know what makes a hit. It gets even trickier when you’re trying to figure out what might work in a particular country.
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Rock legends The Who put out a slew of thunderously catchy singles at the beginning of their careers that charmed UK audiences. But it took an odd character sketch, almost a novelty song to be truthful, to give them their first foothold on the U.S. charts.
A “Generational” Act
The Who stood out from the other British rock bands of the ’60s in terms of their sheer power. “Maximum R&B” is how it was dubbed, and that was a pretty good approximation of their sound. They maintained a danceable groove, but the pummeling nature of their guitar, bass, and drums brought a different level of force.
Each member of the group brought something special to the table: Roger Daltrey was a belter of a lead singer who could also bring the subtlety when needed; John Entwistle’s bass notes sometimes threatened to burrow right through terra firma; Keith Moon pounded the drum skins with abandon, often forcing his bandmates to find space around his assaults; and Pete Townshend, in addition to being a force of nature on lead guitar, wrote songs that represented hardscrabble life as it was lived by his lower- and working-class audience members.
From 1964 to 1966, the band released five singles that hit the Top 10 in their native UK. These included classics like “My Generation,” “I Can’t Explain,” and “Substitute,” songs on which their legend is now based. But none did any damage on the U.S. charts.
Get “Happy”
Pete Townshend didn’t think “Happy Jack” was a hit by any stretch of the imagination. The songwriter had a knack for bringing life to outcasts in his songs, the kind of characters who don’t normally get that kind of treatment. “Happy Jack” was along those lines, as the protagonist was based on a fellow that Townshend would see when he was vacationing as a kid. This guy would get taunted and abused by the kids at the beach, but he always seemed to cheerfully come back for more.
When Townshend brought the song to the band, they weren’t quite sure what to make of it. While there’s a section when the instrumental barrage kicks in, it mostly lopes along at a leisurely pace, not at all like The Who’s typical attack. Roger Daltrey thought it sounded like something Burl Ives might sing.
The recording of the song was also a bit haphazard. Keith Moon, ever the prankster, spent time during the session trying to crack up the other members of the band. At one point, Townshend yells out, I saw you, in response to Moon’s shenanigans, and The Who decided to keep that moment in the finished version of the song.
Jack Prevails
Kit Lambert, The Who’s producer and manager, heard hit-single potential in “Happy Jack.” Townshend thought he was crazy. Lambert proved right, as the song went to the Top 5 in the UK in late 1966, continuing their string of success.
But “Happy Jack” turned out to have even more legs than that. In the spring of 1967, The Who released it as a single in America. And it succeeded where other songs that the band had completed failed, rising to No. 24 on the U.S. charts.
“Happy Jack” was the first of 16 songs by The Who to reach the Top 40 in America. It might just be the unlikeliest of them all, as most of the rest of the band’s hits feature them in all their cacophonous glory. But let’s not sleep on this charmer of a song, considering how important it turned out to be for one of the greatest bands of all time.
Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns
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