Joann Butler: Did you know right away that this was really something special? Roger Daltrey: Yeah. It was like someone had put the key in the starter motor of a jet engine. Off it went.
We did a rehearsal recently and Zak was the drummer. Joann Butler: Is there going to be a reunion there? Roger Daltrey: We did the rehearsal to see if we can still hit the notes, still get the drive. Who music demands an incredible amount of drive.
Joann Butler: How'd you come up with throwing your mic up like that in the air? Roger Daltrey: I had to do something. I got very good. But the trouble is today, I twirl it out and I can't see where it's gone.
I was the worst pinball player in the world. It used to go up and come down straight down the hole, the wrong hole. This is possibly my last ever tour. At this age, I want to enjoy a bit of ordinary life.
Hi, this is Roger Daltrey and you're watching In Studio With… Joann Butler. Joann Butler: I'm so happy to talk to you. Such an honor.
You look amazing. How are you doing? Roger Daltrey: I'm still standing. Yeah, and I'm having a great time playing some different songs and different music than I, you know, I can experiment with a different soundscape of nine musicians.
Joann Butler: Nine musicians. Roger Daltrey: And we're just having a, we're having lots of laughs, lots of fun. Joann Butler: It looks it. The clips I'm seeing, everybody's loving it.
How did you decide what songs to do? What made the cut? Roger Daltrey: We change them all the time. We try and add one or two every night, but every time we add one, we have to take one out.
So, it's a bit of a juggling match, but I try to find songs that I've loved over the years, and I've tried to find songs that have kind of caught up with themselves in what they're written about. I mean I do, I'm doing a Neil Young song, "Rockin' in the Free World". Joann Butler: Oh, cool. Roger Daltrey: Because that was written, you know, 40 years ago, and it probably means more today than it did at the time it was written.
I mean, well let’s put it this way, I think there's more to be got out of the song in the top line of the melody. It’s a bit, for me, it's a bit Neil Young laid-back when it should be an angry rock song, you know? Joann Butler: Right. Roger Daltrey: But times are enough to make you angry, aren't they?
Joann Butler: Yes. What's different about walking on stage solo, sort of, versus on stage as part of The Who? Roger Daltrey: Well, obviously people's expectations are far lower. And keeping up the expectations that people have about The Who, you know, singing "Love, Reign o'er Me" and those kind of songs at this age and hitting the notes, and then have them say, "I think it was all recorded," and you go, it's deflating, you know, when you've kind of sung your heart out for three months.
Joann Butler: Have they said that? Roger Daltrey: Well, I've heard rumors, yeah, that people think it's recorded, it’s not, it’s me. Joann Butler: Yeah, you can, I don't know how. Roger Daltrey: It's up there, you know.
It's way up there, it’s in the... Joann Butler: Right, you can hear it's you. I don't know what they're talking about. You can hear it's you.
Roger Daltrey: Yeah, exactly. It's there, you know? Joann Butler: Especially when you tell the audience to do the scream for you. Roger Daltrey: Now, yes, I let them go home with a sore throat.
Joann Butler: That's funny. Roger Daltrey: I've had enough of it. Joann Butler: How do you do it? Your voice, it still sounds beautiful, Roger.
Roger Daltrey: I've been given a gift. I've been given a gift, and I realized it was a gift, and I'm determined to use it as long as it's still there. But if it does start to go, it went on me in the early 2000s. I had a precancer thing growing on my vocal cord.
But I solved that problem. I was really unhappy. I was coming off stage very unhappy because I couldn't do, I couldn’t hit the notes I wanted to, and I felt like I was cheating the audience. If that ever happens again, I’ll retire.
It's as simple as that. Joann Butler: Right. Makes sense. It seems like you've always respected it, though, over the years.
You know? What did you do to, you know, hone it… Roger Daltrey: I stayed physically in good shape. You know, the vocal cords are only a muscle.
You have to respect yourself as an athlete. You do, and it's as simple as that. Unless you're a sloppy kind of, you know, country singer or whatever, or you just sing in one key all the time. And there's quite a few that do that, and they get away with it.
It’s good luck to them. I would never get away with that. Joann Butler: Right. Roger Daltrey: I like to change key after every song.
Joann Butler: Right. And you say this is possibly your last solo tour, and it comes right after, of course, the… Roger Daltrey: I think it's possibly my last ever tour. Yeah, I mean, it’s simple as that.
At this age, I want to enjoy a bit of ordinary life. I do a lot of work with my, the charities I work for, which are to do with adolescent and young adult cancer. Joann Butler: Yes. Roger Daltrey: We're doing great work there, and so it's not like I'll be doing nothing.
Joann Butler: Yeah. Roger Daltrey: I should be very busy, but doing other things. Joann Butler: What is one of your favorite songs to sing? Roger Daltrey: Well, in this show, I love "Giving It All Away," which was my first hit single as a solo artist.
And at the time, it was all by accident. I had no intention of having a solo career. I just made a record because I heard a songwriter who was writing incredible songs. His name was Leo Sayer.
Joann Butler: Yes. Roger Daltrey: And he was looking for a record deal. So I said, "Well, write me a song, and I'll record it and we’ll see if it gets any interest". He wrote it, and of course, Leo Sayer's career went, and what a great singer he is.
So, "Giving It All Away" is possibly my favorite. There's something about that song. I don't know whether it's the top line of the melody or the words that connect with people. Every time I play it, the room kind of goes silent.
It's very weird. You can almost hear a pin drop. It's very strange. Joann Butler: Wow, that's so cool.
What was the process like for you back in the day? Did you ever think of yourself as an actor kind of playing a role each time you were singing those songs? Roger Daltrey: Yeah, I do try and, I can't sing a song from the head. I could never have an autocue on stage because, one, I couldn't bloody see it now.
But for me, I can't read a song and sing it, never could. I couldn’t, I could never do guide vocals in the studio because I couldn't read the lyrics. It doesn't come from that part of me. It has to come from my heart.
It has to come out of the brain into somewhere else. But if you're reading, it can only be in the brain, and only ever stays in the brain. I haven't got that ability to transpose that immediately. Joann Butler: What about "My Generation"?
The stutter. What's the truth behind the stutter? Where did it come from? Roger Daltrey: I did used to stutter quite badly, and we used to take amphetamine at the time, sometimes to stay up because we'd been doing two shows in the nighttime and then in the studio all day.
So, hours of the day were short, so we made the most of them, and amphetamines used to make my stutter worse. So the first time it came in, I came in wrong, it was "p-p-people". I got it right on the second "people," but, and we left it in, and our producer at the time, who was our manager, Kit Lambert, said, "Oh, you've got to keep that in. That's going to sell the record." And it did.
Joann Butler: Amazing. And you founded The Who. What drew you to the guys? Roger Daltrey: What drew them to me?
No, I didn't, I didn't get drawn to them. Joann Butler: What drew them to you? Exactly, what drew them to you? Roger Daltrey: Yeah.
Well, Pete and John, both Pete and John were in the same school as me, but I got kicked out of school at the age of 15. And of course, they stayed on till 16, 17, but I still used to see them on the street because you couldn't hide them. They were very individual characters. And I met John walking along the road one day, and over his shoulder, he had a homemade bass, a very funny-looking bass, but he made it himself.
And I said, "Do you want to come and play with my band, to see what, to see if you enjoy it"? And he came along, and he was obviously a musical genius. He had a quality about him. So I thought, well, I found my bass player.
And then after about six weeks with John and me in the band, I was a sheet metal worker, which is not very conducive to guitar playing. You come home and your hands are all shredded, and you've got to put these strings on your fingers, you go, "Oh, maybe not". So John said, "Well, I know a really good guitarist. Should I bring him along"?
And sure enough, he brings Pete Townshend along, who again I recognized from school because you could never hide Pete Townshend in a crowd. He was like a nose on a stick, you know? And Pete came along, and he'd been playing banjo in a traditional jazz band. And he played guitar like no one else I'd ever heard.
And I thought, “I've got this individual bass player, and now I've got this individual guitarist, we're on the way to something special here.” Even though we were copying what was in the hit parade at the time, I thought “This is on the way to something special,” but we couldn't find a drummer. And we didn't find a drummer for probably 18 months. Tried different drummers out, had to get rid of the original drummer we had. And every time you get rid of someone that you've been in a band with, it's painful, you know?
It's never easy. And they, wee were still all good friends, but it's painful at the time. But you have to do it to move on. And then one day, we were still looking for drummers, and it was in, I think it was either late 1963 or very early 1964, and this little kid turned up and asked to play drums with us, and he had great big, round, moon-shaped eyes, and he got on the drums, and that was Keith Moon, and everything gelled together.
It was an extraordinary moment. Joann Butler: Did you know right away that this was really something special? Roger Daltrey: Yeah. It was like someone had put the key in the starter motor of a jet engine.
Off it went. Joann Butler: Amazing. Roger Daltrey: And he broke the drum kit that he borrowed because he had to sit in on someone else's drum kit, and he broke their drum pedal. Joann Butler: Oh no.
When I interview drummers, I always ask who their favorite drummer was, and Keith Moon, boy comes up a lot, of course. Roger Daltrey: Well, he was so original. I mean, he was unlike any other drummer out there. And far off from being sloppy, he was ultra, ultra slick, but he just played different.
I don’t know, it was like a pair of knitting needles knitting with about 10 balls of wool and making music, you know. It was extraordinary. Joann Butler: You all are. You all are.
But you all seem so different, different personalities. Roger Daltrey: Yeah, we were. And Keith and I, initially in the beginning, we didn't used to get on at all because in Keith's mind, the drums should be on the front of the stage. So I used to tell him to f*** off and put up with drumsticks being thrown at me for the first two years.
Joann Butler: What do you think kept it intact for so long when so many bands imploded? Roger Daltrey: Well, one, it pays the rent. It's never been the same since Keith died. I can't pretend it has.
We were firing on all cylinders. We could throw anything out there and make something of it. That kind of disappeared when Keith died. But we found Zak Starkey.
Joann Butler: Yes. Roger Daltrey: We tried Kenney Jones, who is a great drummer, but the straight drummer just does not work with The Who. It just does not work. Joann Butler: What's going on with Starkey?
Roger Daltrey: Zak Starkey, he's not Keith Moon, but he comes very close. Joann Butler: Is there going to be a reunion there? Roger Daltrey: I don't know. I don't know whether we'll, we did a rehearsal recently, and Zak was the drummer.
We love Zak, we do love Zak. Sometimes the road doesn't love Zak. Joann Butler: Road? Roger Daltrey: And gets on top of him, so it becomes difficult, but we love him.
And he was drumming at the rehearsal, and we did the rehearsal to see if we can possibly do shows next year, still hit the notes, still get the drive. Who music demands an incredible amount of drive, and without that, it would be, you know, Herman's Hermits without Herman. Joann Butler: Good analogy. You guys, well, not you, more Keith and Pete, legendary for destroying instruments.
What did you think of that? Roger Daltrey: At the time, it was like a kid writing his, spraying his name in graffiti on a wall. "I'm here." And that's what it did, you know? It made people sit up and notice.
It became very expensive, and we didn't make any money for a very, very long time. I mean, years. And the first guitar that was broken, that was, for me, as someone who used to make the first guitars that the band used to play... Joann Butler: Did you?
Roger Daltrey: Yes. Well, we were postwar England, you know? You've got to remember this wasn't America. We couldn't go and, just go out and buy a guitar, you could buy a house for the same amount of money.
So to see that first guitar smashed was extremely painful to me. But it did pay the rent in the end. Joann Butler: It sure did. Wow.
When you look back on your long career, what are some of your favorite memories? Roger Daltrey: Going home. Joann Butler: No, no. Did you always know you wanted to sing?
Roger Daltrey: All I ever wanted to be was a good singer. I used to sing in the church choir, and I could have been an opera singer, but I didn't. I like opera. I like listening to the melodies and the orchestras, the orchestral parts, and I like the singing.
But then I've been to a lot of grand operas, and I've looked at the lyrics, and they are, they leave a lot to be desired. Joann Butler: Yeah, you had the best. You're spoiled now. Did you have any formal training?
Roger Daltrey: No, no, no, no. Joann Butler: Oh my god. Roger Daltrey: No. I think you have to be, I think, I don't know, I know it's an opera thing and they love it, but I've heard really good singers go into the meat grinder, and the formality kind of knocks out their characters.
I don’t know, that’s what happens to my, that's how it sounds to my ears. Joann Butler: Yeah, no, it makes sense. Who were your influences growing up? Roger Daltrey: Oh, you name it, right from Hank Williams onwards, you know.
He was the first guy I heard. My uncle used to play Hank Williams records, and I used to think, "This is good. This is good". And then obviously it was Little Richard, and Elvis, and Chuck Berry, and then the blues, Del Shannon, all those people.
We were expected to play all those hit songs that those guys had in the clubs and the pubs every time we played. So, you learned a lot. Joann Butler: And what about Tommy? I have to ask you about that.
What's a favorite memory you have working on that movie. Ann-Margret, Elton John? Roger Daltrey: Ann-Margret was very difficult, it was very difficult to pretend that Ann, beautiful Ann was my mother. That was a bit of a stretch.
Joann Butler: Right. Roger Daltrey: But that was great fun to make, and working with Ken Russell was a dream. Joann Butler: Yes. Roger Daltrey: It was so inventive.
And Elton was so gracious on that film, what a star he is. Joann Butler: Yeah. So many legends, including yourself. I still watch it sometimes, and I get goosebumps watching that movie.
Roger Daltrey: It's a mad film. Joann Butler: Oh it was, it was. Roger Daltrey: I mean, we used to start the day and think, "What are we going to do today?" and we just used to make it up as we went along. Like the piece where, what is it?
"Come to this house" and we turn up outside this house, a very normal-looking house. And Ken would say, "What could we do different?" He said, "Do you think you could go and sit up on the chimney"? Joann Butler: Jeez. Roger Daltrey: And I used to climb up the drainpipe, and I would get on the roof and climb on the chimney.
Joann Butler: Oh my god. What about pinball? Did you know how to play? Roger Daltrey: No, I was the worst pinball player in the world.
I mean, I really, it used to go up and come down, straight down the hole, the wrong hole. Joann Butler: Did you ever learn how to play? Roger Daltrey: No, no, no. I'm seriously the worst pinball player.
I don’t know, the pinball, as soon as I get on it, it's almost like it freezes, something happens, I don't know, it goes… Joann Butler: Well, you're a good actor. What's something your current self would tell your younger self? Roger Daltrey: Oh, I don't know.
Never give advice. You're always going to be wrong. Joann Butler: And I have to ask, is it true that Jimi Hendrix wrote "Foxy Lady" about your wife, Heather? Roger Daltrey: Yes.
Jimi was trying to take Heather home the same night as I took Heather home. So she became "Foxy" because he didn't get her. Joann Butler: I love that. Roger Daltrey: And I've been with her for 55 years now, and I'm starting to like her, you know?
Joann Butler: Starting to. I love it. What do you attribute it to? What's your secret for sustaining that long, with a rock star life?
Roger Daltrey: Well, she must, no, we're soulmates. She's an amazing woman. She's an amazing woman, and we've got a wonderful family, and I've been very lucky. You know, we've had our ups and downs like everybody else has in life, but, you know, you have to work out what's really important in the end.
And when you're really in love and you really connect, you know it's there. You can't cheat it. That's not to say other things don't pop up that, you know, make it difficult at times, but you get, you work through them and you hang on to what you know is valuable. Joann Butler: What does music do for people?
Roger Daltrey: It's one of the last great freedoms we have, now being taken over by AI, which is kind of scary. I know. It's really… But there again, it also leaves the opportunity for non-AI music to be even more popular than it has been.
Joann Butler: How so? How do we fight it? Roger Daltrey: I don't think you can fight it. You just have to, just have to, you have to make sure it's copyrighted properly.
Joann Butler: Yes. Roger Daltrey: And copyright is a big issue, because, you know, my voice is a copyright to me. The fact that they can now copy my voice and make it say anything they like is kind of scary. Joann Butler: It sure is, understatement.
I don't know if they could ever copy yours, so we don't have to worry about that. Nobody can. Roger Daltrey: Well, they can. I mean, I'm sorry, but they can, you know.
That's the trouble. Joann Butler: Do you have any favorite singers of today that you like? Roger Daltrey: Most of them are old singers from the past. Joann Butler: Me too.
Roger Daltrey: I mean, losing Dolly was losing an extraordinary voice. Her voice was just something else, wasn't it? Joann Butler: Yes. Roger Daltrey: There was so much joy in her voice.
Joann Butler: Yes. Roger Daltrey: Even when she sang the saddest song, there was a kind of, I don't know, something special going on there. Joann Butler: Yeah. Yeah, like yours.
Roger Daltrey: Well I have to say, I don't hear it, but I try to touch people with the words. Make the words move people. That's all I care about. Music should move people, otherwise it's soulless.
And that's what I'm trying to do with "Rockin' in the Free World". When you hear the way I sing it, it's so different the way, than the way Neil sings it. But I think now it's a rock song. Joann Butler: Does he know you're doing it?
Roger Daltrey: I don't know, I don't care. Joann Butler: You’re so cool. How'd you come up with throwing your mic up like that in the air? Roger Daltrey: From being bored and everybody else jumping around and doing something, I felt like a spare prick at a wedding.
Sorry, excuse me. Joann Butler: You're good. Roger Daltrey: So I had to do something, so I just started, you know, twirling it, and the twirls got bigger, and I got very good. But the trouble is today, I twirl it out and I can't see where it's gone.
So it leads to some funny moments, and it can be very dangerous. Joann Butler: And Simon, Pete Townshend's brother Simon’s on guitar with you? Roger Daltrey: Yup, yeah, he's been my right-hand man for many, many years. Joann Butler: Wow, that's cool.
Roger Daltrey: Yeah. Joann Butler: You can't get enough of those Townshends. Roger Daltrey: No, he's been my right-hand man for 40 years. Joann Butler: Wow, that's cool.
What is your best life advice? Roger Daltrey: My best life advice? I don't think about things like that. I mean, live every day as though it's your last.
Joann Butler: That’s a good one. Roger Daltrey: Because one day it will be. Joann Butler: Yeah, that's right. What's the first record you ever bought?
Roger Daltrey: First record I ever bought, actually paid for, was a Howlin' Wolf record. Joann Butler: Cool, I love it. Roger Daltrey: I had a lot given to me, but that was the first one. Joann Butler: What's your favorite comfort food?
Roger Daltrey: Comfort food? I'm not a foodie. Joann Butler: No? Roger Daltrey: No, it's one of those things that has to be done, bit like going to the bathroom.
Joann Butler: That's how you maintain your shape. What's something you want to do you haven't done yet? Roger Daltrey: I would like to go to Antarctica, but I don't think I'll ever make it. I'm not a good sailor, and I've heard that they can get some rather rough weather down there, and the cruises that go there aren't very big, and I'm not very good with seasickness.
Joann Butler: Yes, me either. Roger Daltrey: But I would just love to see, I love looking at landscape. I'd like to go to Patagonia, and I might do that one. Joann Butler: Oh, that sounds good.
What's the best thing you've seen so far in your travels? Your favorite place? Roger Daltrey: My favorite place? I still love the deserts.
I love the canyons. I love the Andes, when I first saw the Andes in Chile. Like I said, I'd like to go further down the Patagonia, but we didn't have the time when we went. But I might go down there later on this year, I don't know.
Joann Butler: Oh, I love it. I hope you make it. You're such a beautiful person. Thank you so much for your many, many gifts, Roger.
Roger Daltrey: No, well, thank you for the support. You know, you've got to remember this, none of us would do anything without the support of our fans, and I've always been eternally grateful for the support that The Who fans have given us. It's been amazing. Really has been incredible.
Joann Butler: Well, you've given us so many gifts, so thank you. Roger Daltrey: All the best to you. Joann Butler: Thank you so much, Roger. Roger Daltrey: Alright, alright, all the best.
Joann Butler: Good luck with the rest of your tour.
