FOR EXCEPTIONAL GENIUS ONLY

Alharbi 6

Mohammed Alharbi

Professor Amber Tavasolian

ENGL 101

07/03/2017

“I Can’t Explain” by The Who—When Love’s Strange Confusion Takes Over

What is a man supposed to do when he simply cannot explain his feelings of love? This is explored in a mid-1960s hit tune called “I Can’t Explain” by the famed British rock quartet known as The Who. Lead singer Roger Daltrey, assisted by the song’s writer and guitarist, Pete Townsend, bassist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon, puts his very best effort forward in relating the sense of strange confusion that takes hold of someone deeply in love. In a sense, the noted rock group is offering this in support of others who may have felt the same love-based confusion, and have felt alone in that struggle. This song lets them know they are not alone. The song’s lyrics offer many memorable examples of the out-of-step feeling the performers wish to convey. Love is a very powerful feeling, capable of unexpectedly instilling that confusion, and The Who wishes us to take note of that reality, especially since we have all felt love’s effects before.

It seems fitting to offer some background before continuing. This song came from the time of the British Invasion musical period of the 1960s, when British rock dominated the American music scene. It seems to specifically reflect the new, counterculture, time of rock’n’roll, showing the confusion that teenagers experienced as they were torn between the ways of old and new. They knew that they enjoyed what they saw going on around them, with all of the changes in clothing, hairstyles, and even speaking. However, the direction was unclear, as yet. That unassured state of mind represented a special kind of stress for young people nearly everywhere. (www.songfcts.com)

The song begins in confusion by stating “Got a feeling inside (can’t explain), it’s a certain kind (can’t explain), I feel hot and cold (can’t explain), yeah, down my soul, yeah (can’t explain).” Here, we see that there is only an unclear understanding of what is occurring. It cannot be clearly described; it is only “a certain kind” of feeling. There is the “hot and cold,” but in unspecified amounts. We do not even know how they balance with each other. There is no explanation as to whether hot is stronger than cold, nor the reverse. The only point we are able to understand from this is that none of it can possibly be explained. However, at the very least, this does help listeners to realize that this confused state falls within the world of love sentiments. It is not abnormal, and not to be feared. In fact, those first lines of the song are followed positively with this: “I said (can’t explain) I’m feeling good now, yeah, but (can’t explain).” The confusion that engulfs this love song is relayed in greater detail in the next stanza.

Here, we learn that singer Daltrey now claims he is “Dizzy in the head and I’m feeling blue, the things you’ve said, well maybe they’re true, I’m getting’ funny dreams, again and again, I know what it means but…Can’t explain.” The disturbing dizziness, and now “blue” feelings of sadness seem to have taken the lead. There are inexplicable, recurring, odd, or “funny,” dreams being experienced. As well, the lyrics express a reluctance to fully accept what the man in love is being told by his loved one; he is only able to say that “maybe” his lover’s statements are valid. He does comprehend what he has been told, saying that he “knows what it means,” but he is still unable to put it in terms that are clear enough for him to process as valid. If this person is not in a state of absolute confusion, then confusion has become too confusing to identify. Yet, the song humanely shows the depth of confusion felt by someone so deeply in love. It does not poke fun at this, but rather displays it audiences so that they may see that confusion for what it is: out-of-control love.

Actually, the singer is so in love that he is not even sure he really is in love—though everything else he says points to that feeling. He comments next that he “Can’t explain, I think it’s love, try to say to you, When I feel blue.” We may conclude this is probably the first, maybe second, time the man has been in love. He not only cannot be sure he is truly in love, but he can only “try” to express his feeling of passion, never really arriving at the core of those feelings. In fact, as he does repeatedly try, and fail, in expressing those sentiments, he feels “blue,” or sadness. In apparent desperation, he can do no better than to cry out to the woman of his life, following with this, “Yeah, hear what I’m saying, girl (can’t explain).” We can only imagine that she hears what he says, but can make no more sense of it than he can. This inability to communicate a feeling, particularly held so deeply, as in the song, is very normal. The song wants us to recall that, even and especially as we may experience similar difficulty in addressing and assessing our emotions. However, we also need to be psychologically prepared to experience a change for the worse in our confused emotional state. Love’s confusion is capable of producing anger, as described in the next stanza of the song.

In this instance, the singer seems to snap as he reports that he is “Dizzy in the head and…feeling bad, the things you’ve said have got me real mad, I’m getting’ funny dreams, again and again, I know what it means but…” Yet, as angrily unbalanced as this seems, he later asks or forgiveness for this irrational state: “Forgive me one more time, now (can’t explain).” He also acknowledges the insanity resulting from his passion: “(Ooh) you drive me out of my mind.” The singer also attempts to justify this abnormal mental state by stating: “(Ooh) yeah, I’m the worrying kind, babe…I said I can’t explain.” These lyrics sincerely convey the insecurity the man experiences with his encounter with love. It is surprising on the one hand, making him seem an oddity. Yet, the song wants listeners to this is the mixture of often-changing feelings that can easily engulf someone who has fallen hopelessly in love.

The message of love’s confusion is not lost on the world’s different cultures. This feeling is known well to the hundreds of millions of people living in the Middle East. For example, in the Arabic language, there are many sayings that fit the above scenario. First, there is “such a love that kills.” While the man featured in the above love song neither kills, nor is killed, the saying demonstrates the great passion that overcomes people deeply in love, and the man in the song seems very close to feeling such passion with his fluctuating rage. Next, and still better, there is this: “Life is Heaven, and Love is Hell, but Life without Love is unacceptable.” That seems to represent the confusion previously generated by love in the song. We cannot live with the hellish love, yet how can we live in an “unacceptable” life? Finally, there is this: “Love is the only game between two people in which both will win or lose.” here, there is confusion because most “games” ensure that there will be only one winner. Love essentially rewrites a basic rule of competitive play.

To conclude, “I Can’t Explain” is an attempt to help listeners come to terms with pressing, confusing, emotional troubles they may encounter when very much in love. In that sense, it has a key societal role to play in timelessly reassuring audiences everywhere (the song has enjoyed popularity to this time) that there is nothing unusual in what they are feeling. It is worth noting that the song ends without resolution to the singer’s crisis in love, only repeating “I can’t explain.” This is an important reminder to listeners, too, since it shows that life is imperfect, and we all must sometimes figure our personal problems out on our own.

Reference:

Factsongs, “I can’t explain by The Who”, <http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=68>, print