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E-mail a friendRoger Daltrey
original airdate November 13, 2007
Lead singer of the English band, The Who, Roger Daltrey has been described as one of rock's most powerful vocalists. He's also maintained a successful career as a solo artist and is credited for co-writing songs for films and TV shows, including for the soundtracks of The Banger Sisters and Lisztomania. Born in London, Daltrey was a self-described "school rebel" and sheet-metal worker before becoming a member of the legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group. He also acts in occasional TV and film roles.
Roger Daltrey
Tavis: Pleased to welcome Roger Daltrey to this program. The legendary lead singer of one of rock's biggest acts, The Who, is part of an acclaimed new documentary about the band called "Amazing Journey." The film premiered on VH1 and is now available in stores on DVD. Here now, a scene from "Amazing Journey."
[Clip]
Tavis: Roger Daltrey, a pleasure to meet you.
Roger Daltrey: Hey.
Tavis: Glad to have you here. So they say reading is fundamental, and I'm cracking up because all the years of listening to The Who music, and trying to figure out where that soul comes from in your voice, I finally learned that you started out in the choir.
Daltrey: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Tavis: (Laughs) So now it all makes sense. Now, you and I were laughing before we came out -
Daltrey: Isn't that where all soul comes from, from the choir?
Tavis: Well, you're laughing but it's true. In the States, of course, it is a rite of passage almost for every major Black artist that we've ever loved, enjoyed - they came out of the Black church somewhere.
Daltrey: That's right, yeah.
Tavis: And here's a White guy coming out of church, that's where the soul comes from.
Daltrey: Yeah.
Tavis: What kind of choir were you singing in the church (unintelligible)?
Daltrey: It was the kind of protestant church in London, Church of England, singing all the hymns. It wasn't quite gospel, but I just naturally could do it. I've got perfect pitch, and they would throw stuff at me, and within two minutes - I can't read music, but I immediately hear it, where the notes are, and can sing them, yeah.
Tavis: Beyond the church, what kind of music were you listening to then that was -
Daltrey: I was listening - in the choir; I was 5, 6 years old. But then I was - it was all post-war, big band stuff. Dean Martin, and that was coming down the radio. We didn't have luxuries like records in those days. This was post-war England. We'd barely gotten the roofs back on our houses and the windows back in from the bombing. So BBC Radio was everything to us, and whatever they would be playing, that's the music that was around the house.
But then one day on the radio, came this - there was this kind of slot once every week that was for the forces all over the world. It was British Forces Network, and it was where they could send their loved ones a piece of music and a message. And it was every Sunday lunchtime, from midday till 1:00. And one day, I was about 11 years old, I think it was 1957, and down the pipe came this sound of this guy singing like I'd never, ever heard any - never, ever heard a noise like it. And it was Elvis singing "Heartbreak Hotel." (Laughter) And my life just changed overnight. Whoa.
Tavis: See? White guy singing in the choir.
Daltrey: Yeah, yeah, whoa, whoa, what is that noise? And that's what really got me really interested in actually maybe able to making a living out of singing.
Tavis: So you and the guys, how did you connect?
Daltrey: Well, we were at school together, although we didn't really connect much there because they were in a year younger than me. But we used to come from the same area in London, and indeed, John used to live literally one street away. It was one dividing street, and he was in the next street after that. And he was there with his mum, his mother was divorced, so John had a stepdad which wasn't - it wasn't very good for John.
And John had found music, he was a trumpet player in a silver band, and I met him walking down the street. And he had a homemade guitar, bass guitar, around his neck. And I had been making my own guitars, because we couldn't afford to buy these things.
Tavis: You made your own guitars.
Daltrey: We used to make our own, yeah. It was the only way. So I asked him to join my band. And he said, "Oh, I'm in a band." So I said, "Are you getting paid?" He said, "No." I said, "We are." (Laughter) I was lying, of course, but he came down. He came down, and he - attracted, of course, by that. He came down and he played with us, and he stayed.
And he gave up his band, which was - they were playing all kinds of things, most of it trad jazz, New Orleans jazz. And he was playing trumpet, and in that band there was a guy called Pete Townshend that again used to go my school, who was playing the banjo. And John joined my band, and about sort of six months later, our guitarist with the amp - "the" amp - (laughter) left, and left us kind of up the river without a paddle. So we had to -
Tavis: It's bad to lose your guitarist, but you lose your guitarist and your amp, you got a problem.
Daltrey: Yeah, we lost the group amp. And he said, "Oh, I know someone. Not only have they got a guitar, but they've got an amp." (Laughter) And it was Pete, and Pete came in, and that's where the nucleus of the band came. But it's funny, though, because even though they were a year younger than me at school, they stuck out in a crowd. It was just like two turkeys amongst the ducks. It was incredible. I knew who they were, just by the way they were. They're individual-looking, and their mannerisms were very different than anyone else in the crowd.
Tavis: Tell me how this sound, then, that you all crafted was created. And I'm asking that because you're playing one instrument and listening and being turned on by one kind of music, John is playing - doing the New Orleans thing. Pete's playing the banjo.
Daltrey: Yeah, but we all liked the rock music. By that time - this was later, and by that time, we had gone through skiffle, which was early American folk songs played by a guy called Lonnie Donegan. And Lonnie Donegan was the guy who made me really realize that instead of just wishing maybe I could do this, made me realize that yeah, you can do this.
And he was singing early "Midnight Special," that kind of stuff, and so we all had skiffle groups. Then we went on to early American pop stuff that we were covering in England. And every band played that, and they were grounded in that, as well. So that's what we kind of started playing. And then we discovered (unintelligible) the Motown and James Brown, and all the Chicago bluesmen.
Howling Wolf and Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, all those people. So it was kind of weird, and we totally got that music. If you understand anything about the class system in England, well, the bottom of the pile is the working class, which was us. So we totally understood where Black American music from those people came from. We knew what the intention and what was (unintelligible).
Tavis: You understood the blues.
Daltrey: Oh, yeah. Who are these guys? And indeed, those people we made huge stars in England. Sonny Boy Williams and Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters would come over in the sixties, they were treated like gods by these young kids, these sort of 15, 16 years old, worshipping them. So we were grounded in that, but our sound hadn't quite jelled.
We were kind of a copyist band. And then one day, our drummer left and we had a session drummer in, and the word was out on the street that we were looking for a drummer, and we had quite a good following on the circuit. And this apparition appeared at the front of the stage in a bright ginger suit and bright ginger hair, and great big, bright, black eyes. And it was Keith Moon. And jet black eyebrows. And he says, "I'm going to be your drummer." Literally, not "Can I be?"
(Laughter) "I'm going to be your drummer." "Oh, yes?" And he said, "Can I have a go?" So, "Yeah." And the guy kindly let him play his drum kit. We played Bo Diddley's "Road Runner," and we started off as we normally would, just a complete copy of Bo Diddley playing "Road Runner." By the time we finished the song, it was something completely and utterly different. Just like - I don't know, watching a flower boom. It went "boof."
And the sound happened with the mix of his drumming to a three-piece band, because I was the singer. We just had a bass player and a guitar. It just - it was kind of magical. It was almost like someone had - a fairy had been up there and gone "bing."
Tavis: So that night, you all start to discover what your own sound is.
Daltrey: Yeah.
Tavis: Let me fast forward, then, Roger, from that night, figuring that you guys could put your own stamp on your own music, to what you think in retrospect The Who has been and given to rock. Every critic has taken his own stab at what makes you guys uniquely different than every other rock band that's come through. What's your sense, looking back on it?
Daltrey: Well, I think more than anything, I think what The Who did - and mainly because of we are so different. You look at rock and roll and you can hear the influences of the blues in the Stones and in the Beatles and in some way, Led Zeppelin. But The Who is much more - it's kind of weird. You think, well, where did it come from?
But all those little essences are in there, but it's not directly noticeable. And I think the one thing that we probably do more than any of the others; I think it brings people to consciousness. It's very demanding music. The words are very succinct, and they're very particular, and they all need to be heard, which is very unusual for rock and roll.
Tavis: You make that possible, though. Your talent makes that possible.
Daltrey: Well, it's part of what the songs need. It's part of being inside the song and making you kind of understand the issue what this is really about. And what it's really about is you and me. It's about us. It's not about - usually rock 'n' roll is usually about the guy on the stage and the person in the audience (unintelligible) do something. That's what rock and roll really was in the early days.
But no, The Who, I think, really does bring - it's the worst kind of music you can play at a party. If you put a Who song on at a party, the atmosphere will go (makes noise) (laughter) because all of a sudden, everybody's conscious. Ooh. It's incredibly demanding, and I think that is our mark.
Tavis: That's a beautiful answer, and I think it's right on point.
Daltrey: Thank you.
Tavis: Of course, it should be, since it came from you.
Daltrey: Well, it's how I feel about it. And we are only a reflection of our audience, and Townshend was given a great gift of singing, getting that reflection inside and throwing it back so it would come back to him. And it's like a - I don't know, I suppose it's like a nuclear furnace. Keep bouncing, so in the end, people have always said, "Oh, The Who is so great on stage, all this energy."
That energy's coming from the crowd. They're giving it to us. We just transmit it.
Tavis: Well, we've learned at least three things in this conversation - this all-too-brief conversation. Number one, do not play The Who at a party. (Laughter) Number two, the music is about -
Daltrey: Well, you do it for an experiment, and you see if I'm not right. (Laughter)
Tavis: Two, the music is all about you, and number three, they've got a new DVD out that you can run out and get, because I didn't even scratch the surface in this conversation tonight about this amazing journey that The Who has been and continues to be on, and that's the name of the DVD. "Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who." A two-film DVD box set. Roger Daltrey, nice to meet you.
Daltrey: Thank you.
Tavis: Glad to have you on the program.
Daltrey: You be lucky.
Tavis: You too, sir.
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