The Who’s Pete Townshend Shares First Acoustic Solo Single in 30 Years “You Can’t Outrun The Truth”

Pete Townshend recently released his song, “Can’t Outrun the Truth ”,  making this Townshend’s  first solo release in 30 years. An acoustic record both produced and written by partner Rachel Fuller who is credited under the pen name, Charlie Pepper. All earnings made from the song will be donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust. Recorded in the Pandemic, Fuller described the time as a difficult time for creative work and in turn thought about how difficult this time would be for others. First writing the song and building its structure at a piano, Townshend then recorded the demo which is something he has often done for Fuller.

“Can’t Outrun the Truth” plays like an acoustic introspective cry for help in the time of the Covid-19 Lockdown. “This lockdown is bringing me down, my mind’s gone underground”, opens the song as the beginning to this open letter admitting to the vulnerabilities experienced in isolation. While also admitting “I outrun the truth”, deepening the narrative that sometimes isolation is necessary to better face one’s personal demons. The straightforward, bare bones acoustic approach carries the same hollowness found in being lonely, an instrumental taking up little space in a song mostly carried by its lyrics. 

Releasing a video in similar simplistic fashion featuring Townshend playing guitar while showing different ways he takes care of himself when by himself. A window into his own personal journey through his quarantine experience.

Similar to the meaning of the song, the choice to donate all proceeds to the Teenage Cancer Trust was a decision made with the ramifications of the pandemic in mind. Townshend stated, “The pandemic years were terrible for charities,” he continues. “The Teenage Cancer Trust was created in order to take the money from a series of concerts at the Albert Hall every year and various other things and that had all dropped out”. Not only acknowledging the mass mental health crisis brought through the pandemic, Townshend and Fuller work to address all damages left from Covid-19. Being released 3 years after the original global lockdown, the ramifications can still be felt all these years later and “Can’t Outrun the Truth” gives a voice to the feelings experienced by many.