"I Can Se for Miles" by The Who

This has been a stressful week for me, so today I will simply leave you with one of my all time favourite songs. 'I Can See for Miles" was written by Pete Townsend and performed by The Who. The lyrics were inspired in a fit of jealousy on the part of Pete Townsend any time he saw his then girlfriend with other men. Pete Townsend was certain the song would be a smash hit and considered the best song he had written up to that point. 

"I Can See for Miles" was recorded over several different recording sessions. Backing tracks for the song were recorded from May 6 to May 7, 1967, at CBS Studios in London. The vocals and overdubs were recorded at Masters Studio in New York City from August 6 to August 7, 1967. The Who's manager and the song's producer, Kit Lambert, then had the song mixed mastered at Gold Star Studios in Los Angles on September 10, 1967. It was included on their album The Who Sell Out.

"I Can See for Miles" was released as a single on September 18, 1967 in the United States. To promote the new single in the US, The Who appeared on The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour, where they also performed "My Generation." It remains one of The Who's best known television appearances, if not their best known television appearances. Allegedly, Keith Moon bribed a dodgy stagehand to let him put ten times the usual amount of explosives into his drum kit for the explosion at the end of "My Generation." The explosion was so great that Peter Townshend would experience tinnitus afterwards. 'I Can See for Miles" was released in the UK on October 13, 1967, although none of the song's promotion there was quite as, well, explosive as their Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour appearance in the United States.

"I Can See for Miles" peaked at no. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at no. 10 on the UK singles chart. It did better in Canada, where it went all the way to no. 4. In the United States, it was the highest ranking Who single to date. While many composers would have been happy with the song's performance on the charts, Pete Townsend was disappointed, to say the least. He later said, "To me it was the ultimate Who record, yet it didn't sell. I spat on the British record buyer." 

Regardless, "I Can See for Miles" remains one of The Who's best known songs and the favourite of many fans (it is for me). It would also be the inspiration for a Beatles song. Paul McCartney read a description of the song in an interview with Pete Townsend as The Who's loudest song to date. Paul McCartney then wrote "Helter Skelter," arguably the loudest Beatles song ever recorded.

Without further ado, here is The Who's "I Can See for Miles."

Pat Suzuki: Miss Pony Tail

Most people probably remember Pat Suzuki for originating the role of Linda Low in the Broadway production of Flower Drum Song. She had a successful recording career, and also appeared on movies and on television. She has a place in American entertainment history as one of the earliest Japanese American performers to enter the mainstream.

Pat Suzuki was born Chiyoko Suzuki on September 22, 1930, in Cressy, California. Her father was a musician who specialized in traditional Japanese instruments and also operated a farm. Pat Suzuki took to singing while very young. Sadly, after World War II began, like many other Japanese American families, Pat Suzuki's family were sent to an internment camp. Initially they were interred at the Mercy Assembly Centre in California. Later they went to Granada War Relocation Center in Colorado.

Although she would become a singer, Pat Suzuki majored in education in college. When she ran out of money for her schooling in New York, It was while the production was in Seattle that she got a job at The Colony. She appeared at the club for three years. It was while she was ar The Colony that she earned the nickname "Miss Ponytail."

Bing Crosby caught one of her performances at The Colony, and she made such impression on him that he got her a recording contract with RCA Victor. Her first album, The Many Sides of Pat Suzuki, was released in 1958. She frequently appeared as a singer on various variety TV shows in the late Fifties and early Sixties, including The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The George Gobel Show. The Frank Sinatra Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, and others. She also appeared on the interview show Person to Person and the game shows What's My Line? and The Match Game.

It was an appearing on Tonight Starring Jack Paar that Richard Rogers offered her the role of Linda Low in Flower Drum Song. She turned the role down before accepting it. For her performance, she received a Theatre World Award. She would not play the role in the movie, which would go to Nancy Kwan (whose singing voice was dubbed by B. J. Baker). As it was, Pat Suzuki couldn't have played the role in the movie, as she had given birth to her son not long before the movie started shooting. 

After her son was born, Pat Suzuki semi-retired from the entertainment business, with appearances become rarer. She guest starred on such shows as The Red Skelton Show and Charlie's Angels, and was a regular on the short-lived sitcom Mr. T and Tina. 

At 95 years of age, Pat Suzuki no longer performs, but she is hardly forgotten. Her cover of "How High the Moon" was used in the movie Biloxi Blues (1988). On top of her career as a singer, Pat Suzuki was also a pioneer with regards to East Asian American performers, particularly Japanese American performers. She paved the way for other East Asian performers to come.

Here is her version of "How High the Moon" from her debut album The Many Sides of Pat Suzuki.

Firefox Should Let Users Disable Searching from the URL Bar

I have never searched from the URL bar on Firefox. I don't want to search from the URL bar on Firefox. To me, the URL bar should be exclusively for visiting websites. For that reason, I have always disabled searching in the URL bar. Unfortunately, I learned today that it has been re-enabled. Every way I tried to disable it again failed.

To me, this is a case of Mozilla doing a disservice to Firefox users. I know I am not the only one who dislikes searching from the URL bar. Indeed, it can cause problems. Too many times I have typed a URL in the URL bar only for it to launch a Google search. Beyond that, one of the many reasons people use Firefox is that it is more customizable than Chrome or Edge. Take away the customization and Mozilla might find themselves losing users.

Regardless, I hope in the next update that Mozilla returns the ability to disable search in Firefox's URL bar. I really won't be too happy with Mozilla until they do.

Godspeed Ann Robinson

Ann Robinson, best known for starring in the sci-fi classic War of the Worlds (1953), died on September 25, 2025, at the age of 96. Her death was not made publicly known until the past few days.

Ann Robinson was born on May 25, 1929 in Los Angeles. Her father worked at the Bank of Hollywood, located in the Equitable Building of Hollywood at Hollywood and Vine. Her father started teaching her to ride horses when she was only three and she became an accomplished rider. She attended Hollywood High and Sacred Heart Academy in La Canada Flintridge.

Ann Robinson broke into film as a stunt rider in the film Black Midnight (1949). She was the stunt double for June Havoc in The Story of Molly X (1949) and Shelly Winters in Frenchie (1950). She joined the Circle Theatre in Hollywood. Paramount signed Miss Robinson for $125 a week. In addition to performing stunts in Black Midnight, she also had an uncredited part as a girl serving punch at a square dance. She appeared in similar uncredited parts in such films as The Damned Don't Cry (1950), I Was a Shoplifter (1950), Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950), A Life of Her Own (1950), and All About Eve (1950). She was an extra in A Place in the Sun (1951), and director George Stevens gave her one line of dialogue.

In addition to playing Sylvia Van Buren in War of the Worlds, for the remainder of the Fifties, Ann Robinson appeared in the movies Goodbye, My Fancy (1951), Callaway Went Thataway (1951), I Want You (1951), The Cimarron Kid (1952), Son of Ali Baba (1952), City Beneath the Sea (1952), The Glass Wall (1953), Bad for Each Other (1953), Dragnet (1954), Gun Brothers (1956), Julie (1956), Gun Duel in Durango (1957), Damn Citizen (1957), and Imitation of Life (1959). On television, she guest starred on the shows Biff Baker, U.S.A.; The Web; Racket Squad; The Ford Television Theatre; Rocky Jones, Space Ranger; Waterfront; Passport to Danger; Stage 7; Studio 57; It's a great Life; Fury; The Bob Cummings Show; The Millionaire; Schlitz Playhouse of Stars; Mike Hammer; Man and the Challenge; Johnny Midnight; The Texan; Shotgun Slade; Goodyear Theatre; Perry Mason; Bachelor Father; Rawhide; and Manhunt.

The Sixties saw Ann Robinson appearing exclusively on television. She guest starred on the shows The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp; Dante, Sugarfoot, Peter Gunn, Hawaiian Eye, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Surfside 6, Ben Casey, The Roaring 20s, Death Valley Days, 77 Sunset Strip, and Gilligan's Island.

In the Seventies, Ann Robinson appeared on the shows Police Woman and Days of Our Lives. In the Eighties, she reprised her role as Sylvia Van Buren on the TV show War of the Worlds. She also guest starred on The New Adam-12. She appeared in the movie Midnight Movie Massacre (1988). She had a cameo in the movie My Lovely Monster (1991). She played a character named Dr. Sylvia Van Buren in the movie The Naked Monster (2005) and in the same year had a cameo in the movie War of the Worlds (2005). She appeared in the movies Tales of Frankenstein (2018) and The Last Page of Summer (2020)

Chances are very good Ann Robinson will always be best remembered for War of the Worlds. She told author Tom Weaver in his book Attack of the Monster Movie Makers, "I’ve gotten more mileage out of War of the Worlds than Vivien Leigh did on Gone With the Wind." While that may be true, she did play many more roles in her career. In the movie Dragnet (based on the radio and TV show of the same name), she actually played a police officer. In the Perry Mason "The Case of the Slandered Submarine," she played the wife of a Naval commander in charge of a submarine project, whose father owns an electronics company providing technology for the project. In the Rawhide episode, "Incident of the Challenge," she played a woman reputed to have magical powers. Ann Robinson was always a welcome presence on the big and small screen, and she played a wide variety of roles.