Roger Daltrey has recalled how personal insecurity shaped his vocal performance on The Who's 1966 song 'I'm a Boy', part of an unrealised Pete Townshend rock opera set in a future where parents could choose their child's sex. The track was recorded from the perspective of a boy whose mother wanted a daughter, and Daltrey's uncertain, fragile delivery at the time turned out to suit the song's narrator, an accidental fit between his mindset and the material.

Daltrey was returning to the band after a hiatus triggered by a physical altercation with Keith Moon over drug use, leaving his confidence badly shaken and his once-powerful voice noticeably diminished. He has said he deliberately tried to sing 'I'm a Boy' with the sentiment of an eight-year-old, and told Uncut that his insecurity, also present on 'Pictures of Lily' from the same period, ended up making the songs sound better, calling it "a happy accident".