Pete Townshend has written his first original song for television. Entitled "It Must Be Done," the track will appear on FX's The Americans when the episode airs April 30. Townshend wrote the song with the show's composer Nathan Barr, who has also composed music for movies and TV shows including True Blood, Hostel and Cabin Fever and received Emmy nominations for his work on The Americans and Hemlock Grove.
As Billboard reports, the three-minute song appears in a scene for which it was not initially written. It was moved to a scene that is reportedly being described as "sex and murder."
"What I was struck by was that Nate composes on the cello, an instrument my partner and orchestrator Rachel [Fuller] uses, so I have listened to a lot of cello music and I have really fallen in love with it," Townshend told Billboard about the genesis of the song. "We exchanged ideas [between England and Los Angeles] and I was immediately struck by this very evocative piece he had written, very plaintive. I added some guitar, then came up with some lyrics."
His plan was to keep things simple with the track. "Here's this couple whose whole life is about duty, duty without honor, duty without explanation," he said. "There are no accolades. They're not living a lie but doing things they find hard to do. Everybody has a part of their life that's difficult to explain. For me it's, 'Why the f**k am I in the Who?'"
In other Townshend/licensing news, two different versions of his song "Let My Love Open the Door" will air for the season premiere (April 13) and closer of Showtime's Californication. The two versions will also appear on a Californication soundtrack EP that Townshend's publisher, Spirit Music Group, will release with Tunecore.
Head over to Billboard for the full Q&A, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
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