The song was composed by lead singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend, the only time they wrote together.

[9] Roger Daltrey helped a lot with the final arrangement and got half the credit.

I was lying on my mattress on the floor listening to a Charlie Parker record when I thought up the title.

The freedom suggested by the title came restricted by the aggression of our tightly-defined image when I came to write the words.

In fact, Daltrey was really a hard nut then, and he changes quite a few words himself to toughen the song up to suit his temperament.

[15][16] It also became a top forty single in France, reaching number thirty-eight, but it failed to match the success that "I Can't Explain" had in the US: whereas that was a top-hundred hit (peaking at 93),[17] "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

[5][19] Upon release in the US on 5 June 1965, it was replaced by a cover of the Garnet Mimms ballad "Anytime You Want Me".

The Who Additional musician David Bowie recorded a version of this song for his Pin Ups album in 1973.