*lyrics from the universal by small faces

well i went round jlks house last nite
and we did my vox on the secret canadian project
sample lyric
yesterday is a hole for me
in the afternoon that you sold to me
winter in the mirror feeling cold to me
and i wanna dig deeper
but i just gotta keep ya away

i reckon these guys should like it
if they dont then i’m no use to ’em at all
and they should ask bone-oh or michael stripe
or ian mcbolloch or some other blah blah blah
but
i reckon they will like it
i knocked off my lyrics n singing in 2 hours
came home started watching science of sleep
which i was enjoying
but nk says too tired
cant we watch the rest tonite
ok i says
today i listened to small faces on way to pool on pod
tin soldier
jesus, do you know that song?
my 1st girlfriend i was telling you about before on here
she or her sisters had a single of it
i hadnt heard it all that much on the radio
and when i put it on her fathers big old record player
it was the unbelievable visceral sound of love
coming off a scratched lump of vinyl
with a needle deep in its groove
starting with an electric piano
an ascending chord progression
its the anticipation of romance itself
the band suddenly jumps in real loud
and the songs starts to come on like a drug
the bass fat and round
the incessant ticking of the hi hat
the fancy guitar fingering
its horny music
insistent
rising up n up
cmon yells steve marriot slightly off mic
and the drums pile in
“i am a little tin soldier
who wants to jump into your fire “
and you know
that worked for me on so many levels
of course hes talking about
a more obscure tale
by hans christian anderson (hi tt in danmark!)
a one legged tin soldier, a toy
falls in love with a ballerina in a box
after much misadventure
arranged by some unexplained malevolent force
(who’d wanna be cruel to a toy? a one legged toy??)
including being swallowed by a fish
the tin soldier ends up burning in the fire
with his ballerina who doth verily love him back
a ha
but the next day as they clean up the ashes
the maids find 2 tiny tin hearts in the grate
is that a happy ending?
how would that test-screen out in burbank i wonder
anyway
marriot milks all the implications in the line with his voice….
oh i wanted to jump into loves fire
and i saw myself as slightly damaged a la the soldier
(why?)
and thus deserving of sweet sweet love
i dont need your aggravation marriot croons
in the breakdown…
i just gotta make ya
gotta listen (he spits out slightly off mic)
i just gotta make ya
my occupation!
well i could certainly dig that
marriot sang in a choked soul voice
implying urgency
it was urgent n important
his love was busting out all over him
he tickles the strings on a suspended fourth
and i was getting the idea
i do anything you want me to
sing any song that you want me to
(but what song could his girl want but this?)
i aint no child…take me as i am
(he insists)
finally finishing with a crescendo
marriot somewhere in there
the emerging urgency multiplied tenfold
i just want some reaction
why dontcha gimme satisfaction
cos all i wanna do is * to you
cos i lo-ove you!
*inaudible
man
i was hooked on this song for life
isnt amazing i said to the girlfriend, shocked
she smiled n shrugged her shoulders
obviously it was not doing it for her like it was for me
or maybe itd been played to death in that house
i knew how marriot felt tho
cos i never seemed to get that much reaction either
i dont know what it was exactly was wrong with her
but looking back on it
she was just a very ordinary girl in an ordinary place
in an ordinary time
why couldnt she see how groovy it all coulda been…?
she had no clue and i was disappointed
a couple of years later
i purchased the sublime
the autumn stone
a double album incl. their greatest hits
afterglow
i loved all the way their songs were slightly ambiguously
about sex
theres everything i need to know
just resting in the afterglow of your love
and the hammond organ is so grinding n creamy
and as usual the drums are so wound up
that he goes on pounding when the band has stopped
a trademark kenny jones move
itchycoo park
you wanna know what lsd sounded like in 1967?
listen to this flanged masterpiece
you can miss out school
why go to learn the words of fools?
marriot sings
n i could only concur
a ripping version of red balloon by tim hardin
bought myself a red ballooon with a blue surprise
took the love light out my eyes
ooh blue surprise
yes baby
the blue surprise was heroin
lazy sunday
which even my dad liked
if you wanna know how my dad sounded
when he was angry
listen to the cockney geezer
on this song
screaming out
“shut your bloody row!”
exactly the words my father would use
and yet
halfway thru this jolly song
when he sings close my eyes n drift away
the chords go minor
and we feel for a few bars
the real melancholy of sunday
the fear of it being over
the implied loss of freedom
tomorrow will bring
and lemme tell ya fiendss
sunday monday all the same to me who dont work
but sunday still brings me down sometimes
hey joycie wheres my toasted baked bean sandwiches?
anyway
its all captured there on this song
and of course the universal
sounding like it was recorded in marriots back garden
some psychedelic summer morning in the sixties
when acid rock mixed it up with english music hall
guitars n clarinets n euphoniums all together now
a hippy trippy name dropper
came to my door
he said i just bumped into mick
he told me you know where to score
no not me friend
the small faces
boy did they even look like a group
marriot would form humble pie with “franger” frampton
(thats what they called him in canberra
a franger is a condom)
and sadly die in a fire in a hotel
caused by falling asleep with a cig burning
ronnie lane
bassist extroadinaire n co author of the songs
kenny jones
and ian maclagan
the best keys player in rock almost bar none
would form the faces with rod n ronnie
confusingly enough
their 1st album
which may or may not be
called
the first step
was credited to the small faces
it wasnt until the second album
long player
that they were just the faces
i listened to a bit of long player today
particularly marvelling at a track
sweet lady mary
which is almost maggie may about 2 years early
its all there
the melodic lyrical bass playing
(i LOVE ronnie lanes bass playing)
the wandering organ
woodies scrappy n rough guitar
its a prototype hit
the first step had some corkers too
dylans wicked messenger
a song called devotion which is tres romantique
these guys certainly could conjure up some magic
ronnie lane died of ms in texas a while back
a tragic sad loss
what a wonderful geezer he was
my mate wil-o has met ian mclagan
out here playing with billy bragg
(who i dont like at all)
and he said mac was a diamond little geezer as well
kenny j played wiv the who for a while
what a raw powerhouse dynamo for any band
a true fuckin’ thumper with bags of finesse
rod went on to whatsername from sweden
and whatsername from new zealand
and woody joined los stonos roulade
(make up yer own spanish!)
if yer really interested
i cannot recommend highly enuff
ian mclagans book” all the rage”
one of the best rock reads ever
and it broke my heart to see
the wonderful small faces never got paid a brass razoo
ripped of by grinning hyaena andrew loog old-ham
who got the fucking lot
publishing
records
everyfing
and thats why i hate mosta the pricks in the biz
(but not all)
anyway
nk was no more enamoured by the small faces
than that ordinary girl 37 years ago
when i played her
here comes the nice n tin soldier
oh god i hate that guys voice she casually says
almost derailing this blogge
hmmm
i wonder if the small faces/faces is a kinda guy only thing
like dylan……
anyway
i dig it
even if its gone full circle
in my own life