Sunday 1 August 2010

Lazy Sunday Afternoon - The Small Faces

Lazy Sunday Afternoon is going to be a weekly feature here at The Dabbler: a bit of musical accompaniment to not doing very much at all. Given its name is taken from a Small Faces song we'll start with them and with that very song (along with a couple of others).

Not many people know that the Small Faces got their name because they were literally small ('face' was Mod slang for a cool customer). Tiny they were. But Steve Marriott (right) sang big - his was one of this country's great soul voices.

'Was' as he died in rather sad circumstances nearly twenty years ago (blame the usual ongoing DDH*). But he remains worshipped by some. Google him - he has probably the longest and most detailed Wikipedia entry I've ever come across, longer even than Napoleon's. Best Marriott Wiki-fact: he acted in the original 1960 production of Lionel Bart's 'Oliver' and sang the Artful Dodger's part on the album of the show.

But if he was still around I'm not sure he'd thank us for drawing attention to Lazy Sunday Afternoon. The band thought its jokiness led to their not being taken as seriously as some of their po-faced contemporaries. They were probably right - but there's nothing wrong with pop in the vein of Madness as I'm sure we music lovers living in a more mature age would agree. Indeed, they were doing something rather interesting in carrying on the spirit of old time music hall, for that was surely a strong influence.

Here it is, followed by two personal faves, Song of the Baker Man and Tin Soldier (all but the last from the splendidly eccentric Ogden's Nut Gone Flake):










* A useful acronym when talking about pop stars, Hollywood actors, that bloke who you see down the corner shop sometimes: Drink and Drugs Hell.

3 comments:

  1. Over bridge of sighs
    To rest my eyes in shades of green
    Under dreamin' spires
    To Itchycoo Park, that's where I've been

    What did you do there?
    I got high
    What did you feel there?
    Well I cried
    But why the tears there?
    I'll tell you why
    It's all too beautiful
    It's all too beautiful
    It's all too beautiful
    It's all too beautiful

    I feel inclined to blow my mind
    Get hung up feed the ducks with a bun
    They all come out to groove about
    Be niceand have fun in the sun

    Tell you what I'll do (what will you do?)
    I'd like to go there now with you
    You can miss out school (won't that be cool)
    Why go to learn the words of fools?
    What will we do there?
    We'll get high
    What will we touch there?
    We'll touch the sky
    But why the tears then?
    I'll tell you why

    It's all too beautiful
    It's all too beautiful
    It's all too beautiful
    It's all too beautiful

    I feel inclined to blow my mind
    Get hung up feed the ducks with a bun
    They all come out to groove about
    Be nice and have fun in the sun

    It's all too beautiful
    It's all too beautiful
    It's all too beautiful
    Ha! It's all too beautiful


    That one bored into the brain like a surgeons holecutter, became an integral part of the background miasma, Downhams London Tavern was awash with mods every weekend, ten thousand Dennis Wise look alikes, looking for bovver, considering the fact that many of them were midgets, they were optimistic.

    They were however, an improvement over the previous lot, such musical giants as the Dave Clark Five

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  2. Superb! I was always a Who fan but had forgotten how wonderful the Small Faces where - and no crappy, modern, over-produced, smart-alec, 2-second-attention-span video used (or needed) to accompany them here.

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  3. This inspired me to play some Small Faces in the car this morning. "Afterglow of Your Love", what a cracker.

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