"Itchycoo Park" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Small Faces | ||||
B-side | "I'm Only Dreaming" | |||
Released | 4 August 1967 | |||
Recorded | 3–7 July 1967 [1] | |||
Studio | Olympic (London) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:45 | |||
Label | Immediate | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Small Faces singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Audio sample | ||||
"Itchycoo Park" is a song by English rock band Small Faces, written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. Largely written by Lane, it was among a number of pop songs of the era to make use of flanging, an effect involving, at that time, electro-mechanical processes. The song was not included on any of their UK albums, but was however featured on the North American release There Are But Four Small Faces (1968).
Released on 4 August 1967 by Immediate Records, the song was the Small Faces' fifth top-ten song in the UK Singles Chart, reaching a position of number three. "Itchycoo Park" became the Small Faces' sole top-forty hit in the United States, reaching number sixteen on the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1968. In Continental Europe, it reached the top ten in several countries, while in Canada and New Zealand it was a number one hit. The single was re-released in December 1975, reaching number nine in the UK Singles chart, and is often attributed as the reason for the Small Faces reunion during the mid-1970s. [6]
The song has since been covered by various other recording artists, most notably by English group M People in 1995, whose dance rendition of the song reached number eleven in the UK.
The location and etymology of the titular park has long been debated, many claiming it to be Little Ilford Park in Manor Park, East London, Valentine's Park in Ilford or Wanstead Flats in Wanstead, East London.
"Itchycoo Park" was released by Small Faces in August 1967. Together with "Lazy Sunday", "Tin Soldier" and "All or Nothing", the song is one of the band's biggest hits and has become a classic of its time. [7]
The song reached number 16 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968, during a chart run of 16 weeks. [8] In Canada, the song reached number 1. [9]
Long running British music magazine NME cites readers poll voting "Itchycoo Park" number 62 out of the top 100 singles of all time. [10]
"Itchycoo Park" climbed the charts again when it was re-released on 13 December 1975. [11]
The song was one of the first pop singles to use flanging, an effect that can be heard on the drums in the bridge section after each chorus. [12] Most sources credit the use of the effect to Olympic Studios engineer George Chkiantz who showed it to the Small Faces' regular engineer Glyn Johns; he in turn demonstrated it to the group, who were always on the lookout for innovative production sounds, and they readily agreed to its use on the single.
Although many devices were soon created that could produce the same effect by purely electronic means, the effect as used on "Itchycoo Park" was at that time an electro-mechanical studio process. [13] Two synchronised tape copies of a finished recording were played simultaneously into a third master recorder, and by manually retarding the rotation of one of the two tape reels by pressing on the flanges, a skilled engineer could subtly manipulate the phase difference between the two sources, creating the lush 'swooshing' phase effect that sweeps up and down the frequency range. The original single version was mixed and mastered in mono, and the phasing effect is more pronounced in the mono mix than in the later stereo mix.[ citation needed ]
The song was first conceived and largely written by Ronnie Lane, who had been reading a leaflet on the virtues of Oxford which mentioned its Bridge of Sighs and "dreaming spires", both referenced in the song's first stanza. [14]
A number of sources claim the song's name is derived from the nickname of Little Ilford Park, on Church Road in the London suburb of Manor Park, where Small Faces' singer and songwriter Steve Marriott grew up. The "itchycoo" nickname is, in turn, attributed to the stinging nettles which grew there. Other sources cite nearby Wanstead Flats (Manor Park end) as the inspiration for the song. [15]
Marriott and Small Faces manager Tony Calder came up with the well-known story when Marriott was told the BBC had banned the song for its overt drug references, Calder confirms:
We scammed the story together, we told the BBC that Itchycoo Park was a piece of waste ground in the East End that the band had played on as kids – we put the story out at ten and by lunchtime we were told the ban was off. [16]
Ronnie Lane said of the true location of Itchycoo Park: "It's a place we used to go to in Ilford years ago. Some bloke we know suggested it to us because it's full of nettles and you keep scratching actually". [17]
In an interview Steve Marriott stated that Itchycoo Park is Valentine's Park in Ilford. "We used to go there and get stung by wasps. It's what we used to call it." This was reiterated by actor Tony Robinson, a childhood friend of Marriott. [18]
The term "Itchycoo" also appears in the Scots language from around the 1950s, particularly referring to the itchy seeds of the rose-hip (Dog Rose). [19]
Steve Marriott once said of The Small Faces "(We) were a mix of R&B and music hall. The R&B came from Detroit, the music hall from Stepney. That's what 'Itchycoo Park' is about… having a drink and a party."
Itchy Park refers to the grounds of Christ Church, Spitalfields in the East End of London, laid out as gardens in 1890. [20]
In his book A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & the 70s (2020), Mike Barnes writes that the song "epitomised a peculiarly late-Sixties English way of looking through a metaphorical lens – be it drug induced or not – at the everyday and transforming it, via the imagination, into something transcendental, almost mystical, and as such it was one of the most potent songs of the psychedelic era, which, at most, lasted just a couple of years from 1966 to the beginning of 1968." [4] Barnes says that, with the song, the Small Faces "began to veer into more period territory, while still making a brilliant experimental pop single. They epitomised the way that many British musicians at this time were moving away from their influences and pursuing more individual ideas. [...] This pop song, with its memorable tune and alluring soundworld – and a Top 10 hit for the group – re-imagined humdrum Britain as somewhere that really could be perceived as being all to beautiful." [4]
According to the liner notes of the 2012 7" re-master: [21]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [37] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Itchycoo Park" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by M People | ||||
from the album Bizarre Fruit II | ||||
Released | 13 November 1995 [38] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:34 | |||
Label | Deconstruction | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | M People | |||
M People singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Itchycoo Park" on YouTube |
British band M People released a dance version of "Itchycoo Park" in November 1995 by Deconstruction as the second single from their reissued and expanded version of the 1994 Bizarre Fruit album, Bizarre Fruit II (1995). It was produced by the band, peaking at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart and was remixed by David Morales. The song also peaked at number 21 in New Zealand, number 24 in Iceland, number 27 in Australia, and number 22 on the Eurochart Hot 100. The accompanying music video for "Itchycoo Park" was directed by Maria Mochnacz. [39]
Scottish Aberdeen Press and Journal described M People's cover version of "Itchycoo Park" as "refreshing". [40] Jose F. Promis from AllMusic deemed it an "epic version". [41] Larry Flick from Billboard noted that front woman Heather Small "whips through" the cover version "with a smooth blend of streetwise edge and sophisticated flair." He added, "Her distinctive way with a lyric is the stuff of future legends." [42] Michael Bonner from Melody Maker wrote, "Bubbly, inoffensive, radio-friendly." [43] A reviewer from Music & Media felt that "chart darlings M People have reworked this Small Faces classic with equal measures of dance beats, a Billy Joel/ River Of Dreams piano sound and marvellous gospel undertones. Their innovative arrangements will take them high into the charts with this one." [44] Mark Beaumont from NME deemed it "a gospelised cover" and "late to come across as anything but the cred-grasping toss it is." [45]
Chart (1995) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [46] | 27 |
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100) [47] | 22 |
Germany (GfK) [48] | 55 |
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40) [49] | 24 |
Ireland (IRMA) [50] | 16 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade) [51] | 14 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100 Tipparade) [52] | 4 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [53] | 21 |
Scotland (OCC) [54] | 11 |
UK Singles (OCC) [31] | 11 |
UK Dance (OCC) [55] | 7 |
This section includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(July 2020) |
The Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The band were one of the most acclaimed and influential mod groups of the 1960s, recording hit songs such as "Itchycoo Park", "Lazy Sunday", "All or Nothing" and "Tin Soldier", as well as their concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. They evolved into one of the UK's most successful psychedelic bands until 1969.
Ronald Frederick Lane was an English musician and songwriter who was the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Small Faces (1965–69) and Faces (1969–73).
Small Faces is the second studio album by Small Faces, released through Immediate Records on 23 June 1967. Although this was their first album for new manager Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label, recording actually commenced during their tenure with Decca Records, whom they left in January 1967 after severing professional ties with original manager Don Arden. As a result of the switch of label and management, Decca and Arden released an outtakes compilation album, From the Beginning in early June 1967 in order to sabotage the chart success of the Immediate Small Faces release - something that it managed to do to some extent when From the Beginning reached number 17 in the UK charts. The Immediate album shares its name with their 1966 Decca debut album, which has led to some confusion regarding the titles. As a result of this, it has been unofficially dubbed The First Immediate Album by several fans.
Bizarre Fruit II is a reissued and expanded version of British band M People's 1994 Bizarre Fruit album, with the single versions of "Search for the Hero" and "Love Rendezvous" in place of the originals, and including the band's cover of the Small Faces' "Itchycoo Park". It was initially released as a limited edition with a bonus Live and Remixed CD or cassette. The Live and Remixed disc contains live versions of tracks from Bizarre Fruit and M People's previous two albums, Northern Soul and Elegant Slumming. The live tracks were recorded at GMEX in Manchester on 16 December 1994, except "Search for the Hero" which was recorded at Grosse Freiheit in Hamburg on 26 February 1995.
Bizarre Fruit is the third album by British dance band M People. It was released on 14 November 1994 and charted and peaked at No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart, spending one year on the chart before an expanded version of the album, Bizarre Fruit II, was released a year later. In 1996 it was announced that Bizarre Fruit had reached 1.1 million copies sold worldwide. The albums Bizarre Fruit and Bizarre Fruit II were certified 5× platinum in the UK for sales of 1.5 million.
"All or Nothing" is a song written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of the British rock band Small Faces and released as a single in 1966.
"Tin Soldier" is a song released by the English rock band Small Faces on 2 December 1967, written by Steve Marriott. The song peaked at number nine in the UK singles chart and number 38 in Canada. It has since been covered by many other notable rock artists.
"Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was the third single by English R&B-influenced group Small Faces, recorded in December 1965 and released on 28 January 1966, reaching number three in the UK Singles Chart. It was also the first single by the group to feature Ian McLagan on keyboards.
"Whatcha Gonna Do About It" is the debut single released by the English rock group Small Faces, released in the UK on 6 August 1965. The song peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart, and stayed on chart for a total of 14 weeks. It reached number 28 in Canada.
"The Universal" is a song by English band Small Faces, released as a single on 28 June 1968. It reached number 16 in the UK, staying in the top 40 for a total of 10 weeks.
"Here Come the Nice" is a song by English rock band Small Faces. Written by guitarist Steve Marriott and bass guitarist Ronnie Lane, it was released as a single on 2 June 1967, through Immediate Records. The song, which was the band's debut on Immediate, was their first promoted release of 1967, following feuds with Decca Records. It marked a distinct turning point for Small Faces' career, being their first single to deliberately venture into psychedelia, though they had previously done that on a few album tracks for Decca. The song's subject regarding a drug dealer somehow bypassed the BBC censors, who did not ban it, which resulted in the song managing to chart at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart during the summer of 1967. The song received mostly good reviews from music critics, with many positively noting the change of genres.
"I've Got Mine" was the second official song released by the English rock band Small Faces in 1965. The song failed to chart despite receiving favourable reviews in the British music press.
"Afterglow of Your Love" is a song by the English rock group Small Faces. The song was originally simply titled "Afterglow" on the album on which it first appeared in May 1968, Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Without authorisation from the band, the song was released as a single in 1969 and reached no. 36 on the UK Singles Chart.
From the Beginning is the first compilation album by the English rock band Small Faces. It was released by Decca Records of group material after the band had left the record label; it consisted of the band's Decca hit singles combined with various unreleased recordings. The album rose to Number 17 in the UK Album Chart.
There Are But Four Small Faces is a studio album by British rock group Small Faces, released in 1968 through Immediate Records and distributed by CBS Records. It was the band's first LP release in the United States, and is a modified version of the UK album Small Faces, which came out the previous year. There Are But Four combines tracks from the UK album with the standalone singles "Itchycoo Park", "Here Come the Nice" and "Tin Soldier", and their respective B-sides.
"Open Your Heart" is a song by British band M People, released in January 1995 by Deconstruction as the second single from their third album, Bizarre Fruit (1994). The song was written by bandmembers Mike Pickering and Paul Heard, and produced by the band. It peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart, and was a top 10 hit also in Finland and Scotland. In the US, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The accompanying music video for the song featured the band performing in an elevator.
"Love Rendezvous" is a song by British band M People, released in October 1995 by Deconstruction as the fourth single from their third album, Bizarre Fruit/Bizarre Fruit II (1994). Written by Mike Pickering, Paul Heard and Heather Small, and produced by M People, the song was released on 14 October after the band's world tour. It peaked at number thirty two on the UK Singles Chart and number 59 on the Eurochart Hot 100. The music video for the song was directed by Matthew Amos and filmed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"My Way of Giving" is a song written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. Initially demoed by their band Small Faces in 1966, it was given to British singer Chris Farlowe, who released his version as a single in early 1967. It was Farlowe's first single not written by Jagger–Richards since 1965's "The Fool". The Small Faces themselves decided to go on and record a version which was released on two different albums on two different record labels.
In Memoriam is the first posthumous album release by East London rock band Small Faces after the announcement of their break-up in early 1969. It was released on 1 May 1969 through Immediate Records in West Germany only. Their second compilation album following 1967's From the Beginning, In Memoriam is a collection of live cuts and unreleased studio tracks. The studio material was recorded during 1967 and the 1968 sessions for Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, and also included a few tracks possibly intended for their projected but unrealised fourth album 1862. The studio outtakes were complemented by five live tracks recorded on tour in November 1968.
{{cite book}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)