Humble Pie – 30 Days In The Hole

I heard this song before I knew who Marriott was…I learned later he was the same singer as in Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday which didn’t compute. I really wish I could have seen this band live. His voice in this is nasty…a perfect rock voice for this song.

Do you want a song that rocks? Humble Pie tried something different than most hard rock bands at the time. Marriott combined hard rock with a gospel feel. This is one of the nastiest songs you will hear. It’s as sleazy as you can get but it rocks.

This is personally my favorite song by Humble Pie. The band also included Peter Frampton for a while and was known for their excellent live shows. In 1969 Marriott left The Small Faces and teamed up with Frampton to start Humble Pie. They were a very successful touring band and mostly concentrated on albums…much like The Faces. This song never charted but did get some FM play.

While touring in Kentucky, Marriott read that getting caught with drugs in that state would give you an automatic 30 days in jail. He was also thinking about a friend of the band’s who had been sent to jail for having a joint. Drugs were part of the culture back then and just a way of life on the road. He used a lot of street names for drugs like “Chicago Green” is pot, and New Castle Brown is a kind of heroin…not to be confused with Newcastle Brown which is ale. Black Nepalese Hash is a rare variant of hashish that hails from the Highland regions of Nepal.

Marriott has said that inspiration for the title came from a Humphrey Bogart/James Cagney movie he saw on TV, where Bogart plays a prisoner who gets sent to “30 days in the hole.”

30 Days in the Hole

Roll my tape
Ooh, ooh, ooh

Thirty days,
Anyone doin’ that one?
I’m doin’ that one

30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole

All right all right all right all right, yeah

Chicago Green, talkin’ ’bout Black Lebanese
A dirty room and a silver coke spoon
Give me my release, come on
Black Nepalese, it’s got you weak in your knees
Sneeze some dust that you got buzzed on
You know it’s hard to believe

30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
That’s what they give you
30 days in the hole
I know

Newcastle Brown, I’m tellin’ you, it can sure smack you down
Take a greasy whore and a rollin’ dance floor
It’s got your head spinnin’ round
If you live on the road, well there’s a new highway code
You take the urban noise with some dirt with poison
It’s gonna lessen your load

30 days in the hole
That’s what they give you now
30 days in the hole
Oh, yeah
30 days in the hole
All right, all right
30 days in the hole

What you doin’ boy?
You here for 30 days
Get, get, get your long hair cut
And cut out your ways

Black Nepalese, it got you weak in your knees
Gonna sneeze some dust that you got busted on
You know it’s so hard to please
Newcastle Brown can sure smack you down
You take a greasy whore and a rollin’ dance floor
You know you’re jailhouse-bound

30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
Oh, yeah
30 days in the hole
30 days, 30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole
30 days in the hole

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

67 thoughts on “Humble Pie – 30 Days In The Hole”

    2. I went to watch Humble Pie in.the 70’s and they sang 30 days in the hole ,1st I had heard of it and the group got so rowdey riot police were called in. It was n Fort worth Tx. Loved it.

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  2. Marriott sounds a bit like Janes Brown in this song when he sings “Alright” and “get down now.” Humble Pie never got as big as they should have been. The bass guitar sounds much better on the second video, as it got drowned out on the first one.

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      2. I’ll check it out…love those guys. After reading Kenney Jones bio…you find out how bad being under a crook… Don Arden… could be.

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      8. That is odd. I just checked my spam to make sure any old ones didn’t go there. I’ve approved you on mine….but I still had a couple from other people that should not have been there.
        I thought about blogspot when I started. I love your setup on your blog.

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      10. That is great! Mine is 99 dollars a year or I think around £80. I think that is right. Of course WP has a free version and it’s fine but you only have a certain amount of storage with that…with all the pics I have…I needed more.
        That is why I thought…hell why not let it pay for itself? When I got enough traffic I got the advertisements.

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  3. This is an example of the complex, dark turn music seemed to take in the late 60s and on into the 70s. As an adult I can listen to it and appreciate the vocals and lyrics. But as a kid back then, this type of music left me disconnected and disappointed.

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      2. The reason I said that is because next week (no this isn’t an advertisement lol) but I’m doing all week next week of one hit wonders….and I noticed it…all these songs are simple…the most complicated one is In The Year 2525.

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      8. No mine will only last from Monday to Friday. Mostly 60s and 70s. I build up songs in advance….and I noticed that I have quite a few stored up so I just used them as a theme. I used to do that more.

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  4. As a kid I’d see the name frequently but never heard any of their music…I guess this wouldn’t have fit the top 30 with Cat Stevens & Elton John too well! Gotta say I think I liked Frampton’s solo material a bit better.

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    1. Marriott turns into a cross between Nazareth’s Dan McCafferty and Free’s Paul Rodgers. The bassline is sumptuously goddamn gorgeous, in the style of Free on Travellin’ Man, and the whole thing rocks as hard as is possible with bluesy menace. I love it to death.

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      1. That is a great description of his voice and when I read it on your site…I totally agree Paul. The gospel touch at the start is brilliant also…it sets up the dynamic of that guitar coming in.

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      1. I had a buddy who was a huge Pie guy. He was a drummer and loved the band. My intro to them. Im sure you will find lots of listening pleasure. Another band that morphed out of a previous group (Family) were the Streetwalkers’. They have that same hard edge which I like.

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      2. Thanks again CB. As soon as I heard them on The Grey Whistle test and Rockpalast just now…I heard that tone…that magical guitar tone that I love. I know what I’ll listen to today.

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    1. Yes he has…Jim did a post this morning…I started to listen to him a few years ago and I can’t get enough. I was 5 when this came out so I wouldn’t have either. I’ve become a huge fan of him though…Robert Plant has bascially said he ripped Marriott off…I loved his honesty… I couldn’t see it until I heard this. Now remember…this is before Zeppelin and this song is You Need Loving. If you can just listen to a minute of it…and you will see….this was 1966.

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      2. Yep! I’m glad that Robert Plant gave Marriott props and his due. Plant didn’t like people saying he ripped off Rod Stewart because he didn’t…he said no I ripped off Marriott…so I respect Plant for that a lot. Both are great singers…don’t get me wrong.

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    1. Holy Hell Lisa… Thunderbox…I’ve never heard that one but what a song!!! I know what my next Humble Pie post will be…that riff is fantastic I also like the Frampton Shine On….Great stuff! Thank you

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      1. Yes, these guys can rock out. I’m surprised they weren’t better known. You’re welcome on the link. I went looking for other Humble Pie songs I was familiar with and found so many good ones here. They had 3 good singers also. The bass in one of those is off the chain!

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      2. Yes they did have 3 good singers…I do pay more attention to the one I know but I like them all. Frampton sounds great in Shine On also. I rested the country for this Saturday and went all out for rock lol.

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  12. Great track and when I talked to Larry from Kick Axe he talked about doing this tune as cover for the Up The Creek movie back in 84! Mr. Big did a cover of it also….

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    1. This would be great to cover…
      Ok dude! I was going to ask you if you liked this one! Deke… would you listen to their song called Thunderbox? I may be wrong…but I think it’s up your alley.

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      1. A Humble Pie ‘60s song has been on my list of earmarked tracks for my Sunday feature for a few months. Since then, each time I wrote the bloody post, I ended up including another’60s pick. Sooner or later I’m going to use that Humble Pie song!😆

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      2. I just heard one I’ve never heard today…it’s called Thunderbox….shit…it rocks! The guitar riff and he is singing at the top of his register.

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      4. Doesn’t it? I’ve never listened to it until today…I fell in love with it.
        I’m listening to that one now. Is that Frampton singing that? I like it!

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    1. I would have loved to see them both…I can see why you regret that!
      Too bad Marriott died in the early nineties…right before bands started to get back together and make more money than when they were together originally.

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