Brinsley Schwarz – Surrender To The Rhythm

This is so extremely catchy, and that organ just makes it flow. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nick Lowe this young before in the video you will hopefully watch. You know… when I cover pub rock or the Paisley Underground scene, it doesn’t feel like I’m reviewing songs anymore. I feel like I’m mapping out musical neighborhoods because these musicians all knew each other and worked together.

Brinsley Schwarz never had a big hit, but they did influence artists like Elvis Costello and The Clash. They were known as a pub rock band and were active between 1969 and 1975. The band released 6 albums in that time. Their members included Nick Lowe, Bob Andrews, Brinsley Schwarz, and Billy Rankin…they were later augmented by Ian Gomm on guitar and vocals.

Some songs don’t need a big chorus or a fancy production to grab you. They just have a groove that feels right from the opening notes. That’s what this song has always been for me. It isn’t one of Brinsley Schwarz’s best-known songs, but it should be. Every time I hear it, I think of a band that simply loved playing together. Musicians locked into the same groove and having a great time.

Nick Lowe wrote this song, and the band recorded it for their 1972 album Nervous on the Road. The song rides on Lowe’s knack for writing melodies that sound familiar the very first time you hear them. The title says it all. Quit overthinking things and let the music take over! It became one of the band’s signature live songs and has appeared on several later compilations, proof that even the band knew they had something special with it.

They were formed in England after evolving from the late 1960s band Kippington Lodge. The group featured guitarist Brinsley Schwarz, but before long, another member began writing many of the band’s songs. That was Nick Lowe. Along with Bob Andrews, Billy Rankin, and later Ian Gomm, they became one of the leading bands in the growing pub rock movement. While progressive rock bands were adding longer solos and glam rock was becoming more theatrical, Brinsley Schwarz went the other direction. They looked back to American rock and roll, country, soul, and rhythm & blues.

It’s one of those records that reminds me why I enjoy digging a little deeper than the obvious songs. If you like Nick Lowe’s solo work or the music of Dave Edmunds, Rockpile, or Graham Parker, you can hear the roots of all of that right here. Sometimes the most influential bands aren’t the ones filling stadiums. They’re the ones quietly showing everyone else how it’s done.

Allmusic gave it 5 stars, and grumpy critic Robert Christgau gave it an A-.

Surrender to the Rhythm

Well they danced to every tune the band could play
At just about midnight when they decided to call it a day
Now there’s one thing that’s left here on their mind
Yeah, yeah, yeah
To get a little slice at any price, yeah
To store the shoes and rice
And surrender to the rhythm that is calling them home

Oh she was dumb, she was dirty
Yeah, but she was a princess
Custom made to fit right in to his arms
She could thrill him, she could chill him
Down to the bone
But he was in his teens, yeah
He had to spill the beans
Still looking for ways and means
To surrender to the rhythm that is calling him home

And who’s to say if it’s right or wrong
Not another singer in another song
I say we’re doing alright
Yeah we’re doing okay
Oh now guess what, guess what happened
Guess what happened then

She had to go, said she was meeting up with one of her friends
So there was nothing more or less than another mess of the blues
Now he had more to lose
Started putting in booze
Oh yeah, paying his dues
And surrendering to the rhythm that is calling him home

Surrender to the rhythm
Surrender to the rhythm
Surrender to the rhythm
Surrender, yeah, to the rhythm