Humble Pie – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Humble Pie – Thunderbox

This guitar riff caught me right off the bat…I heard it for the first time not long ago. It’s pretty much irresistible. It reminds me of a song that Free would have one. The term “thunderbox” is British slang for a portable toilet, which reflects Steve Marriott’s sense of humor.

You know, I love Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, John Prine, and other performers who write deep songs. Sometimes though it’s nice to play a song like Thunderbox and let it go. The song was written by Steve Marriott and David Clempson.

Humble Pie released their seventh studio album Thunderbox in 1974. They were considered a “supergroup” at the time. Along with Small Faces Marriott, they featured former Herd lead guitarist Peter Frampton and ex-Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley plus teenage drummer Jerry Shirley. The album peaked at #52 on the Billboard 100 and #58 in Canada in 1974. This was the start of the decline of the band. They got ripped off bad and Steve Marriott mentioned the mob and John Gotti being one of the beneficiaries of the band’s profits.

Humble Pie had some great songs but nothing really caught on with the masses. That’s not always a bad thing but they never had a big song identifiable to them as some other bands do. The Faces had Stay With Me but Humble Pie never had that one song. For me, it should have been 30 Days in the Hole.

They did have four top twenty albums but were more known as a live band…check out Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore …that album put them over the hump.

Thunderbox

Oh, yeah
Ooh, oh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
Oh, yeah
He’s a thunderbox, sure
You got your hot pants round your shoulders
Lick your lips and you a fox
Everybody stopped and told us
They say you got a thunderbox
You can see for yourself, I’ve got a clean bill of health
I ain’t never seen a thunderbox
Oh, oh, what do you know
Well, I get to sing–solo
He’s a thunderbox
Oh yea, he’s a thunderbox…
Well, was your claim to fame
In the same letter name
It’s your game I’m playing
While the music is swaying
Oh, I’m so glad I came in here
He’s a thunderbox
Oh yea, he’s a thunderbox…
You’re not a lot, you know, when you ain’t a gypsy
And a hooker with your wicked knots
I had to park the car and take a look to see
‘Cause I ain’t never seen a thunderbox
Oh, oh, well, I don’t know where you’ve been
But I can guess what you’ve seen
You know what I mean
He’s a thunderbox
Oh, yea, he’s a thunderbox…
Oh, oh, I can see what you’ve got
Since you sure got a lot
And, and the band’s still playing
Let the music sway
Oh, I’m so glad I came in here
He’s a thunderbox
Oh, yea, he’s a thunderbox…
Some say you from Dallas there
And you’re hooked on pork and beans
But I think it might be you’re from Louisiana
Roundabout New Orleans
I can see you don’t smell like no flower
But I can say the same for myself
Tell you girl, I know that you know that I know I’ve got my reasons
You know that you’re bad yourself
Don’t ask me for no answers
You could never ever take the shock
I’ve got the grief and I’ll take my chances
Rolling with my thunderbox
Oh, oh, I guess you may say
It’s just a casual affair
But I just got to know you all
He’s a thunderbox
Oh, yea, he’s a thunderbox…

…

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

Humble Pie – Natural Born Bugie

This band contained the singer who I thought was one of the best if not best of his generation…Steve Mariott. Mariott doesn’t sing this song but it’s a nice rock song. Bass player Greg Ridley took the lead vocals on this one. They had a nice guitar lineup going on… Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton.

Humble Pie had some great songs but nothing really caught on with the masses. That’s not always a bad thing but they never had a big song identifiable to them as some other bands do. They did have four top twenty albums but were more known as a live band…check out Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore that put them over the hump.

Natural Born Bugie was their debut single, which did well on the UK singles charts in the summer of 1969 becoming a #4 hit and was quickly followed by the album As Safe As Yesterday Is, which didn’t include the song.

After their debut hit, Humble Pie never became a singles act. None of their other British singles reached the charts. Hitting big in America, they were an album band that concentrated on the live experience. In the US their most successful single was “Hot ‘n’ Nasty,” which peaked at #52 on the Billboard 100 and #35 in Canada in 1972.

Steve Marriott had left The Small Faces and Peter Frampton had left The Herd and they formed Humble Pie. Marriott had bad management with the Small Faces and also throughout his career. After Humble Pie toured the US in 1969, they returned to England to discover that their record label (Immediate) had gone bankrupt. They were stalled for a time, trying to find a new manager and label. They eventually signed with A&M Records.

Later on, Frampton left but Humble Pie kept going. In the mid-seventies, their manager was Dee Anthony who had connections with the Mob. Everything was ok until Steve wanted to know where the money was at. Marriott began openly questioning Anthony’s business practices, and the singer was summoned to a meeting at a social club in New York’s Little Italy. According to Marriott’s ex-wife, among those in attendance were John Gotti and several other members of the Gambino crime family. Marriott was quietly persuaded to forget about any money he thought he had coming to him.

Jerry Shirley: “‘Natural Born Bogie’ was written after we had completed the album. If we had been smart we would have put it on the album. It was the first song that Andrew Oldham heard that he said had single sensibilities. I remember Steve at a rehearsal saying, ‘Here, I’ve got this, what do you think? I’m pretty sure he had the whole song. Funny thing was, we hardly ever played it live.

Natural Born Bugie

There she is again
Steppin’ out of her limousine, well
Looking like the cover of a twenty-dollar magazine
She’s got it made and branded
If you know what I mean

She’s a…natural born woman
Natural born woman
She’s a…she’s a natural born woman

There she is again watch her stop the Main Street in its tracks
Looking like Creole queen
Hair hangin’ down her back
I say, don’t look too long, boy
She’ll make your glasses crack

She’s a…natural born woman
Natural born woman
She’s a…she’s a natural born woman

Get your track
Yeah, natural born woman
Yeah, yeah…
Natural born woman
Yeah, yeah…
She’s a natural born woman

Well, I’m sweatin’ and I’m shakin’
When I’m bringin’ you the news
You can do anything
But lay off of my blue suede shoes
That’s why I’m standin’ here today
Preachin’ natural born woman blues

Well, she’s a…natural born woman
Well, yeah…
Natural born woman
Well, yeah…
Natural born woman

Well, I’m looking out my back door
Wonderin’ which place to go
Think I’ll move on down to Memphis
Pay my money to see a rock ‘n’ roll show
Find me a sweet-heart Susie
Together we can lose control

Ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
She’s a…natural born woman
Yeah, yeah…
Natural born woman
Yeah…
Natural born woman
Yeah, ooh…
Ooh…
All right…

Humble Pie – Black Coffee

Black Coffee was written by Ike and Tina Turner. It originally recorded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner for their 1972 album Feel Good.

The Humble Pie version was released in 1973. It was on the double album Eat It that peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100. Each side of this double album is different: Side 1 features Steve Marriott penned rock and roll; Side 2 has classic R&B covers; Side 3 is a collection of acoustic Steve Marriott songs; finally Side 4 features Humble Pie live in concert.

Steve Mariott contacted Venetta Fields and asked her to find two other women to form a trio of backup singers. Fields chose Clydie King and Billie Barnum. The toured with Humble Pie and they were called the Blackberries.

Steve Marriott: “I just sang it ‘cos I loved the song and it was an interpretation of somebody else’s lyrics. People should have known that I’ve been into black music for years anyway.”

Black Coffee

Black coffee is my name
Black coffee is not a thing
Black coffee, freshly ground and fully packed
Hot black coffee, boys, mmm that’s where it’s at, mean it.

Way back you all know since I don’t know when
See I got hungover before I was 10
You see my skin is white but my soul is black
So hot black coffee, that’s where it’s at.

(Black coffee) That’s what I’m talkin’ about boys
(Black coffee) That’s what I mean
(Black coffee) Ooh you’ve got to feel it in your hand
(Black coffee) Hmm yeah
(Black coffee).

Well you hear that
Some black tea, well it can’t compare with me
Black tea (can’t compare with me) that’s right
Black tea, well it’s as good as, it’s as good as, it’s as good as it can be
But it’s a cup of black coffee that a working man needs to see, yeah.

In America, well it’s the land of the free
You can get what you want if you’ve got some do re me
Well travelling far and I work like a slave
Now I’m independent, and you know I get laid.
I got me a job and I build me a place
I got a spit of black coffee, oh how good it tastes
I said a dime is all it costs in the States
For a cup of black coffee, how good it tastes

(Black coffee) Alright
(Black coffee) Oh
(Black coffee) It’s what I want now, it’s what I need
(Black coffee) To suit my soul, to suit my soul now
(Black coffee) It’s what I want, it’s what I need
(Black coffee) It’s where it’s at, it’s where it’s at
(Black coffee) Oh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_It_(album)

Steve Marriott

Robert Plant, Paul Rodgers, Freddie Mercury, and Mick Jagger gets brought up when talking about great lead singers. I’ve had this conversation with friends and musicians. Who was the best rock bass player, guitar player, drummer, and lead singer?

Steve Marriott rarely gets brought up by anyone because he is sadly not remembered as well as he should be. I’ve listened to Marriott for years and the guy still amazes me. He could sing blues, R & B, Rock, and Pop. He could do anything because not only was he a great singer a good songwriter and he was a very good guitar player.

He influenced many singers from the 60s and beyond. Below is the Small Faces doing “You Need Lovin'” and I think Robert Plant was listening. This was before Zeppelin.

The Small Faces played Rock, R & B, and Blues music but what they are famous for are the two pop singles Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday. Marriott was upset about Lazy Sunday being released as a single because he’d recorded the song as a joke and it was released despite his objections. They are also known for one of the best albums of the sixties Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. Q magazine placed Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake at number 59 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane wrote most of the album.

Because of bad management, a pop image, and a lack of a follow up to Ogedens’ Nut Gone Flake the Small Faces broke up. Marriott wanted to play harder music so he and Peter Frampton started a band called Humble Pie.

Humble Pie had some great songs but nothing really caught on with the masses. That’s not always a bad thing but they never had a big song identifiable to them as some other bands do. They did have four top twenty albums but were more known as a live band…check out Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore

Their manager was Dee Anthony who had connections with the Mob. Everything was ok until Steve wanted to know where the money was at. Marriott began openly questioning Anthony’s business practices, the singer was summoned to a meeting at a social club in New York’s Little Italy. According to Marriott’s ex-wife, among those in attendance were John Gotti and several other members of the Gambino crime family. Marriott was quietly persuaded to forget about any money he thought he had coming to him.

The Small Faces reunited, without Lane, between 1976-1978 but punk was taking over and they were not successful. In 1980 Humble Pie reunited but didn’t have much luck either.

In 1981 Steve and Ronnie Lane made an album together that wasn’t released until 2000 after both were passed away. It was called The Legendary Majik Mijits and I really like the recording. You can tell they recorded it in 1981 but it contains some hidden gems.

Steve played many club gigs in the 80s, some you can still see on youtube. In 1991 while working on an album with Peter Frampton he flew back home and went to sleep with a lit cigarette and died of smoke inhalation…he was 44 years old.

A sad ending to a performer who could have been huge. Perhaps if he would have lived longer he would have revived his career and been more remembered today.

Steve had a huge voice that came out of his 5 foot 5 frame. When Jimmy Page was looking for a singer for his new band Page had thought about Marriott but he was managed by the notorious Don Arden, who had reportedly responded by asking how well Page thought he would play guitar with 10 broken fingers.

What other artists say about Steve Marriott

Keith Richards has said that Mariott is in his top 5 favorite artists and considered having Steve in the Stones to replace Mick Taylor when he left…an idea that Mick Jagger rejected.

“Probably, really, my favorite other bands ever, Steve Marriott’s, very much from the English point of view, the Small Faces, then he had Humble Pie.

Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes To me it’s so obvious I’m a Steve Marriott rip-off that I never think about Rod. I admit it. Steve Marriott is the guy, him and Paul Rodgers and Gregg Allman.

Robert Plant (about the Song Remains the Same) I wanted to be like, “Come on!” I wanted to be Steve Marriott, for fuck’s sake.

Paul Rodgers I was rooting around in my cupboard the other day, actually, just yesterday, and I found a bunch of Steve Marriott live stuff and I put it on and MY GOD, that guy was unbelievable!

Documentary about Steve Marriott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oeKYxSS1jo&ab_channel=FonsSimons

Humble Pie with Marriott and Frampton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2UIrxSgCpA&ab_channel=DisorderDisarray

Steve and Ronnie Lane in 1981. Some very good songs