Ronnie Lane – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Ronnie Lane – Kuschty Rye

I first started to get into Ronnie Lane when I watched a documentary about him called The Passing Show back in 2018. I could not get Lane out of my head, and I started to listen to more and more. I found bloggers who felt the same way about him. Lane was the bass player, songwriter, and sometimes vocalist for The Small Faces and Faces.

I’m not super knowledgeable about Ronnie Lane yet, but I’m learning every day. His music grounds me and makes me appreciate music, roots music firmly planted. Lane was never about running down hits, and I’m so thankful for that. You won’t hear a disco Ronnie Lane record. Although he had a big hit in the UK with the song How Come, but he didn’t compromise; he did it fully in his style.

After leaving the Faces, he traded the big stages and rock stardom for caravans, campfires, big tents, and the open English countryside. You can hear that freedom in this song. After he left the Faces, he toured around the countryside with a caravan and a big tent and did concerts. He would record outside sometimes, and on some recordings, you can hear chickens, kids, and the wind.

This song was released in 1979 on the album See Me. This would be his last album. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1976 but continued to tour with Eric Clapton and others, and in the early 80s migrated to Houston, Texas, for medical treatments. He would pass away in 1997.

I came across an artist named Des Horsfall, who released a tribute album to Ronnie Lane in 2011. Artists like Pete Townshend loved the album and said it was killer. This is from this website: One of Horsfall’s primary reasons for the original CD release of ‘The Good Gentleman’s Tonic’ was to encourage a new audience of music listeners to seek out the three original Slim Chance LPs. At the time, these had been out of print for many years and could only be sought at expensive prices through online resellers and auction websites.

Now all three are available.

Here is a live concert, and I have it starting at Kuschty Rye…but I would recommend spending an hour or so listening to the concert that was performed in 1980 on Rockpalast.

Kuschty Rye

Oh, where I come from
There ain’t nobody
Nobody quite like you
Who blessed my soul, is cold on Sunday
And always evades the truth

Whose lingo comes from God knows where
And he surely knows more than I
Who also knows how mocked I am
When you call me your kuschty rye

And I say hey, honey
I hold you way up too high for me
Whoa, come on baby
I put you way up too high for me

She learned me life is sweet
And God is good
And he always will provide
She taught me all I never knew
And she taught me more besides

So I say hey, come on honey
I hold you way up too high for me
Whoa, now come on baby
I put you way up too high for me

Whose lingo comes from God knows where
And he surely knows more than I
Who also knows how mocked I am
When you call me your kuschty rye

So I say hey, hey honey
I hold you way up too high for me
Whoa, now come on baby
I put you way up too high for me

…

Small Faces – You Need Loving

This song exemplifies why I like the Small Faces so much. I’ve been listening to this song for years, and I can’t believe it was made in 1966. It was at least a couple of years before its time. Jimmy Page was listening very closely. Steve Marriott was asked to join Zeppelin later on, but his manager put a stop to it. Robert Plant has said he was heavily influenced by Steve Marriott, and if you want proof, listen to this recording. This song was written by Willie Dixon, and I think Zeppelin listened to this version more than Dixon…because Whole Lotta Love came out of it.

Looking back, this is more than just an album cut; it’s an early marker of what British rock would become. You can trace a direct line from this track to Zeppelin, Free, and all the blues-rock that followed. I always thought the Small Faces never got the credit they deserved. People in America only heard Lazy Sunday and Itchycoo Park because their manager would never let them tour the US.

The Small Faces were a band that always played bigger than their small size. If the Small Faces had had a good or even decent manager, they might have had a longer career and be more remembered today. They had a couple of great songwriters, Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. A superb drummer with Kenney Jones and keyboard player Ian McLagan. They were laying down some of the rawest R&B-inspired rock coming out of Britain. This song, on their debut album Small Faces, is a perfect example.

A YouTube comment on this song was crude and rude, but I endorse: Steve m*thaf*ckin’ Marriott. The ultimate rock & roll voice.

You Need Loving

Woah you foolin’Come and get coolin’I’m gonna send you right back to school, alrightMake your way down the new side girlYou know how woman, you need lovin’, lovin’, alrightI know you need lovin’ you here, oh yeah, alright

That’s right, well I’ve been yearnin’Hey baby you’ve been burnin’We’ll have a fun time, alrightYou’ll get some lovin’Cause baby we’re gonna excite youDeep in your heart woman, you need lovin’, yeah,oh lovin’, alrightThat’s all you need, lovin’ baby, yeah, alright

Eeny-meeny-miney-moEeny-meeny-miney-moCan’t take it no moreI can’t monkey and I can’t dogCan’t do the monkey, yeahI said you know how to ponyMony-baloney, I took you to the flyerPassed me byOh rock your ponyMashed potatoSaid I want to show youI want to show youIt’s alright, it’s alright…

Woman you need loving, yeah

…

Faces – Stay With Me

For the longest time, this is the only song I knew by The Faces. I found out how good they were not just by this one but by their other songs. This is the Rod Stewart I think of when I think of him. Absolutely killer on stage at this time with this band powering it on.

I usually don’t like gimmicky instruments, like in the 1980,s they had guitars with what looked like hockey sticks. I have one of those, and the strings break like crazy. Or the guitars with no headstocks…I hated those. One guitar I did like in the late sixties, early seventies was the one that Ron Wood is playing in the live video clip. The “See-Through” Ampeg Dan Amstrong Guitar. Keith Richards played one as well, and they sound dirty and raunchy. They are now worth 2-6 grand. All of you non-guitar fans…sorry. The one below can be had for $5500.

This song was written by Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart, which became the Faces’ biggest hit. Stay With Me peaked at #17 in the Billboard 100, #6 in the UK, and #4 in Canada in 1972. I’ve always liked the dirty, filthy sound of the song. It’s not my so called favorite song by them. That would be Ooh La La by the Faces in 1973.

This band was formed from the Small Faces when Steve Marriott quit and Ron Wood and Rod Stewart took his place. Steve was both a great guitarist and even better singer. I remember seeing a clip of the 1993 Brit Awards on some TV show and saw a reunion of the Faces with Bill Wyman of the Stones filling in for Ronnie Lane.

Stay With Me

In the morning
Don’t say you love me
‘Cause I’ll only kick you out of the door

I know your name is Rita
‘Cause your perfume smelling sweeter
Since when I saw you down on the floor
guitar

Won’t need to much persuading
I don’t mean to sound degrading
But with a face like that
You got nothing to laugh about

Red lips hair and fingernails
I hear your a mean old Jezebel
Lets go up stairs and read my tarot cards

Stay with me
Stay with me
For tonight you better stay with me

So in the morning
Please don’t say you love me
‘Cause you know I’ll only kick you out the door

Yea I’ll pay your cab fare home
You can even use my best cologne
Just don’t be here in the morning when I wake up

Stay with me
Stay with me
‘Cause tonight you better stay with me
Sit down, get up, get down

Stay with me
Stay with me
Cause tonight your going stay with me
Hey, whats your name again
Oh no, get down

Pete Townshend – Sheraton Gibson

While commenting back and forth on the Danko album last weekend CB mentioned Who Came First, the first album by Pete Townshend. Everyone knows how big a Who fan I am but I had never listened to this album much at all. I knew his 2nd solo album Empty Glass but not this one. I thought it was just demos he released which he made for The Who. It’s not…it’s some great powerful songs driven by an aggressive acoustic. On the expanded version he did include some Who demos like Let’s See Action, Baba O’Riley, and a few more.

Who Came First was released in 1972. This album deals with Townshend’s involvement with Meher Baba. It includes tracks originally intended for private distribution to Baba devotees. Before you think this is Who’s Next part II, you would be mistaken. Some of these songs were made for the Lifehouse concept that he wanted to make Who’s Next about, but they changed courses by just picking songs for a regular album. I have a guitar player friend named Chris…he said he was heavily influenced by Townshend but not just electric. He said his real influence was on acoustic. Pete is one of the most aggressive acoustic guitar players I’ve heard. Chris opened my eyes to that and this album shows it.

This song, Sheraton Gibson, is about life on the road with Pete at the time. He was staying in another hotel in another city with his Who bandmates. He deals with his feelings of loneliness and disconnection amid fame and constant travel, plus, of course, playing his Gibson guitar. The song is a great one and I consider it a lost gem…as well as the album.

Another song on the album called Evolution was written by and played with Ronnie Lane of the Faces. Lane was also a devotee of Meher Baba and it’s about personal growth and change and a really good deep song.

I’ll sum it up by saying…I was totally surprised by the quality of this album! As big of a Who fan as I am I was totally shocked…in a great way. The songs stick with you and they are quality. The album didn’t set the charts on fire but it wasn’t pushed by the record company a bunch. It peaked at #69 on the Billboard Album Charts and #30 in Australia.

Sheraton Gibson

I’m sittin’ in the Sheraton Gibson playin’ my GibsonAnd boy do I want to go home.I’m sittin’ in the Sheraton Gibson playin’ my GibsonAnd boy do I feel all alone.Cleveland, you blow my mind.Cleveland, I wish I were home this time.Don’t want to be unkind .

But I’m sittin’ in the Sheraton Gibson playin’ my GibsonThinkin’ ’bout a sunny barbequeI’m sitting in the Sheraton Gibson playin’ my GibsonAnd my mind is a Cleveland afternoon.Cleveland, you blow my mind.Cleveland, I wish I were home this timeDon’t want to be unkind.Cleveland, you blow my mind.Cleveland, I wish I were home this time.Don’t want to be unkind.

Oh Cleveland, you blow my mind.Oh Cleveland, I wish I were home this timeDon’t want to be unkind.

But I’m sitting in the Sheraton Gibson playin’ my GibsonAnd boy do I want to go home

…

Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend – Til The Rivers Run Dry

When I hear this song I think to myself…it’s pretty cool that I met the writer several times. It’s a song written by Don Williams and Wayland Holyfield. I’ll get in a mood where I have to hear something rootsy or down to earth. I usually pick either The Band or Ronnie Lane. So today’s posts with Rick Danko and Ronnie Lane fall into that. Combine that with that mid to late 1970s country sound and I love it. This music is something you could play on your back porch.

In 1976, following an extensive tour, The Who took a hiatus to focus on individual projects. Ronnie Lane initially approached Pete Townshend to produce his album but later invited him to collaborate on songwriting. Townshend, hesitant as he had never co-written songs before, ultimately declined. However, they did succeed in co-writing the album’s title track, Rough Mix. The album featured a mix of songs written individually by Lane and Townshend, with the two performing on most tracks together. This song is the one cover they did. The producer was the legendary Glyn Johns.

An album with Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane you would figure to be huge at the time. It wasn’t huge but it was a great album and has been highly regarded since. Personally, it’s high on my list of albums made in the 1970s along with Lane’s solo material. Like with the Danko album of 1977, Punk and Disco ruled the airwaves and probably had an effect on the commercial success of this album.

Don Williams’s music was really hot during this period. Eric Clapton was covering it and suddenly country music was popular. The album peaked at #44 in the Billboard Album Charts, #70 in Canada, and #45 in the UK in 1977.

Til The Rivers Run Dry

Till the rivers all run dry
Till the sun falls from the sky
Till life on earth is through
I’ll be needing you

I know sometimes you may wonder
From little things I say and do
But there’s no need for you to wonder
If I need you ’cause I’ll need you

Till the rivers all run dry
Till the sun falls from the sky
Till life on earth is through
I’ll be needing you

Too many times I don’t tell you
Too many things get in the way
And even though sometimes I hurt you
Still you show me in every way

Till the rivers all run dry
Till the sun falls from the sky
Till life on earth is through
I’ll be needing you

…

Small Faces – Song Of A Baker

Another band this week that didn’t break America but should have.

A great pop song by The Small Faces with Ronnie Lane on the lead vocal. Ronnie Lane was inspired to write this song by a book of Sufi wisdom given to him by Pete Townshend. The song was credited to Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott. The Small Faces

In 1966-67 Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott moved into a Westminster apartment, and a new drug entered their orbit that expanded their artistic vision almost beyond all recognition… LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide).

This song came off of their best-known album, Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. In its initial release, the album was packaged in a mock tobacco tin that was a circular metal container with oversized folded paper as one finds in a pipe tobacco tin. It proved to be too expensive and impractical, so later releases were packaged in conventional cardboard album covers. A compact disc reissue also was marketed in a mock Ogdens tin.

Ogden’s Nut-brown Flake was a tobacco brand produced in Liverpool from 1899 onwards by Thomas Ogden.

The album was a psychedelic concept album. It was one of rock’s first concept albums coming before The Who’s Tommy. Side two follows a boy named Happiness Stan who is trying to find the missing half of the moon. The story was thought of on a boating trip to teh river Thames.

Ian McLagan on touring Australia and New Zealand: “[The Australian press] gave me hell from the very beginning, because I’d just been busted, I was on my way to Athens for a holiday but never got further than Heathrow. As I was showing my passport they smelt the hash on me, searched and busted me. As soon as we landed in Australia we had a press conference, so we’re all lined up in front of the television cameras and the first guy goes: ‘Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan… you’re the drug addict right?’”

“On our way to New Zealand we had to stop off in Sydney. You couldn’t drink on internal flights back then, but one of Paul Jones’ Australian backing band passed a bottle around and the police were called. We weren’t even drinking but they arrested and held us in the first-class lounge where a waitress came straight up to us and said: ‘What would you like to drink?’ “So we drank. The police arrested us as soon as we arrived in New Zealand, but we ended up having a great time. Steve had his 21st birthday party; Keith [Moon] wrecked his room; it was business as usual.”

Kenney Jones: “The lyrics came from Ronnie’s Sufi investigations, with the importance of the ‘wheat in the field’ and all that, I love his melodic bass playing on it. He used to think like he was playing lead guitar and that mentally fused into his bass playing.”

Ian McLagan: “It was weird that they allowed Here Comes The Nice to come out at all, we were dabbling in all kinds of chemicals and Methedrine was one of them. We were wrong to have written about a speed dealer. They weren’t the nicest people. The guy you bought your hash from was usually just a head, but a speed dealer – like a coke or heroin dealer – was only interested in getting your money. It was quite different. They weren’t your friends.”

Son Of A Baker

There’s wheat in the field
And water in the stream
And salt in the mine
And an aching in me

I can no longer stand and wonder
Cause I’m driven by this hunger
So I’ll jug some water
Bake some flour
Store some salt and wait the hour

While I’m thinking of love
Love is thinking for me
And the baker will come
And the baker I’ll be

I am depending on my labor
The texture and the flavor

…

Ronnie Lane – Roll On Babe

Whenever I’m in a reflective mood, I immediately put on Ronnie Lane’s solo albums. As I do with most of the Lane posts…I put a little of his history for people who don’t know him. He went from a historical mod band to a rock band to a solo career. His solo career was so different than other artists. He did what he wanted to do and not the standard artist path. He did a tour under a big top with circus performers and kept his music down to earth.

Ronnie Lane was a British songwriter and bass player. He started with the Small Faces as the bass player and he and Steve Marriott wrote most of the band’s songs. The Small Faces never toured America so they never really broke out big. They did have 11 top twenty hits in the UK but only one in America with Itchycoo Park charting at #16. Steve Mariott left the Small Faces in 1968 and Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Ian McLagan to start The Faces. The Faces released four albums between 1970-1973… First Step, Long Player, A Nod is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse and Ooh La La. They were one of the top-grossing touring bands.

After Rod Stewart’s solo career took off his interest in the band began to wane and in 1973 Ronnie Lane quit. After Ronnie left the Faces, they made no more studio albums.

Ronnie started his own folk-country band named “Slim Chance” and released a surprise hit single “How Come?” in 1973 it went to #11 in the UK. Ronnie had a unique idea of touring. His tour was called “The Passing Show” which toured the countryside with a circus tent and included a ringmaster and clowns.

This song was on Lane’s first solo album after leaving the Faces called Anymore for Anymore released in 1974. Look for a biography on youtube called Ronnie Lane: The Passing Show… I watched it around 5-6 years ago and discovered more about him.

The song was written by a folk player who played with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott named Derroll Adams. He released it in 1967.

Ronnie Lane was heavily into Mehar Baba and his philosophy. Pete Townshend was also a big follower.

Roll On Babe

Roll on, babe
Don’t you roll so slow
When the wheel don’t turn
You don’t roll no more

I dreamt last night
Ole Lola was dead
I saw the apron string
All around her head

Roll on, babe
Don’t you roll so slow
When the wheel don’t turn
You don’t roll no more

Well, I jumped a train
When I wanna go
And for where she’s bound
Well, I don’ t wanna know

Roll on, babe
Don’t you roll so slow
When the wheel don’t turn
Well, you won’t roll no more

Well, I’ve been drinking gin
I drank some whisky too
Yeah, I got hooked
Oh, whatcha gonna do
Roll on, babe
Don’t you roll so slow
When the wheel don’t turn
You don’ roll no more
mmm, mmm…

…

Small Faces – Itchycoo Park

This song was released in 1967 by The Small Faces and it peaked at #16 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #3 in the UK. I was born in 1967 and cannot remember a thing but this song makes me feel like I was there. It was written by Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott. A psychedelic song that hit on both sides of the ocean which was rare for the Small Faces who never toured America.

Ronnie Lane had been reading a leaflet on the virtues of Oxford University which mentioned its dreaming spires. Several 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 park is Manor Park’s Itchycoo Park (officially Little Ilford Park) in London. An “Itchycoo” is slang for a flower found in the park called a “Stinging Nettle,” which can burn the skin if touched. Ronnie Lane said “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.”

Producer Glynn Johns used a new technique of phasing in the drum breaks. He got credit for doing that but it was his assistant that came up with it. The flange effect could be made by placing a finger on the supply reel creating drag, causing the machine to slow down, which increased the delay and lowered the pitch of the notches. The sound could be swept upward by doing the opposite…touching the take-up reel and speeding it up slightly.

Glyn Johns: I have often been given credit for this, but in fact the method used to achieve it was discovered by my assistant at the time, George Chkiantz, who demonstrated it to me as I arrived for the session. I thought it was a fantastic effect and decided to use it on the track we cut that afternoon. This happened to be “Itchycoo Park,” a song about taking LSD, as coincidence would have it, and if you listen you will see why it was so effective.

Glyn Johns: This was one hell of a band. They had a massive amount of energy that was unleashed on their audiences from the minute they hit the stage until they left it. If they had ever made it to America, they would undoubtedly have been as successful as any of the British bands that took it by storm in the sixties. That was not to be, as they broke up in 1969 before ever going there.

Ian McLagan: “I never liked ‘Itchycoo Park’ because me and Ronnie had to sing, ‘It’s all too beautiful,’ and you sing that a few times, and you think… It’s not. The ‘bridge of sighs’ is the one in Cambridge. The ‘dreaming spires’ are a reference to Oxford. Then ‘to Itchycoo Park… That’s where I’ve been,’ Ronnie was saying, ‘I didn’t need rich privilege or education. Found beauty in a nettle patch in the East End of London.”

Itchycoo Park

Over bridge of sighs
To rest my eyes in shades of green

Under dreaming 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?) 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

I’ll 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 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 nice and have fun in the sun
It’s all too beautiful, it’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful, hah

It’s all too beautiful, it’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful, it’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful, it’s all too beautiful

Ronnie Lane – April Fool

She said there’s dust and cobwebs on your north star
There’s no more frost and campfire in your hair

When I hear a Ronnie Lane song it makes me relaxed… It sounds like he is playing to you on a back porch somewhere…very intimate. He was a very underrated songwriter and singer. He just happened to be in two bands (Small Faces and Faces) that had two of the best singers of their generation so he didn’t sing lead a lot in those bands but when he did he was great.

I’ll get in a mood where I have to hear something rootsy or down to earth. I usually pick either The Band or Ronnie Lane. We all know Lane’s sad story but the man loved to play music over making money as his career will tell you. The love was for the music…not the dollar. He would record anywhere like in the middle of a meadow, on a back porch, or anywhere the notion struck. Most weren’t commercial catchy but they meant something. Songs like this…are the reason I have a blog.

An album with Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane you would figure to be huge at the time. It wasn’t huge but it was a great album and has been highly regarded since.

In October of 1976, the Who closed a North American tour in Toronto, a show that would be the last with Keith Moon before a paying audience. The band took a break to pursue individual projects. Ronnie Lane had wanted Townshend to produce his album but he then wanted Townshend to collaborate writing on the songs. Townshend declined because he had never written with anyone before but they did manage to write the title track, Rough Mix, together.

The album ended up with Townsend songs and Lane songs. They did do a cover of a Don Williams song called Till All The Rivers Run Dry. Rough Mix didn’t draw a lot of attention at the time but is now considered a lost gem. Townshend has said in his book that there was a big argument where he shoved Ronnie Lane. Pete said it felt like he didn’t know his own strength because Lane felt like he was made out of paper. Later Pete found out about Lane’s multiple sclerosis.

The album peaked at #44 in the Billboard Album Charts, #70 in Canada, and #45 in the UK in 1977.

I usually don’t post covers of the song I’m covering but this one is tastefully done by Magpie Salute. It features Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes on guitar. Something tells me Lane would like this as well.

April Fool

She said I’ll see you in the morning, darling
I’ll see you when the kids have gone to school
But well I know tomorrow is your birthday
I know you know that you’re an April Fool
We used to roam so freely. It’s been so long
I’ll take my dreams to bed now, where they belong

She said there’s dust and cobwebs on your north star
There’s no more frost and campfire in your hair
I see your wheels they’re rustin’ in the backyard
I know that we’re not going anywhere
We used to roam so freely. It’s been so long
I’ll take my dreams to bed now, where they belong

Small Faces- Rollin’ Over

They have become one of my favorite 60s rock bands. The biggest reason is their lead singer + guitarist…Steve Marriott.

If the Small Faces would have had a good or even decent manager they might have had a longer career and be more remembered today. They had a couple of great songwriters, Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. A superb drummer with Kenney Jones and keyboard player Ian McLagan

In my opinion, they had the best singer of any band at that time with Marriott. Other singers like Paul Rodgers and Robert Plant have said they both owed a debt to Marriott. The pure energy he gave off live is incredible. If I could build a rock band from scratch with anyone I wanted…Steve Marriott would be my singer…plus he was a great guitarist. Keith Richards wanted him to replace Mick Taylor when he left the Stones.

I always thought America had a skewed view of Small Faces. The only two songs played in America were Lazy Sunday and Itchycoo Park. One of them sounds like a music hall song and the other psychedelic. I like them but they were a driving band with a harder edge than either of those songs. Rollin’ Over is not their best song but I always have liked it. It was the B-Side to Lazy Sunday.

This song was off their biggest album Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. It’s a rocking song that reminds me of what was to come in Marriott’s Humble Pie and the later Faces. It was written by Marriott and Lane as was most of their songs. Listen to this song and All or Nothing and see the difference between the two hits in America.

The album peaked at #1 in the UK and #159 on the Billboard 100. The reason they didn’t hit more in America? Their manager Don Arden would not pay for them to tour here per Kenney Jones. During their peak in the UK, Arden paid the band just £20 a week (around $50 at that time) plus a clothing allowance. Kenney Jones said they have just recently received some of the royalties that were stolen from them by Arden.

Rollin’ Over

Goodbye sunshine, I’m on my wayI’ll be long time gone by the break of dayTell everyone that I’m gonna find itThere ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me

Rollin’ overRollin’ over (save all your lovin’ ’til I get home)Rollin’ over (ooh, the sweetest lovin’ sunshine that I’ve ever known)Tell everybody I’m gonna find itThere ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me

Rollin’ over, shak-do-wayWah-wah-doo, yeah-yeah-yeah (rollin’ over)Shak-do-way (rollin’ over)Yeah-yeah-yeah (rollin’ over)Shak-do-way (rollin’ over)Yeah-yeah-yeah (rollin’ over and over)Shak-do-way (rollin’ over)Yeah-yeah-yeah (rollin’ over)Shak-do-way (rollin’ over)Yeah-yeah-yeahShak-do-way

Faces – Debris

I was going to post this song a few weeks ago but I posted The Poacher instead by Ronnie Lane. Either way, we all win with those two songs. As with The Poacher…Ronnie Lane wrote and did the vocals for this song. It’s a gorgeous song and is one of the Faces best known songs.

This song was on the album that I would say ranks in the Hall Of Fame for names… A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse. It doesn’t get much better than that. The album was released in 1971. Debris is said to be about his East End working class roots. The album also contained their biggest hit…Stay With Me. The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard Album Charts, #5 in Canada, and #2 in the UK in 1971.

Lane didn’t seem the kind of person who wanted just fame…or for that matter money. He pretty much proved that when he left the Faces two years later to start a solo career that toured under a big top travelling around not meeting expenses most of the time.

Ronnie started his own folk-country band named “Slim Chance” and released a surprise hit single “Come On” in 1973 and it went to #11 in the UK. Ronnie had a unique idea of touring. His tour was called “The Passing Show” which toured the countryside with a circus tent and included a ringmaster and clowns.

Lane had been ripped off along along with the other Small Faces so he wasn’t drawing money from those old records. Pete Townshend tried to talk him out of quitting the Faces because as Pete told him…you are on the verge of making good royalties and money from the Face’s concerts will set you up for life. He ignored Pete and followed his heart. Lane had a lot of great music in him though and those albums with Slim Chance and Rough Mix with Pete Townshend are great.

Lane diagnosed with was Multiple Sclerosis around 1976.

In 1983 Ronnie called some of his musician friends to do some charity concerts for the Research for Multiple Sclerosis. They were known as the ARMS (Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis) Charity Concerts. Musicians such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and more came out to support Ronnie.

Ronnie Lane died of Pneumonia while in the final stages of Multiple Sclerosis in 1997

Debris

Two, three, four

I left you on the debris
At the Sunday morning market
You were sorting through the odds and ends
You was looking for a bargain

I heard your footsteps at the front door
And that old familiar love song
‘Cause you knew you’d find me waiting there
At the top of the stairs

I went there and back
Just to see how far it was
And you, you tried to tell me
But I had to learn for myself

There’s more trouble at the depot
With the general workers union
And you said, “They’ll never change a thing
Well, they won’t fight and they’re not working”

Oh, you was my hero
How you are my good friend
I’ve been there and back
And I know how far it is

But I left you on the debris
Now we both know you got no money
And I wonder what you would have done
Without me hanging around

Ronnie Lane – The Poacher

Hello everyone. Because of the storms in our area we do not have electricity… I’m not sure when I will be able to comment. I have to charge my phone with the car.

The more I hear Ronnie Lane’s deep cuts the more I like him. The reason I started to blog is because of songs like this. Lane was with the Small Faces and then The Faces. He was a key member of each band. In the Small Faces, he played bass and wrote most songs with lead guitarist and guitar player Steve Marriott. Lane also sang some songs for them as well.

In the Faces, again he played bass and wrote songs by himself and with other members of the band. Again…he sang some songs but the lead singer was Rod Stewart. I like Lane’s voice a lot but he happened to be in two bands with two of the best lead singers of their generation.

The Poacher appeared on his 1974 album Anymore for Anymore released in 1974 after he left The Faces. His music was earthy, rootsy….real. You could almost picture Ronnie Lane on your back porch replicating these wonderful songs. No studio tricks just good melodies and lyrics. I’ve always been a lyric guy and I love a good phrase. For instance this song…Bring me fish with eyes of jewels, And mirrors on their bodies, Bring them strong and bring them bigger
Than a newborn child. It just rolls so well together.

He had a dream of bringing music back to the people and all of them traveled in a gypsy-type caravan around the country like a circus. He thought that playing music just for money and fame was wrong. The lyrics to this song back that up…And I’ve no use for power And I’ve no use for a broken heart I’ll let this world go by. He is essentially rejecting the world and leaving himself behind.

The album was recorded with his mobile studio at his farm. You can hear animals and you can hear children playing in the background when you listen. It’s down to earth as Ronnie Lane was in real life. It’s a beautiful song that needs to be discovered by more people. It barely hit the UK charts when released.

During the recording of Rough Mix with Pete Townshend…Lane diagnosed with was Multiple Sclerosis. He still toured with Eric Clapton and others afterward and released an album in 1979 called See Me.

Ronnie Lane died of Pneumonia while in the final stages of Multiple Sclerosis in 1997

Ronnie Lane: “The idea for The Poacher came to me when I was living in a fortune teller’s caravan by the side of the River Thames at Pete Townshend’s back garden.”

Pete Townshend: “He was homeless at the time and they lived like gypsies and they used to cook in the open air.”

For you Jam/Paul Weller fans…here is Lane’s band Slim Chance and Weller playing this song.

The Poacher

Was fresh and bright and early
I went towards the river
But nothing still has altered just the seasons ring a change
There stood this old timer
For all the world’s first poacher
His mind upon his tackle
And these words upon his mind:

Bring me fish with eyes of jewels
And mirrors on their bodies
Bring them strong and bring them bigger
Than a newborn child

Well I’ve no use for riches
And I’ve no use for power
And I’ve no use for a broken heart
I’ll let this world go by

There stood this old timer
For all the world’s first poacher
His mind upon his tackle
And these words upon his mind:

Bring me fish with eyes of jewels
And mirrors on their bodies
Bring them strong and bring them bigger
Than a newborn child

Faces – Maybe I’m Amazed ….Under The Covers Week

This week I want to mix it up a bit so I’m doing cover versions all this week. I thought I would kick it off with The Faces. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a version of this that I don’t like. A blog that I would highly recommend that specializes in covers is Randy at Mostly Music Covers. Check him out when you can…he goes in-depth on music covers.

The Faces were fun…any band that would have a bartender on stage with a bar…has my vote. Ronnie Lane would sing the first part of this song with Rod the Mod Stewart would pick it up after the first verse. I like Ronnie’s voice a lot…it wasn’t Rod Stewart but it was very rootsy. Lane was a very good singer in a band with a great singer…twice. He was in the Small Faces with Steve Marriott and The Faces with Rod Stewart. Those two types of singers don’t come very often.

The song was on their album Long Player… They did an excellent version of this song. They added to it without losing its charm. The album was their sophomore album and it peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts, #32 in Canada, and #31 in the UK in 1971. Their next album A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse (that is a great title!) peaked at #6 on the Billboard Album Charts later that year.

This song was written by Paul McCartney on his debut album. It should have been released as a single. He did release it as a single in 1976, a live version off the triple record set…Wings Over America. Paul wrote this song for Linda who helped pull him through a bad depression after The Beatles broke up. I did read an interesting fact about this song. “This was the first song with the word “amazed” in the title to reach the Hot 100. Another didn’t appear until 1999 when Lonestar charted with “Amazed.”

It’s hard to believe that the Faces single didn’t chart because McCartney never released it as a single himself…you would think the market would have been ready for it. Although FM stations did play the McCartney version.

Stewart always called Ronnie Lane the heart of the band and that was probably true. Lane got frustrated not being able to sing many songs and was upset at Stewart’s lack of commitment… and quit. After Lane quit in 1973, Tetsu Yamauchi took his place for touring but then they broke up in 1975 when Ron Wood joined the Stones and Stewart continued his solo career.

Ron Wood talks about Maybe I’m Amazed and has a special guest in this 1:24 clip.

Maybe I’m Amazed

Baby I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I’ll leave you
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you fool me all the time
You hung me on a line
Baby, I’m amazed at the way I really need you

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he doesn’t really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only woman that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he does not really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only one that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Baby, I’m amazed at the way you’re with me all the time
Baby, I’m afraid of the way I’ll leave ya’
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you help me sing the song
You right me when I’m wrong
Baby I’m amazed at the way I really need you

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he does not really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only woman that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Faces – Richmond

A great song by the Faces that was written by Ronnie Lane. Lane was a very good singer in a band with a great singer…twice. He was in the Small Faces with Steve Marriott and The Faces with Rod Stewart. Those two types of singers come just once a generation.

He takes the lead in this song. The Faces were a raucous fun band. They stormed the stage with a full bar and bartender. They WERE banned from the Holiday Inn chain…but that didn’t stop them from staying there. They soon started to check in at Holiday Inns as Fleetwood Mac…and it worked! They didn’t take anything seriously and wanted to have fun and take the audience with them.

One US tour billed as a Rock’n’Roll Circus, involved sharing the bill with jugglers, acrobats, Blinko the clown, and a Chinese high-wire stripper called Ming Wung. All the while they were leaping about the stage, swapping mics, whispering in huddles, and booting soccer balls into the crowd.

This song came off of their album Long Player released in 1971. The album peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts, #34 in Canada, and #41 in the UK. Their next album A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse would peak at #6 in the same year.

Drummer Kenney Jones: “It wasn’t just at gigs, everywhere we went we fell on the floor – airports, restaurants, hotels, bars. We were saying to people that you don’t have to take rock’n’roll too seriously. Every gig was like going to a party. The Faces were undoubtedly the most fun band I was ever in.”

Kenney Jones: “We were the first to do a lot of things, we’d have a white stage, and insist that Chuch Magee, who was our roadie, wore black trousers, a white shirt, and a waistcoat, so he looked like a barman. So he’d tend the bar, then quickly do Woody’s guitar and various other things. And we’d have palm trees on stage with us. It was very over-the-top. We took the piss out of ourselves, more than anything.”

Kenney Jones: “Rod summed it up really well, he told me that once Ronnie Lane left the band, the spirit of the Faces left too. Ronnie was integral to the band. It was the complete line-up when he was there. It never quite felt the same afterwards.”

Free Drummer Simon Kirke: .“Touring with the Faces was wonderful, they were at their peak and had Rod Stewart singing. Jeez, he could sing so well back then. He’s like Paul Rodgers, really; he never sung a bad show, he just had variations on brilliant. They always had such fun on stage. There were drinks in abundance, and Woody was there with the ever-present ciggie hanging out of his mouth or tucked in the end of his guitar. Ian would be grinning from ear to ear. And they dressed so flamboyantly, too, all silks and satins and flares. I loved ’em. They just had a great time, whereas Free were slightly serious.”

This video is just 7 minutes long…it is Ronnie Lane’s son talking about his dad and Cat Stevens is at the end of the video.

Richmond

I wish I
I wish I was in Richmond
I do, I would I
I wish I
I wish I was back home

I’m waitin’
Here in New York City
The rain is falling
There’s no one who cares
There’s no one loves me here

The women
They may look very pretty
And some they know it
But some look good
They show a leg and smile
But they all look like the flowers
In someone else’s garden
I’ve no act of love
for anyone but you

Ronnie Lane – One For The Road

This song doesn’t have a catchy chorus or a commercial feel at all but I love it. The first time I heard it I was at a bar at closing time…drinking rum and coke. It’s pure music by Ronnie Lane who walked away from the successful Faces to do his own thing.

This was the title track off of his album One For The Road released in 1975. He did this album with his band Slim Chance. The album was overlooked at the time but now is praised. I had the album at one time…it’s a good album…very consistent.

Ronnie Lane was a Britsh songwriter and bass player. He started with the Small Faces as the bass player and he and Steve Marriott wrote most of bands songs. The Small Faces never toured America so they never really broke out big. They did have 11 top twenty hits in the UK but only one in America with Itchycoo Park charting at #16.

Steve Mariott left the Small Faces in 1968 and Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Ian McLagan to start The Faces. The Faces released four albums between 1970-1973… First Step, Long Player, A Nod is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse and Ooh La La. They were one of the top grossing touring bands.

After Rod Stewart’s solo career took off his interest in the band began to wane and in 1973 Ronnie Lane quit. After Ronnie left the Faces, they made no more studio albums.

During the recording of “Rough Mix” Lane diagnosed with was Multiple Sclerosis. He still toured with Eric Clapton and others afterward and released an album in 1979 called “See Me.”

Ronnie Lane died of Pneumonia while in the final stages of Multiple Sclerosis in 1997.

BBC Sessions version

One For The Road

[Verse 1]
I’ve had my friends
All them that come and they ate with me
All them that come and they drunk with me
I’ve had my friends

[Verse 2]
And there’s been loads
All that said they would stand by me
All that said they could see what I could see
I’ve had my friends

[Verse 3]
Oh, I’ve had my dreams
New moon and roses like a foolish kid
Do unto others like I do to me
I’ve had my dreams

[Chorus]
And it’s one for the road, yes it is
One for the cat’s eyes, yes and
One for the white line
That’s takin’ me back home

[Verse 4]
Oh, now, I’ve had my way
All them that’s took me there and back
All them that’s left me way off the track
I’ve had my way

[Verse 5]
Oh, now, I’ve had my day
Just like that doggy the story goes
Oh, but night time comes and you got no bones
But, I’ve had my day

[Chorus]
And it’s one for the road, yes it is
One for the cat’s eyes, yes and
One for the white line
That’s takin’ me back home

[Instrumental]

[Verse 6]
Oh, now, I’ve seen my woman
Take her gardenia, now she stares away
Stares out the window and her eyes are grey
I’ve known my woman

[Verse 7]
Oh, yeah, I’ve had my dreams
Full moon and roses like a crazy kid
Do unto others like I would to me, yeah
Oh, I’ve had my dream

[Chorus]
Stil’ it’s one for the road, yes and
One for the cat’s eyes, yes and
One for the white line
That’s takin’ me back home

[Chorus]
Yes it’s one for the road, yes and
One for the cat’s eyes, yes and
One for the white line
That’s takin’ me back home