Tag: See Me

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

…