“My Skin Is White, But My Soul Is Black”

As you may know , Ray Charles' "Drown in My Own Tears" was played at Steve's funeral.

It was kind if ironic, as Jerry Shirley said at one of the Small Faces Conventions, that Steve's own version of this great song should be lost for thirty years. He recorded it in early Humble Pie days, but it lay gathering dust due to the label's refusal to pay in order to add strings to it, because, as you know, "white boys don't sing the blues".

Well, this white boy could. there's no doubt that Steve could hit those blue notes that other singers just can't. That in itself takes a lot of natural ability, plus the confidence to pull it off.

Interestingly, if I were to name the world's three greatest ever black soul and blues singers, then without doubt I would go for

 1. Otis Redding
 2. Howling Wolf
 3. Ray Charles

 .......in that order

As Steve Marriott is without doubt the best white soul singer ever produced by Britain, it's quite interesting to acknowledge the influence and debt owed by Steve to these three.

Steve was in fact influenced by all the great American bluesmen from an early age. Even before he met Ronnie Lane he was well known around Manor Park, London, for his extensive and unusual blues record collection. This love of blues was to come out, especially in the early Humble Pie days, with many a nod to Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Ray Charles, among others.

And for many years, until his death, his live set always included at least one blues standard - be it a treatment of "I Wonder" or in later years the showstopper, Muddy Waters' "Five Long Years".  In fact, even if you listen to any of the Small Faces concert tapes,they are less like a singles band and much more influenced by the bluesmen than you would ever have thought in their live set

Ironically, the Small Faces initially took off on a wave of white RnB, after the teenage Marriott developed a keen interest in RnB,which was heavily fused with the soul music of the day - James Brown, Sam Cooke and Booker T & the MGs. This in turn became the music of choice for the emerging Mod culture.  His catchphrase "Come on Children" doesn't come from a saying his teacher used to use. It comes from James Brown on "Think"

Marriott also had admiration for Curtis Mayfield, Mavis Staples, Marvin Gaye, the entire Staples Singers, Hank Williams, Little Richard and the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. You then add to this melting pot his heroes Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Hank WIlliams and Muddy Waters, who he would later play with a couple of times. And really, it is this mixture of gospel, blues, soul, RnB, together with country and bluegrass which defined where Steve's head was.

However, no-one is found in the Steve Marriott stylebook more obviously than Otis Redding.

Redding was born in 1941, and was tragically killed 26 in a plane crash in 1967 at age 26. I recently visited his hometown of Macon, Georgia,and there you can see the main bridge into the town prominently named the "Otis Redding Memorial Bridge". The little town
also hosts the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Otis had scored several US hits before taking Europe by storm on a Stax/Volt package tour, and releasing Otis Blue in 1965.

There followed a stage appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival. But Otis never lived to see his first chart-topper "Dock of the Bay" which hit the top of the US charts only three weeks after his death.  The Small Faces "Playmates" track in 1977 owes more than a passing nod to "Dock of the Bay".

However, in terms of direct covers, "My Lovers Prayer" was one of the standout tracks on the 1980 Humble Pie LP "On to Victory", and just check out "That's How Strong My Love Is" on "Eat It". Live,  Steve would often break into Otis' first hit single "Mr Pitiful" (which Otis co-wrote with Steve Cropper of Booker T & the MG's). This song was also featured during the 1991 live shows, Steve's last ever shows. In fact Steve recorded it in the studio with Jim Leverton in the late 1980's, but the recording has never surfaced.

In the early days, the Small Faces "Shake" was often their live opener - again covered early on by Otis, who in turn was a huge Sam Cooke fan. Otis also covered the Smokey Robinson song "My Girl", which turned up in the Small Faces live repertoire in the 60's, and much later in the Official Receviers live shows.

Finally, in terms of style, the man-woman interplay on Otis tracks like "Tramp" are very very reminiscent of the vocal interplay between Steve and the Blackberries around the Eat It time. Listen to the phrasing on Otis' "Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (sad song)" and you hear where Marriott roots are!  Yes, it's nice to find such a direct link between two of the world's greatest ever singers !

Now Otis Redding was a big man - but Howling Wolf, who was born Chester Burnett, in the Mississippi delta was a huge hulk of a man at 6' 3" and 270 pounds. He was dubbed Bull Cow and Big Foot Chester, before becoming well known by the name that echoed his singing style.

I also had the opportunity recently to visit Sun Studios in Memphis. Sam Philips, who (don't forget) discovered and recorded Elvis among many other luminaries called Howling Wolf "the greatest singer of them all". Certainly his otherworldly, supernatural moaning makes him unparalleled as far as I'm concerned.

While his catalogue is famously covered by the Rolling Stones (Little Red Rooster), Cream (Spoonful) and Led Zepellin (Killing Floor), it's uncanny how the early Small Faces (who were supposedly novices remember) sound instrumentally very much like Howling Wolf records on tracks like "Smokestack Lightning".  "Buttermilk Boy", with it's reference to muscly men is a throwback to "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy", while "The Fixer" owes a lot to Wolf's "Back Door Man".

But what more needs to be said - that when Humble Pie really got themselves to immortality, it was with one of Howling Wolf's finest - the incomparable "Rolling Stone".  I've never heard Howling Wolf do Rolling Stone. I know it was Muddy Waters...but I've continually heard references to it.

There's very little new that can be said about Ray Charles. Variously called a genius, and the most influential musician of the 20th century, he was adored by Steve. Coming out of Albany, Georgia, he paved the way for Marriott with a blend of jazz, blues, RnB and country.

Side four of Rocking the Fillmore is a virtual tribute to Ray Charles, with "Hallelujah I Love Her So" followed by Ray's 1966 single "I Don't Need No Doctor". Hallelujah I Love Her So" has the distinction of being the longest lasting song in Steve's live set. It can be traced from Humble Pie's second ever gig in Amsterdam in 1969, consistently through to the last shows Steve ever played in 1991.  "I Wonder" made dramatic appearance on Smokin', while "I Believe to My Soul" was an absolute standout on Eat It.  In fact, at their pinnacle in 1973, Humble Pie included three Ray Charles songs in their live set.

With his roots so deep in American blues and his natural ability to sing the songs of the genre, you wonder how heartfelt it was when Steve sang the lyric in "Black Coffee", "My Skin Is White, But My Soul Is Black".

The Steve Marriott Top 20 back (black) catalogue

 1. Alabama '69
 2. Baby Don't Do It
 3. Black Coffee
 4. Bluegrass Interval
 5. Brown Man Do
 6. Every Mother's Son...just sounds like the Southern         States
 7. Groovin' with Jesus
 8. Hambone...same as Every Mother's son
 9. I Believe to My Soul
10. I Can't Stand the Rain
11. You Need Loving
12. Rolling Stone
13. You've Really Got a Hold of Me
14. That's How Strong My Love is
15. My Lover's Prayer
16. The Um Um Song
17. Louisiana Blues
18. Sweet Nothings
19. I Never Loved a Woman
20. Think

 

“Over Too Soon” Should the Small Faces have reformed?

Difficult question. I guess it was always going to happen sometime,
sooner or later. Problem was that the original Small Faces just
sparkled. They were a brilliant spark of light - at the right time and place....

Second time round - much as I admire Rick Wills greatly - as soon as
Ronnie Lane walked out the door, early on, and already in the early
stages of his MS condition, a lot of the magic walked out with him.

The Small Faces Mk II did leave behind them, though, two cracking
albums. That needs to be said. If anyone doesn't have these - do
yourself a favour and get a copy. They also left one or two tracks
that would have graced any singles charts, not least the track
they planned for their comeback single "Lonely No More" and
Joe Brown's classic "Soldier".

The way the story's told nowadays is that the whole thing was driven
by the fact that re-issues of Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday became
hit singles all over again. That's certainly part of the truth,but to
be honest, from listening to Steve Marriott interviews - not least
the excellent 1976 interview - even when he was worrying about
releasing his A&M solo album, and taking his All Stars to the USA, he
was at the same time VERY serious about reforming the Small Faces

Here's how I remember it from the time...

After the culture change and the psychedelia of the swinging
sixties...the first half of the seventies was also a classic
period. Exciting.  Remember underground music, progressive rock,
heavy rock, country/folk rock as well as glam rock from T Rex and
a host of others.

But by the mid-70's though ('75/'76) all of this had gotten a bit
stale. Rather than new acts, the vaccuum gave an opening to
previously established acts to grab an opportunity - in fact the
biggest names in the world became Fleetwood Mac, The Bee Gees and
(ironically) Frampton.

Although some were to make a comeback later (Elton John, Rod Stewart
and to some extent Queen)...The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The
Who (with their own tragedies to cope with) found their careers going
into cul-de-sacs.

This very staleness had already spawned the fledgling punk/new wave
movement. Against this background, the UK Music Press found themselves
unusually slow. They began to pick up on a "Will They, Won't They ?"
story about a possible Small Faces reunion.

I remember clearly the NME in particular giving these stories a huge
amount of prominence - front page on at least two occasions. Out of
all proportion with the prominence I would have expected at that stage

I remember also a headline and article "I was there when they
reformed" in the music press - probably related to the video of the
single being made.

So the Music Press, in quiet times, built up a false expectation of
a ready made market for the Small Faces...and then promptly
ignored them! Or maybe a better way of saying this is that punk killed
the Small Faces. Dead.

All of the record buying and media attention went on this new phenomenon.
The Small Faces were in good company - at the same time many of the
old school vanished - Cockney Rebel, Be Bop Deluxe, Wishbone Ash.
many others.

The Small Faces found themselves starved of airplay. Steve complained
of this bitterly at the time...and the consequence was really the end
of Steve's commercial career in the UK, although we didn't know that
at the time.

Another problem at this time was Steve's voice, ravaged by several US
tours in the 70's. From talking to him at this point I know that he
was worried about it "What good is a singer without a voice ?"
he said to me more than once.

Live - whenever I saw them they were really good - although listening
now to tapes of the shows then make me occasionally grimace a bit.
The audience was a curious mixture, though, split 50/50 between the
original Small Faces generation and the new kids. On balance, the
group maybe over promoted their new material a bit live - and
although the halycon Small Faces days were well covered in the live
set, they ignored what they all had been doing since 1969, which
covered a wealth of 70's material - and at this time the largest
market by far was the 70's kids.

Steve, by this point was thirty years old, a youngster by today's
standards - but in 1977 there really wasn't a 30-something rock
audience. That was something that happened in the 80's as the Baby
Boomers gew older.

In 1977, from a New Wave point of view, 30 was way over the hill.
Also at this time, Steve was becoming more of the stage presence we
would see in Packet of Three as opposed to the on stage dynamo that
drove Humble Pie. I think fans were a bit confused by the laidback
cockney charm-almost cabaret style of the Small Faces. It didn't
quite fit the times, despite some beautiful music being made.
Ironically, too, 1977 was the first time I ever saw Paul Weller live.
He was one of the people who epitomised the times.

If Ronnie Lane hadn't left. If the timing of the new Wave movement
had been different. Or if the Small Faces MK II had been more US-
friendly. Kinda sums up much of Steve's later career ? pity !

And boy, didn't they produce some of their best music ever when
Marriott and Lane DID get together a few years later with the Majic
Mijits project !!

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“That Man” The magic of Steve Marriott

What was the special magic of the Mijit ?                                 
                                                                          
 What is it that causes me, and others, to set up Websites, Fanzines,     
 e-Groups and Conventions nearly ten years after his death and thirty years
 after his heyday? Whatever magic it was, it also spawned its influence on
 a whole host of 90's-BritPop acts from Oasis and Blur, through Supergrass,
 Ocean Colour Scene to Weller and the Charlatans.                                 
                                                                          
 And the stange thing is....the loyalty and fanaticism shown in Britain by
 a sizeable Small Faces community is matched only by a similar Humble Pie fan
 base in the USA.                                                         
                                                                          
 I think, first and foremost, Steve Marriott was a performer. THE         
 performer. He could work a stage and an audience in a way I've never seen
 surpassed.  Jerry Shirley rightly says that Steve invented many of the things
 we take for granted in rock and roll performance. He really did.                 
                                                                          
 His mother, Kay, gives credit to the Italian Conti School for his later  
 ability to work the stage - and I'm sure she's right. Training for       
 classical acting would have helped, but as DT's bandmate Simon "Honeyboy"
 Hickling says.....Steve could have been anything he wanted - a comedian, a
 singer, an actor - he just had that level of talent and charisma.        
                                                                          
 He could create such intense energy and atmosphere in a live setting.    
 Mano Pearcey, his lifelong friend, and his partner for seven years, recalls the
 "Who at Charlton" event in early 1974. The 'Oo were widely felt at that  
 time to be the strongest live act in the world. Having seen them a few   
 times myself - they were awesome (although in my mind they paled into 2nd
 place behind the Pie).                                                     
                                                                          
 Anyway, at Charlton the Who had the unenviable task of following Marriott,
 who had received a rapturous welcome, and who had created a fever pitch  
 intensity. Manon says that walking on to the stage that day the Who were 
 absolutely f*** faced at what they had to follow. I can quite believe it !
                                                                          
 Even Clem Clempson, talking at the 2002 Small Faces Convention said that 
 of all the performers he's ever seen, or worked with, only Michael Jackson
 comes close to the genius that Steve had working the stage and working the
 audience.                                                                
                                                                          
 He could glide effortlessly from one end of the stage to the other, in a 
 series of dance moves or duckwalk steps that would make you swear he was 
 on roller skates.                                                        
                                                                          
 Secondly, he is probably the best white rock / soul / blues singer to come
 out of the UK                                                            
                                                                          
 With remarkable similarities to the Who story above - at the 2000        
 Convention Jerry Shirley told a story about Robert Plant, who used to drop
 into his local club in Birmingham regularly about once a month on a Friday
 night. Inevitably, Percy would join the live band for a couple of numbers
 at the end of the night.                                                 
                                                                          
 One night as he arrived - the barman said "got a great surprise for you  
 tonight, Robert. Steve Marriott is appearing. We're looking forward to   
 seeing you sing with him !" To which Plant replied "If you think I'm going
 to follow Steve Marriott onto a stage, you've got another think coming!" 
                                                                          
 Such diversity and adaptability too ! From Country and Bluegrass to      
 Rockabilly.He was famed for his soulfulnessand his ability to sing black -
 but he could also scream with the best of them (which was what finally   
 ruined his voice over too many hard slogs across the US)                 
                                                                          
 I can recount many instances that demonstrate the raw power of his voice.
 People still talk in awe about hearing Steve acapella and unamplified at 
 the BACK of an auditorium !                                                  
                                                                          
 I have many live tapes where you hear Steve moving away from the   
 microphone and still being heard above the amplification.                
                                                                          
 Steve Letford (Lyrics compiler for this website), himself a huge fan,
 recalls an early Humble Pie tour where they started their show with the
 four members of the band each doing a solo turn. Marriott stood stage
 front and sang, (apparently with just an acoustic guitar and unamplified)
 the now legendary "I Worship the Ground" - which made the hairs absolutely
 tingle on the back of the neck.          
                                                                          
 Another fan talks about standing in an arena backstage corridor as Humble
 Pie members sauntered towards the stage. Suddenly Steve broke into song -
 and the volume nearly knocked that fan backwards.                        
                                                                          
 A great story, concerned a bunch of fans who drove down to Steve's house 
 one day on spec. Steve happily joined them in the local pub, and he was  
 being driven home when he burst into "Alabama 69". The driver feared the 
 windscreen was going to be shattered right in front of him.              
                                                                          
 One of the most nostalgic venues for Humble Pie was the Philadelphia     
 Sepctrum, where many of the pictures that appear on Rocking the Fillmore 
 were taken. Anyway, this was a 20,000 seater arena, which Humble Pie sold
 out five or six times in the 70s, belying their record sales.            
                                                                          
 Another fan takes up the story......                                     
                                                                          
 "Let me share a story with you. I've watched Steve perform six times. Five
 times with Humble Pie and once with HP Mk II. At the Spectrum in my home 
 town of Philadelphia, I once saw Steve throw the mic to the floor and sing
 without it. I think they were doing "C'Mon Everybody" - the band was in  
 high gear, and I (standing 3 or 4 layers of people back from the stage)  
 could still hear him!                                                  
                                                                          
 Do you realise the kind of stage volume the Pie shed ?  Also, just after
 Smokin' was released, and during an encore of "Four Day Creep", Steve
 started calling on people up on stage to dance (I was seated
 a good distance away) and pretty soon the whole stage was filled with fans.
 The Security people and the police were literally throwing folks off the 
 stage. All of a sudden I see Steve kick a Security person (maybe even a  
 cop) right in the ass and off the stage. Anyway, the show ended without  
 incident."                                                               
                                                                          
 Nor did he lose it towards the end! In one of his latter pub gigs he was 
 getting heckled along the lines of being a drunken has-been.             
 At the interval he staggered up to the mike and began to sing a blues song
 acapella. The crowd were spellbound!                                     
 When he finished, he said to the heckler "I bet you didn't think I could 
 still do that !!!"                                                       
                                                                          
 Ok - that covers performing and singing...but as a songwriter, Steve left
 a wealthy pedigree. One only need mention Small Faces hits such as All or  
 Nothing, Tin Soldier, The Universal, Afterglow and Lazy Sunday, all of   
 which Steve wrote, despite the Marriott/Lane credits.                          
                                                                          
 His portfolio is much wider though - displaying a real songwriting      
 talent across many genre. Some of his Humble Pie songs are just beautiful.
 "Say no more" and "Song for Jenny" come to mind, as are a whole wealth of
 songs which remain officially unreleased to this day!
                                                                          
 Next, I feel he has never been given credit for his absolute GENIUS for  
 interpretation. Steve didn't just do cover versions - he often moulded the
 song into something entirely original.                                   
                                                                          
 "You Need Lovin" may have been a Willie Dixon song done by Muddy Waters -
 but Steve couldn't sing like Muddy Waters, so he invented his own song - 
 so wonderful that the vocals were nicked, word for word, phrase by phrase, by
 Led Zeppelin who sold millions with "Whole Lotta Love"! By the way  
 the self same Percy Plant who was spotted in the front row of Small Faces
 concerts more than once watching all the moves.                            
                                                                          
 The era of "Rocking the Fillmore" probably best typifies this interpretation
 skill. Marriott took Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No Doctor", Muddy Water's
 "Rolling Stone", Dr John's "Guilded Splinters", Willie Dixon's "I'm Ready"
 and Ida Cox's "Four Day Creep" or "I Want You to Love Me" into a whole   
 different life and form.  The pace and feel of "C'Mon Everybody" also
 transforms it into a different song.                                                                                                                                               
 Maybe his greatest genius, though was actually innovation - because in   
 addition to the above talents he was definitely a groundbreaker. Nobody  
 had taken the idea of alternating the singer verse by verse which is     
 typified by early Humble Pie (although they maybe felt they were trying to
 emulate The Band). And the fusion of heavy rock and black soul in the Eat
 It / Blackberries days was completely unique.                            
                                                                          
 Remember, Steve also felt he pretty much invented Heavy Metal - even if  
 most would not agree with that one  - and he had already taken the Small 
 Faces from Mod RnB through a kind of psychedelia meets cockney music hall
 style.                                                                   
                                                                          
 As a musician, Steve matured with age, and became a very good guitar     
 player. He was an excellent piano player and harp player, and could turn 
 his hand to drums and bass.                                              
                                                                          
 Was there any downside at all?                                         
                                                                          
 Well - he maybe wasn't the world's best lyricist.....although he created a
 few classics, as well as many clever wordplays. As a producer he had a
 few blind spots, particularly in the early/mid 70s. But he was well enough
 respected to be offered a house producer job by two or three record labels,
 including Swansong.                                
                                                                          
 However, this magic midget, loved as he is, never got the credit he deserved,
 commercially or financially.  Although he gave the impression he didn't seem
 to mind too much.          
                                                                          
 Steve didn't like his time doing stadium gigs, and turned down opportunities
 later in his career from Jimmy Page and from Free which would have pointed
 him in that direction again.                               
                                                                          
 He didn't want his face on the front of magazines. He didn't want that  "level"      of success - and of course he realised that was exactly what the  "suits"                 wanted.                                                            
                                                                          
 As his lyrics say "You don't need money to be wise."                       

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Hear it for yourself, listen to a short clip of Small Faces’ “You Need Lovin’“

Click to listen