THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

872-Small Faces-Itchycoo Park.

1967-Number 3 single. When it was re-issued in 1975 it made Number 13.

Best Bit-At 2.23. You’ve heard of air guitar, well this is air drums. When she played the song, I remember Annie Nightingale, the first BBC Radio 1 DJ saying,’Drummers of the world unite.’

The Small Faces (see also best songs 1048) were formed in London, England, in 1965 by Steve Marriott, (1947-1991) (vocals, and guitar) Ronnie Lane, (1946-1997) (bass guitar) Kenney Jones, (drums) and Jimmy Winston, (1945-2020) (guitar, and keyboards) Winston left the group in 1966, and was replaced by Ian McLagan (1945-2014) (keyboards.) The Small Faces split in 1969 when Steve Marriott left to form the ‘Blues Rock’ band Humble Pie with Peter Frampton, while the other three members collaborated with Ronnie Wood, (see also best songs 565-160 and 70) Ronnie’s older brother Art Wood, (1937-2006) Rod Stewart (see also best songs 965-565-179-70 and 34) and Kim Gardner, (1948-2001) briefly continuing under the name ‘Quiet Melon,’ and then, with the departure of Art Wood and Gardner, as the ‘Faces’ (see also best songs 565 and 70.) Following the re-release of ‘Itchycoo Park’ in 1975, and also the break-up of the ‘Faces,’ the ‘Small Faces’ reformed, and remained active until 1979, with Rick Wills, replacing Ronnie Lane later in 1975.

The Small Faces were initially heavily influenced by American ‘R&B,’ but later they experimented with ‘Psychedelic Music.’ Their discography includes six studio Albums released between 1966-1978, and 14 singles that were issued between 1965-1976, including two re-releases, there are also four official compilation Albums, and three live Albums available. In the UK, the Small Faces have had 14 top 40 singles, with ‘All Or Nothing,’ which Steve Marriott has said is the best song that he wrote, giving them their only Number 1 single. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, ‘Itchycoo Park’ was their only top 40 chart entry, reaching Number 16.

‘Itchycoo Park’ which was never featured on any of the Small Faces UK studio Albums, but was featured on the North American release ‘There Are But Four Small Faces,’ in 1968. The song was co-written , and co-produced by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, although mainly written by Lane, in 1995 a ‘Dance’ version of the song was released by the British band ‘M People,’ (see also best songs 430) which reached Number 11 in the UK. ‘Itchycoo Park’ is the nickname of ‘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 has 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.’ Ronnie Lane has also explained the origins of the song,’Itchycoo Park’ basically came from me. I lifted it from a hymn, ‘God Be In My Head,’ and I also got the theme to the words in a hotel in Bath or Bristol. There was a magazine in the room with a rambling account of some place in the country, and it was about ‘dreaming spires’ and a ‘bridge of sighs,’ there was a write-up on this town, and I just thought they were nice lines.’

When ‘Itchycoo Park’ was first released many radio stations refused to play it, because of it’s controversial lyrics such as ‘What did you do there? I got high.’ In order to get the ban reversed the Small Faces put out a statement saying that ‘Itchycoo Park’ was a piece of waste ground in the East End, that the band had played on as kids. Ronnie Lane said that the meaning of ‘getting high,’ was the buzz of playing truant from school. They put the statement out at 10.am, and by lunchtime the ban had been lifted.

‘Itchycoo Park’ was one of the first hit songs to feature ‘Flanging,’ which is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together. The song features one of the first uses of ‘phase-shifting’ production, which you can hear when the vocals and drums become distorted in the song. The technique was called ‘comb filtering,’ which could later be created using a processor, but at the time required three tape machines, with two of them playing the same thing at different frequencies, and the third one recording it. According to Glyn Johns, who engineered the sessions, it was a staff producer at Olympic Studios named George Chkiantz who came up with the effect, and Johns was looking for a place to use it. The Small Faces were always looking for new sounds and encouraged Johns to use the technique on this song. The groups keyboardist Ian McLagan has said, ‘We tried to replicate the phasing effect when we played it live. It was hopeless.’

‘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.’