SLS: Still Shining Brightly

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim is inviting us to play a song by a forgotten band, as he tells us in his post, Brush With Fame. I’m betting that most won’t ever have heard of my featured act, though maybe one of them might be more familiar from his later solo days. I’m playing you some songs by a band I loved back in the 70s: Brinsley Schwarz.

The band was formed in 1969, having evolved from the remains of a 60s pop band called Kippington Lodge – the very definition of obscure! The Brinsleys were only around for four years but managed to give us six albums in that time. I’m playing two from their first album, one from their second, and then closing with one from their final album, which you may well know better from a more familiar cover version.

Let’s get started. This was the second track on their eponymous debut album, released in April 1970:

That was Shining Brightly, which I have chosen for today’s title. It feels like a lively way to get things going: I would give you its lyrics but I can’t find them anywhere! That’s definitely a first for me, but I think it backs up my choice of the band as being ‘forgotten’ – if you ever knew of them in the first place! But I have found some lyrics for one of their others that I’m playing, so I’ll give you those instead. The band comprised its namesake, Brinsley Schwarz, on guitar and vocals, Nick Lowe on bass, acoustic and slide guitars, as well as vocals and writing most of their songs, Bob Andrews on keyboards, bass and vocals, and Billy Rankin on drums and percussion. I bought this album not long after it came out, on the recommendation of a friend, and loved it instantly. Nick Lowe went on to have a successful solo career, and it is fascinating to see how his songwriting talents were there from the start.

Here’s another example of that – he always had a good sense of humour and this wry little song shows it well:

A little gem, I think. Brinsley Schwarz were labelled a ‘pub rock’ band at the time, which I always felt was very unfair. They had much more to them than a lot of bands of that genre, good though many of them were. Rock And Roll Women was also a track on that debut album, and I think you might see why I loved it so much. This one even made my Mum laugh when I first played it to her.

The track for which I managed to find the lyrics was Country Girl, the opening track on their second album, Despite It All, which came out in December 1970 – a busy year for them! This is another upbeat little number:

And yes, I have lyrics, courtesy of genius.com:

I want to go where my country girl goes
Back where my green-grass roots are growing
I feel at ease with my country girl, yeah
She knows how to groove me

I’ll take you back ’bout a year ago
She was born of earth, fire, and water
She stays alone in a house by a waterfall
Living herself to death

I want to go where my country girl goes
Back where my green-grass roots are growing
I feel at ease with my country girl, yeah
She knows how to groove me

We said goodbye and she sailed away
Back to the land that she loves so
Don’t pay no heed to the light beaming in the bay
It’s only my soft ship shining

I want to go where my country girl goes
Back where my green-grass roots are growing
I feel at ease with my country girl, yeah
She knows how to groove me

That was also a Nick Lowe song, and the start of another album I played to bits back in the day. So many happy memories of the times before I went to uni, after we had moved to Folkestone and the sea was within walking distance of home. I made some good friends there, and these albums were part of the soundtrack to that: they were good to play when we were having fun times together (chemically induced? no comment!).

I don’t normally play more than three songs for an SLS post but I couldn’t really finish this one without the song for which they may be known, albeit in a cover version. This is their original – the video that someone has attached to it is a nice piece of nostalgia for those days:

(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love And Understanding was the opening track on the band’s final album, The New Favourites Of…Brinsley Schwarz, which was released in July 1974. After the band broke up Nick Lowe went on to a solo career and also became a record producer, which is how the best known version of this song came about: he produced Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces album, and his cover of the song was recorded in those sessions. It wasn’t included on the version of the album we got here though it did appear on the US release. It has since become one of Elvis Costello’s signature songs, and has been adopted by many US acts, both as a political anthem and in many other cover versions.

So now you’ve heard of Brinsley Schwarz, definitely a forgotten band from the 1970s. They were fun while they lasted 😊

 

 

56 thoughts on “SLS: Still Shining Brightly”

  2. Pingback: One Month Done | Take It Easy

      • It is but Costello is better known plus he’s goofier and I think the backing was a little livlier myself I like “The Bosses” version however it didn’t stop me liking the Brinsley Schwarz version and it made me more aware of them as a band as you played a few of their tracks xx

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    • I was hoping that both the band and the songs would be new to most – that was the brief, after all! I’m sorry that the first one didn’t play – no one else from over there has said that – but thank you for seeking it out. If you could let me have the link, please, I’ll add it into the post as an edit.

      Glad you liked them 😊

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  10. Love the idea of bands or performers who never got their due…especially in today’s world, where you can look up the top 50 songs from 10 years ago and not know who that vast majority of the Artists are!

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  13. Thanks for sharing, Nice to hear them, You would call this “shining brightly” as I chuckle because outside my window the sky is steel gray and the rain is pouring down. I hope you have a great new week ahead.

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    • Good to know I’m not alone with them. ‘Pub rock’ was often used as a disparaging term but there were many very good ones. I think they were a little different, though. None of the others had someone like Nick Lowe writing their songs 😊

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      • When I think of pub rock I do think of this band and The Motors…I didn’t know it was disparaging at the time though.

        I grew up and live in Nashville… and at 8 years old in 1975 I found the Beatles and I’ve been into British pop/rock after having country music thrown at me.

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      • The music press had a bit of a downer on it, but there were some great bands. The best known for me were Dr Feelgood, Ducks Deluxe, and Kilburn & the High Roads (Ian Dury’s first band). Funnily enough, the Wikipedia article on pub rock doesn’t even mention the Brinsleys. Bees Make Honey were another good one, and are featured in another post today.

        You did well to find new horizons beyond country!

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      • Dr. Feelgood I’ve heard of…but never heard. I like Dury a lot…I just posted a song by him called Sweet Gene Vincent. Thanks Clive…I’ll check those out. I’m always learning.
        Yea…I like Hank Williams and the older stuff NOT Jr but Senior but really hate the modern stuff.

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      • Thanks so much Clive…I’ve already made a draft on that song…I love it…that is right down my alley. I’ve heard of them but never really heard them.
        Oh I love Americana….like The Band and yes…Steve Earl I like as well. I grew up listening to him.

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      • That’s good, I’m pleased to have made the intro for you. They were great – what you might call ‘shabby chic’ but without the ‘chic’ 🤣

        There is a long list of Americana acts that I like, and I do sometimes venture into the more pop side of country, usually for female singer-songwriters.

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      • That has a perfect sound…I like the rough and edgy sound and American acts at the time could be too polished and they polished the soul out of some songs.
        Living where I do it was hard to avoid. I met Don Williams and had breakfast with Loretta Lynn (a nicer woman you will never find) so that older music I do like.
        Country now…yes the female singers are the stars.

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      • I just did a week on Stiff Records… Kirsty MacColl, Costello, Dury, Nick Lowe, Bragg, and Motorhead who was signed for a little while….I’m not a huge fan of Motorhead but I really like Lemmy. I also have The Damned coming up at some point.

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      • I’ve just followed your blog so it sounds as though I have some treats ahead! I wasn’t a Motörhead fan either, though I did post a Lemmy vocal the other week: the obvious one from his time with Hawkwind.

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      • I like Hawkwind from what I’ve heard…I posted Silver Machine by them years ago. I love to hear interviews with him as well. Him being a huge Beatles fan helped. Thats how I found him…ran across an interview.
        Thank you Clive!

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