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Tumbling Down (Cockney Rebel song)

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"Tumbling Down"
Single by Cockney Rebel
from the album The Psychomodo
ReleasedJanuary 1975
Recorded1974
GenreRock
Length
  • 5:55 (album version)
  • 3:23 (single version)
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Steve Harley
Producer(s)
Cockney Rebel singles chronology
"Mr. Soft"
(1974)
"Tumbling Down"
(1975)
"Big Big Deal"
(1974)

"Tumbling Down" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. It was released in 1975 as the third and final single from the band's second studio album The Psychomodo (1974).[1] The song was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons.[2]

Background

[edit]

"Tumbling Down" was written and first performed by Harley during his days of busking in the early 1970s, before Cockney Rebel were formed in late 1972.[3] The song references Ernest Hemingway, who had a big influence on Harley, and mentions the Titanic sailing into Brighton. Harley believes it was at Brighton, aged three, when he contracted polio.[4][5] The song's closing refrain ("Oh dear, look what they've done to the blues, blues, blues") has been described as a "put-down of the denim-clad virtuosos that overpopulated 1970s music".[6]

The song was recorded by Cockney Rebel during the February–March 1974 sessions for their second studio album The Psychomodo in 1974, with Andrew Powell providing the orchestral and brass arrangements on the track.[2] The song was mastered at Abbey Road Studios.[7][8]

When EMI released The Psychomodo in the United States in January 1975, half a year after its release elsewhere, "Tumbling Down" was issued as a promotional single. By this time, the original Cockney Rebel line-up had disbanded owing to internal tensions and disagreements.[9] As a result, the US releases of "Tumbling Down" and The Psychomodo would be credited to the name of the band's new line-up as Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.[2] As a promotional single, "Tumbling Down" was not eligible to make a chart appearance. Although it was not a single in the UK or Europe, the song remains one of Harley's most popular songs.

Release

[edit]

"Tumbling Down" was released by EMI Records as a 7-inch promotional single in the United States only. For its release as a single, the six-minute album version of "Tumbling Down" was cut down to almost half the duration.[2] Following its release on The Psychomodo and as a single, the song has also appeared on various Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel compilations, including A Closer Look (1975),[10] The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel (1980), Greatest Hits (1987), The Cream of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1999) and The Cockney Rebel - A Steve Harley Anthology (2006).[11][12]

Critical reception

[edit]

In a review of The Psychomodo, Record Mirror described "Tumbling Down" as "grand and orchestrated."[13] In the US, Rick Atkinson of The Record praised "Tumbling Down" as an "excellent track with FM-radio potential".[14] Jon Marlowe of The Miami News, in his 1976 review of Love's a Prima Donna, referred to "Tumbling Down" as one of the "two all-time classic songs" Harley had written, alongside "Cavaliers". He added, "...to hear Harley lead the audience in a rousing sing-along of 'Oh dear look what they've done to the blues' is nothing short of a musical miracle."[15]

Dave Thompson of AllMusic retrospectively said that "Tumbling Down," along with the preceding track on The Psychomodo, "Sling It", "encompasses ten of the most heart-stoppingly breathless, and emotionally draining minutes in '70s rock". He continued, "though ["Tumbling Down"]'s final refrain was reduced to pitifully parodic singalong the moment it got out on-stage, on record it retains both its potency and its purpose."[16] Donald A. Guarisco of AllMusic referred to the song as a "dramatic opus that gradually builds from quiet piano chords to an orchestral blowout as Harley vocalizes a pained but elegantly crafted tale of facing a grim destiny".[17]

In 2012, Jim Wirth of Uncut wrote, "Harley signs off in style on 'Tumbling Down', with the John Cale-ish screams in the big pay-off line 'Oh dear, look what they've done to the blues', a barbed combination of anti-Ten Years After harangue and self-reverential gloating."[18]

Live performances

[edit]

At the time of its release, "Tumbling Down" became Harley's regular concert closer, with the well-known closing refrain ("Oh dear, look what they've done to the blues, blues, blues") allowing the audience to participate by chanting the line with Harley.[19] As a result of its regular airing during the band's concerts, various live versions have been recorded for official releases. On 14 April 1975, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel performed the song as part of their set at the Hammersmith Odeon, which was filmed and released as a film titled Between the Lines.[20] The song has also been included on Face to Face: A Live Recording (1977), Live from London (1985) and Birmingham (Live with Orchestra & Choir) (2013).[21][22][23][24] Two acoustic versions have also appeared on Harley's live albums Stripped to the Bare Bones (1999) and Acoustic and Pure: Live (2003).[25][26][27]

During the band's UK summer tour in 1990, "Tumbling Down" was not included in the set-list. On stage at Frankfurt's Music-Hall in February 1992, Harley expressed how he had become tired of performing the song since its release in 1974. He stated, "Sometimes you think you've sung a song once too often. I stopped singing this song for a long time and I kept meeting people outside stage doors who would say things like, 'Steve, where is 'Tumbling Down'?' And I'd say 'I'm bored with it, tired of it, it's an old song and there's so many new songs'." After the tour, Harley and his brother Ian Nice, who at the time played keyboards in Cockney Rebel, looked at returning the song to the set-list. Harley revealed, "I went back to the drawing board, and brother Ian and I decided that there's nothing wrong with the song. [We] just [had] to try it another way, come at it from another direction." The decision was made to strip back the song for future performances by removing guitar, bass and drums, and making it piano and keyboard-focused. The addition of harmonica was intended to make it more like how Harley played it in his busking days in the early 1970s.[3]

After the addition of the harmonica, the arrangement of the song would remain largely unchanged for the next three decades, with Harley's acoustic formats (from 1998) and rock band formats keeping the same basic arrangement that was established in 1992. The only two exceptions to this was firstly when the keyboards were substituted for acoustic guitar during keyboard-free acoustic tours, a format which would occasionally carry over into the same given year's rock band tour. The second was when the guitar-only format was used consistently during Harley's 3-man acoustic tours between 2010 and 2019. The arrangement of the song would, however, be significantly altered for Harley's December 2022 rock band tour, which merged Harley's 4-man acoustic format with the rock band, and celebrated the 50th anniversary of Harley's career. This arrangement was much more violin-heavy than previous versions, harkening back to early performances of the song in 1973 and 1974, and had almost no keyboard in it compared to the 1992 arrangement. Harley's harmonica playing remained in this arrangement. This new version would carry over into Harley's 2023 acoustic tour. It was also around this time that the song's position in the set-list was changed so that it was consistently the song before "Sebastian", usually the antepenultimate song of the night. Harley never revealed why he altered the arrangement of the song for the December 2022 tour (Harley's acoustic band format would play an all-guitar version similar to that done between 1998 and 2005 as late as May 2022).

Track listing

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7-inch single

  1. "Tumbling Down" (Stereo) – 3:23
  2. "Tumbling Down" (Mono) – 3:23

Personnel

[edit]

Cockney Rebel

Additional personnel

Production

  • Steve Harley, Alan Parsons – producers
  • Chris Blair – mastering

Cover versions

[edit]

Yvonne Keeley version

[edit]
"Tumbling Down"
Single by Yvonne Keeley
B-side"Loretta's Tale"
Released23 August 1974[28]
GenreRock
Length4:25
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Steve Harley
Producer(s)
Yvonne Keeley singles chronology
"Tumbling Down"
(1974)
"Concrete and Clay"
(1975)

In 1974, Dutch singer Yvonne Keeley released her own version of the song as her debut single.[29] Like Cockney Rebel's original, Keeley's version was produced by Harley and Parsons.

Keeley recorded "Tumbling Down" shortly after the split of the original Cockney Rebel line-up in July of that year. Keeley and Harley were already in a relationship and started working in the studio together, with Keeley recording "Tumbling Down" and another Cockney Rebel song, "Loretta's Tale", which was originally recorded for their 1973 debut album The Human Menagerie. EMI rush-released Keeley's version of "Tumbling Down" as a single on 23 August 1974 to coincide with Cockney Rebel's appearance at the Reading Festival on 25 August.[28] Keeley would go on to provide backing vocals on future Cockney Rebel albums and Harley also produced her second single "Concrete and Clay", which was released in June 1975.[30][31][32]

Scottish musician Ian Bairnson recorded the guitar part on "Tumbling Down" with a Les Paul. It was one of the guitarists earliest sessions and the one which had the most impact on his career. At the time, Bairnson had moved from Edinburgh to London to make it in the music business with the Scottish rock band Pilot, who had yet to gain a hit single. After being impressed by his playing on the song, Harley asked Bairnson to join Cockney Rebel, at a time when Harley was in the process of forming a new Cockney Rebel line-up. Faced with this dilemma, Bairnson ended up choosing to stay with his band, who gained their first hit with "Magic" later in November that year.[33][34]

Velvet Goldmine

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"Tumbling Down" was featured in the 1998 British-American drama film Velvet Goldmine, directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. The fictional band who covered the song for the film soundtrack were Venus in Furs and lead vocals were handled by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Meyers would also cover Cockney Rebel's "Sebastian" for the film, while the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel recording of "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" was featured over the ending credits.[35] Meyers' version of "Tumbling Down" was made available on the Velvet Goldmine original motion picture soundtrack release.[36]

Speaking to the Swedish web publication Bomben in 2000, Harley said of the version:

"I was never much of a part of all that [glam rock]. More theatrical for one album, I suppose. But it ended there. When my friends and I first saw Velvet Goldmine, we thought, "straight to video." i.e.: not much of a film, really. My opinion was not improved after seeing it a second time, I'm afraid. I was only caught up at all when the Bowie character "recorded his video" for his "new single" "Tumbling Down". I thought there was magic about the shoot. But in all it isn't the best portrayal of a hedonistic time, simply because it was made by an American who really never was part of it all."[37]

Later in 2010, Harley told independent.ie website:

"Velvet Goldmine... actually, I saw that in the cinema. I'm one of the few! It didn't run for very long. We were invited to the opening in Edinburgh. When it finished my tour manager stood up and said, 'straight to video'. I understand Bowie refused to let them use his music. I agreed they could use mine. Thank you David (hah!). God bless you mate. It's always flattering that people would do one of your songs."[38]

References

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  1. ^ "Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Tumbling Down (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d "Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel - Tumbling Down / Tumbling Down - EMI - USA - P-4023". 45cat. Archived from the original on 22 February 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (3 February 1992). Music-Hall in Concert (TV). Germany: Music-Delight TV Productions, Hessischer Rundfunk.
  4. ^ Twambley, Andrew (8 December 2021). "Steve Harley - Interview". Penny Black Music. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  5. ^ Kean, John (4 May 2018). "Steve Harley Acoustic Trio: Southern Pavilion, Worthing Pier – live review". Louder Than War. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  6. ^ Hodgkinson, Will (8 December 2022). "Steve Harley: Rock star? I looked like a teacher". The Times. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Cockney Rebel - The Psychomodo (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2 June 1974. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Cockney Rebel - The Psychomodo (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  9. ^ "The Great Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel Story". steveharley.www.50megs.com. 3 July 2015. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - A Closer Look (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  11. ^ "Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel Discography at Discogs". Discogs.com. 5 August 1976. Archived from the original on 8 June 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  12. ^ "Tumbling Down - Steve Harley : Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  13. ^ "New bands show the way". Harleyfanzone.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  14. ^ Atkinson, Rick (26 January 1975). "The new edition of Cockney Rebel". The Record. p. B-22.
  15. ^ Marlowe, Jon (3 December 1976). "Steve who? You'll know after hearing his album". The Miami News. p. 4.
  16. ^ Thompson, Dave. "The Psychomodo - Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  17. ^ Guarisco, Donald A. "A Closer Look - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  18. ^ Wirth, Jim (December 2012). "The Specialist: Cockney Rebel". Uncut. No. 187. p. 94.
  19. ^ The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated History of Popular Music: 1980-1981. Vol. 16. Marshall Cavendish. 1990. p. 1839. ISBN 9781854350152 – via Internet Archive.
  20. ^ "- YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  21. ^ "Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Face To Face (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  22. ^ Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1989). The 'Come Back, All is Forgiven' Tour Official Programme. Print Simplicity.
  23. ^ "Steve Harley + Cockney Rebel - Live From London DVD NTSC: Amazon.co.uk: Steve Harley: Music". Amazon.co.uk. 11 June 2012. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  24. ^ "Birmingham - Live With Orchestra & Choir: Amazon.co.uk: Music". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  25. ^ Thomas, Stephen (3 August 1999). "Stripped to Bare Bones - Steve Harley : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  26. ^ Thompson, Dave (19 March 2001). "Unplugged - Steve Harley : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  27. ^ "Acoustic and Pure - Live by Steve Harley : Reviews and Ratings". Rate Your Music. 18 December 2004. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  28. ^ a b Jasper, Tony (17 August 1974). "New look Rebel line-up set to go". Record & Radio Mirror. p. 4.
  29. ^ "Yvonne Keeley - Tumbling Down / Loretta's Tale - EMI - UK - EMI 2206". 45cat. 30 August 1974. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  30. ^ "The Great Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel Story". Steveharley.www.50megs.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  31. ^ "Steve Harley's contribution with other artists". www.oocities.org. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  32. ^ "Yvonne Keeley - Concrete And Clay (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  33. ^ "PILOT | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". OfficialCharts.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  34. ^ "Ian Bairnson Official Site Discography - Yvonne Keeley - Tumbling Down". Ianbairnson.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  35. ^ "Velvet Goldmine (1998) : Soundtracks". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  36. ^ Thomas, Stephen (3 November 1998). "Velvet Goldmine - Original Soundtrack : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  37. ^ "Official Steve Harley Website UK - Swedish web mag interview by Bengt Wallman (English translation)". Steveharley.com. 15 July 2009. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  38. ^ Ed Power – 16 April 2010 (16 April 2010). "Q&A: Steve Harley". Independent.ie. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)