Itchycoo Park



"Itchycoo Park" is a psychedelic rock song written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, first recorded by their group, the Small Faces. The song reached number three in the UK Singles Chart in 1967.

Song profile
"Itchycoo Park" was released by The Small Faces in August 1967. Together with "Lazy Sunday", "Tin Soldier" and "All or Nothing", the song is one of the band's biggest hits and has become a classic of its time.

The song reached number 16 in the American Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968. In Canada, the song reached number 1.

Long running British music magazine NME cites readers poll voting "Itchycoo Park" number 62 out of the top 100 singles of all time.

"Itchycoo Park" climbed the charts again when it was re-released on 13 December 1975.

The song was one of the first pop singles to use phasing, an effect that can be heard on the drums in the bridge section after each chorus. Most sources credit the use of the effect to Olympic Studios engineer George Chkiantz who showed it to the Small Faces regular engineer Glyn Johns; he in turn demonstrated it to the group, who were always on the lookout for innovative production sounds, and they readily agreed to its use on the single.

Although many devices were soon created that could produce the same effect by purely electronic means, the effect as used on "Itchycoo Park" was at that time an electro-mechanical studio process. Two synchronised tape copies of a finished recording were played simultaneously into a third master recorder, and by manually retarding the rotation of one of the two tape reels, a skilled engineer could subtly manipulate the phase difference between the two sources, creating the lush 'swooshing' phase effect that sweeps up and down the frequency range. The original single version was mixed and mastered in mono, and the phasing effect is more pronounced in the mono mix than in the later stereo mix.

Inspiration
The song was first conceived and largely written by Ronnie Lane, who had been reading a leaflet on the virtues of Oxford which mentioned its dreaming spires.

A number of sources claim the song's name is derived from the nickname of Little Ilford Park, on Church Road in the London suburb of Manor Park, where Small Faces' singer and songwriter Steve Marriott grew up. The "itchycoo" nickname is, in turn, attributed to the stinging nettles which grew there. Other sources cite nearby Wanstead Flats (Manor Park end) as the inspiration for the song. Marriott and Small Faces manager Tony Calder came up with the well-known story when Marriott was told the BBC had banned the song for its overt drug references, Calder confirms:

"We scammed the story together, we told the BBC that Itchycoo Park was a piece of waste ground in the East End that the band had played on as kids – we put the story out at ten and by lunchtime we were told the ban was off."

Ronnie Lane said of the true location of Itchycoo Park: "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 actually".

Other possible etymologies
Despite all the claims as to which park is the original Itchycoo park, in an interview Steve Marriott stated that "It's Valentine's Park in Ilford. We used to go there and get stung by wasps. It's what we used to call it". This was reiterated by actor Tony Robinson, a childhood friend of Marriott's

Itchy Park is located in the East End of London and dates back to the Victorian era.

The term "Itchycoo", also appears in the Scots language from around the 1950s.

Steve Marriott once said of The Small Faces "(We) were a mix of R&B and music hall. The R&B came from Detroit, the music hall from Stepney. That's what 'Itchycoo Park' is about…having a drink and a party."

M People version
British band M People did a dance version of "Itchycoo Park" in 1995. The track peaked on number 11 at the UK Singles Chart and was remixed by David Morales. It also peaked at number 21 in New Zealand, number 24 in Iceland and number 27 in Australia.

Critical reception
Music & Media wrote about the song: "Chart darlings M People have reworked this Small Faces classic with equal measures of dance beats, a Billy Joel/River Of Dreams piano sound and marvellous gospel undertones. Their innovative arrangements will take them high into the charts with this one."

Music video
The music video for "Itchycoo Park" was directed by Maria Mochnacz.

Uses and other notable versions

 * 1984: covered by progressive rock band The Enid
 * 1992: Rymes with Orange, on the album Peel
 * 1993: Blue Murder cover on the album Nothin' But Trouble
 * 1993: Heavy metal band Quiet Riot covered on the album Terrified.
 * 1996: covered by Ben Lee for the I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack
 * 1996: Tasmin Archer covered the song as a bonus track to the Japanese edition of her album Bloom
 * 1996: The song is featured in the soundtrack to the Australian film Mr. Reliable
 * 1999: Itchycoo Park 1999 was a "Pre-Bonnaroo" like music festival in Manchester, Tennessee, the same place in which Bonnaroo is today. The festival was successful its first year but did not fulfill its plans to return in 2000.
 * 1999: The song can be heard in the marijuana documentary Grass.
 * 2006: The original version is heard in the opening scenes of the British film Severance starring Danny Dyer.
 * 2009: Used in soundtrack for the movie The Men Who Stare at Goats starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges.
 * New Zealand/Australian band Dragon covered the song on their album, It's All Too Beautiful (2011).
 * 2015: Covered by Nellie McKay on her album My Weekly Reader.
 * 2015: Covered by Alice Cooper's Hollywood Vampires on their debut album.
 * 2018: The song can be heard in the Season 2 finale of The Handmaid's Tale. Commander Lawrence plays the song at his home.