Today’s classic song of the day is “How Long” by Ace. Released in March of 1975, this track rose all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Cash Box Top 100.
“How Long” was the debut single by the band. It was written by Paul Carrack, who also sang lead on this track. You might know Mr. Carrack for his solo single “Don’t Shed a Tear, singing lead on Mike + the Mechanics’ “The Living Years” and Squeeze’s “Tempted,” and playing keyboards on Nick Lowe’s “Ragin’ Eyes“.
Ace got together in late 1972 as Ace Flash and the Dominoes but soon shortened their name to just Ace. They were part of Britain’s pub rock scene and featured Carrack on keyboards, Alex “Bam” King on rhythm guitar, Phil Harris on lead guitar, “Tex” Comer on bass, and Fran Byrne on drums. Carrack and the two guitarists shared vocal duties.
Many folks interpret “How Long” as being about an adulterous partner, but Carrack said it was really about finding out that bass player Comer was “cheating” on the band by moonlighting with two other bands, Sutherland Brothers and Quiver. Whatever the deal, it’s a solid song that just percolates along, helped along by Comer’s solid bass work (a single pedal point throughout the entire verse) and Harris’ snarky guitar solo.
I particularly like the wordplay in the first verse:
Well, if friends with their fancy persuasion
Don’t admit that it’s part of a scheme
But I can’t help but have my suspicions
‘Cause I ain’t quite as dumb as I seem
“Friends with their fancy persuasion” just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Ace released three albums before calling it quits in July of 1977. With just one bona fide hit to their name, they were truly a one-hit wonder.
And here’s today’s bonus video of the day, Paul Carrack and Ace miming “How Long” on the Dutch TV program TopPop. How long has this been going on?
