The first half of 1970 was a marvelous time for pop music, filled with wonderful and wonderfully melodic songs with memorable lyrics. Case in point is today’s classic 1970 song of the day, “Reflections of My Life” by Marmalade. This single was released in March of 1970 (November 1969 in the UK) and rose all the way to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, #7 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #3 on the UK Singles chart. It was just as big all around the world, charting in the top ten in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and South Africa. The single has sold more than 2 million copies life-to-date.
“Reflections of My Life” was written by two members of the group, singer Dean Ford (under his birth name of Thomas McAleese) and lead guitarist Junior Campbell. Its unique feature is a 16-measure backwards guitar solo by Mr. Campbell on his left-handed Gibson Stereo ES355, using a Sound City stack.
The recording of that notable guitar solo took a bit of planning. It started out with Campbell playing as normal for four bars, ending with a long G in the fourth measure, sustaining with a bit of feedback. The engineer then turned over the tape and Campbell played over the track, which was playing in reverse. Campbell made sure to play another sustained G at the same point, so the reversed section could be cross-faded against the forward part. Then they assembled the first four forward bars and three bars from the reversed section (measures 4 through 7, resting in measure 8). Campbell then played another forward solo, picking up in measure 8 and continuing to the end of measure 16. (So even though it’s called a reverse solo, only 3 measures were actually reversed.)
The song is in the key of G with a nice little chord progression. In the verse, the chords go I -iii -vi – V7 – I (that’s G – Bm – Em – G7 – G). The chorus follows a similar progression: I – iii – vi – V7 – IV – iii – ii – V. That descending IV – iii – ii, moving up to V, is pretty nice, especially with the corresponding descending melody (“Take me back…”). It’s memorable—and somewhat melancholic. Even though the song is in a major key, it sounds sad, a feeling that’s mirrored in the self-reflecting verses:
The changing of sunlight to moonlight
Reflections of my life
Oh, how they fill my eyes
The greetings of people in trouble
Reflections of my life
Oh, how they fill my eyes
The chorus isn’t any cheerier:
Oh, my sorrows
Sad tomorrows
Take me back to my own home
Oh, my crying (Oh, my crying)
Feel I’m dying, dying
Take me back to my own home
Positively gloomy.
Not surprisingly with all that inner angst, Marmalade was a Scottish group, formed way back in 1961 (as the Gaylords; they changed their name in 1966). “Reflections of My Life” was their biggest hit, but they weren’t a one-hit wonder; they also had UK hits with “Lovin’ Things” (a later hit in the U.S. for the Grass Roots), a cover of the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Baby Make It Soon,” “Rainbow,” “Cousin Norman,” and “Radancer.” None of those songs charted in the U.S.
Marmalade went through a series of personnel changes and more or less broke up in 1975. A few of the original members signed with Brit producer Tony Macaulay in 1976 and did a bit more recording. A simulacrum of the original band continued touring, even after the last remaining member left in 2010. There is still a group called Marmalade touring the UK today, although you wouldn’t recognize anybody in it.
So let’s go back to 1970 and watch the group mime their biggest hit on the BBC’s Top of the Pops. Hey, it’s in color!
