Notes and Quotes: "Tin Soldier"

Marriott [on writing the song for Pat "PP" Arnold]: I had tried every goddamn trick in the book to lay her, so I wrote this song, and she married me. Anyway, we played it to PP, and she completely flipped, so much so that I thought I'm gonna keep it, it's got to be too good to give away. So we wrote her another song called "(If You Think You're) Groovy." (Twelker and Schmitt, 47)

The recording begins with a repeating four-chord that will become the chord sequence underlying the verse. Each time they play the sequence, they add something so that the song starts with 42 seconds of gradual build. However, when the first verse arrives, they drop the volume and intensity so that Marriott can make a dramatic delivery. The verse, like verses in the other Small Faces examples, builds. They introduce new material that acts as a respite from the relentless four-chord sequence, but we again have a three-chord sequence. A repetition of the verse brings us to a repetition of the refrain that helps to close the recording. The last insertion is a pan-harmonic rising sequence of major chords that starts on the sub-dominant and rises up the "white keys" of the piano/organ and concludes with a plagal candence to E.

At a time when Pete Townshend was working with the idea of pop musical dramas, this is the Small Faces' approach to a mini opera.

Schedule

19 March, 2012