My Top 2000 Songs #1096: Itchycoo Park

I have dim memories of first hearing the Small Faces' 1967 single "Itchycoo Park," probably on the tail end of junior high school, when I was fanatically devouring the music played on Chicago's classic rock stations and doing a deep dive into 60s and early 70s rock history. And the song made a huge impression on me at the time. Partly just because it's kind of the perfect late 60s British pop song: melodic and endlessly catchy, but starting to delve into psychedelia with its weirdly-flanged guitars and druggy lyrics. 

But also because it was kind of a revelation to me. I was still completely absorbed in the Beatles and the Who, and just starting to kick the tires on the Stones and the Kinks. And here's this Small Faces band I'd never heard of--I don't think they were ever very popular here in the States, and certainly by the late 70s they barely even got played on the classic rock stations--with a song as good as anything by those other bands. Definitely suggested there was a lot more great music from the past I needed to start unearthing. Obviously this meant getting my arms around the Small Faces (particularly 1968's Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, as well as the music leading up to it), but also so many other British Invasion bands that had pivoted into late 60s psychedelia.

Stereo:

Live tribute to songwriter Ronnie Lane:

Ben Lee turns it into 90s alt.rock:

Robyn Hitchcock last year: