![]() ![]() ![]() One of the masterstrokes was the addition of tacets before the verses, which is the deliberate use of silence. Parsons saw something in it but suggested they speed it up and rephrase the chorus and Harley agreed. One day in November as the new group were recording, Harley performed Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) as a slow dirge. Harley was distraught and very bitter, and had the idea to write a dark blues song in order to get his feelings off his chest. Harley penned Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) within days of the original Cockney Rebel split. To ensure everyone knew where they stood this time around, the group was renamed Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, and they recorded their first album together, The Best Years of Our Lives. Shortly afterwards, with Elliott back on drums, he hired guitarist Jim Cregan, who had played bass for Family, keyboardist Duncan Mackay and bassist George Ford. While Harley searched for a new band he released his debut solo single Big Big Deal, which proved to be anything but. Harley has always maintained the understanding within the group was that he was the songwriter, but Crocker, Reame-James and Jeffreys chose to quit after demanding they be allowed to contribute. With Alan Parsons, he co-produced follow-up album The Psychomodo, which featured number eight hit and inspiration for a classic 80s advert, Mr Soft.īy the time that single had reached the top 10, Cockney Rebel effectively didn’t exist. Harley set to work writing a hit single, and proved he could when Judy Teen soared to five in 1974. Debut single Sebastian was a number two hit in Belgium and the Netherlands but never troubled the UK charts. The first Cockney Rebel LP, The Human Menagerie, was released in 1973. Labels were soon showing an interest in their demos, and they signed with EMI Records. They ditched guitars and Milton Reame-James became their keyboardist. Jones was quickly replaced by Pete Newnham but Harley decided Cockney Rebel were not going to be your average glam rock outfit. The original Cockney Rebel consisted of Harley as singer, his friend from the folk scene Jean-Paul Crocker on electric violin, Stuart Elliott as drummer, Paul Jeffreys on bass and Nick Jones on guitar. His replacement was Richard Madeley.īefore the year was out, Nice’s stage name became Steve Harley, and he decided to form a glam rock band. Becoming disillusioned, Nice moved into the folk club scene in 1971, performing on line-ups featuring John Martyn and Ralph McTell, and busking on the underground He grew his hair and refused to wear a tie in his day job, and got the sack in 1972. At 15 he wrote an autobiographical poem called ‘The Cockney Rebel’.Īt 17 Nice left school and became a trainee accountant at the Daily Express before making the move into reporting, working for a variety of regional newspapers in Essex before settling with the East London Advertiser. While recovering from major surgery in 1963, aged 12, he fell in love with literature, enjoying the poetry and prose of giants including DH Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, and the lyrics of Bob Dylan, all of which would influence his music as he grew older. ![]() Aged nine, Nice began classical viola lessons, and guitar a year later. He contracted polio aged two, and between the ages of three and 16 he spent a total of four years in hospital. His father was a milkman and his mother a semi-professional jazz singer. Harley was born, ironically, Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice on 27 February 1951 in Deptford, London. He showed them who was right, and how, with this glam rock classic. For Harley, it was a giant ‘fuck you’ to the original Cockney Rebel, who dared to question his authority. Steve Harley’s number 1 is to most a song about positivity, about enjoying yourself, about seeing the ones you love and soaking up the good vibes. Like REM’s The One I Love, a spiteful song that has, because of its title, become popular at weddings, for example, with little attention paid to the lyrics. Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) is one of the best examples of a song where the original intention of the writer is largely ignored by the masses. ![]()
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