Status Quo is a British rock band (London, England) with strong boogie line… Read Full Bio ↴Status Quo is a British rock band (London, England) with strong boogie line. The group was founded by bassist Alan Lancaster and guitarist Francis Rossi in 1962.
They began as a rock and roll freakbeat band called The Spectres. By 1967, with very little commercial success, they discovered psychedelia and changed their name to Traffic (later Traffic Jam, to avoid confusion with Steve Winwood's Traffic.) At this time the line-up also included organist Roy Lynes and drummer John Coghlan. Late in 1967 they recruited second guitarist Rick Parfitt and became The Status Quo, scoring Top 10 singles with Pictures Of Matchstick Men and Ice in The Sun. "Pictures of Matchstick Men" remains the only Top 40 hit single the group has ever charted in the United States. They have never achieved the same level of success there, that they have enjoyed in their home country.
After their second album Spare Parts they decided to change into a heavy boogie rock band. During the seventies they became one of the UK's leading rock bands, gaining a faithful following due to their excellent live gigs. They showed a great amount of energy during this decade and in the early 80s. They and are best known for songs from this era such as Paper Plane (1972), Caroline (1973), Down Down (1975), John Fogerty's Rockin' All Over The World (1977) and Whatever You Want (1979). Down Down topped the UK charts in January 1975 (their only British No. 1 single to date).
Lynes left in 1971, to be replaced initially by guest keyboard players on album, including Jimmy Horowitz and John Parker, and later on a more permanent basis on record and stage by ex-The Herd and Judas Jump member Andy Bown, though as he was contracted as a solo artist with EMI, he was not credited as a full-time member until 1982. Coghlan left in late 1981, to be replaced by Pete Kircher from 1960s band Honeybus. This short-lived lineup played its last gig in 1984 at the Milton Keynes Bowl, and reformed briefly to open the Live Aid charity event at Wembley in July 1985.
That year Rossi recorded and released two solo singles with longtime writing partner Bernie Frost. Parfitt was also working on a solo album which is still unreleased, although some tracks have been re-recorded by Status Quo and released as 'B' sides. Bass player John Edwards and drummer Jeff Rich, both ex-Judie Tzuke Band and Climax Blues Band, assisted Parfitt in the studio.
In the summer of 1985 Rossi, Parfitt and Bown, along with Edwards and Rich started work on a new album. Lancaster, who was living in Australia at the time, took out a legal injunction to stop the band using the Status Quo name on any records. The injunction was lifted after a court hearing in January 1986. Lancaster had had increasing musical differences with the group, notably during the sessions for the 1983 album Back to Back over two tracks which became hit singles for the group around that time. He had written Ol' Rag Blues, but was angered when the producers chose to release a version with Rossi singing lead vocal in preference to the one sung by himself, and he objected to Marguerita Time, which he thought unduly corny and too pop-oriented for them. He remained in Australia, forming a band called Party Boys, who had no success in Britain.
The commercially successful In The Army Now album was released in 1986, and the band continues to this day with the revised personnel. Rich left in 2000 and was replaced by Matthew Letley. Andrew Bown took a year off at the same time for family reasons and was replaced on stage by Paul Hirsh, formerly of Voyager.
According to Songfacts.com, Quo's 29th studio album, Quid Pro Quo, was released in a deluxe format exclusively at Tesco on 30 May 2011. The regular edition was released elsewhere a week later on 7th June. The LP debuted at #10 in the UK charts, the band's best chart placing for an original album since Don't Stop peaked at #2 in 1996.
Although Quo still release new material every few years, recent years have seen them release a series of greatest hits compilations and covers albums. One of the band's most recent original albums, Heavy Traffic, shows a return to classic form not seen since the late 1970s.
Status Quo have often been characterized, perhaps unfairly, as producing very simple songs, always in the same format: 4/4 rhythm, three chord structure. However, the recordings from their first decade demonstrate a diversity in musical style and complexity to rival most of the late 60s UK bands, and several of their singles and album tracks from later show considerable subtlety, not least the mainly acoustic 1979 single Living On An Island, and the 1980 album track, later a single, Rock'n'Roll, which is ironically one of the least rock'n'roll-like songs they have ever recorded.
They have a loyal group of fans in the United Kingdom, where they have enjoyed more hits than any other group in rock and roll history (over 60 as of mid-2005), as well as a big following in Europe, notably in The Netherlands.
In September 2005 a contestant on the long-running BBC television quiz programme Mastermind chose Status Quo as his specialist subject. That same year they took part in the long running ITV soap opera Coronation Street in a storyline which involved them being sued by the layabout Les Battersby.
In December 2005 it was announced that Parfitt was undergoing tests for throat cancer. All subsequent dates of the UK tour were cancelled as a result. However on 20th December it was further announced that the growths found in Parfitt's throat were benign and had been removed.
Quo have even been the subject of a Doctoral Thesis, purporting to demonstrate that their music composition skills could be favourably compared to the likes of the classical music composers, such as Beethoven!
In Autumn 2008 German techno legend Scooter released new single Jump that rock together with Status Quo.
On 1 February 2016, it was officially announced that Status Quo, in addition to the spring and summer dates already scheduled, would tour Europe starting in October. The final dates would take place in the UK towards the end of the year, after which the group would retire from playing 'electric' tours.
On 28 October 2016, Rick Parfitt permanently retired from live performances after suffering a heart attack earlier the same year. On 24 December 2017, he died in hospital in Marbella, Spain as a result of severe infection, after suffering an injury to his shoulder. Parfitt's funeral was held at Woking Crematorium on 19 January 2017. Irish guitarist Richie Malone, who had substituted for Parfitt during some 2016 live shows, took his place on rhythm guitar.
They began as a rock and roll freakbeat band called The Spectres. By 1967, with very little commercial success, they discovered psychedelia and changed their name to Traffic (later Traffic Jam, to avoid confusion with Steve Winwood's Traffic.) At this time the line-up also included organist Roy Lynes and drummer John Coghlan. Late in 1967 they recruited second guitarist Rick Parfitt and became The Status Quo, scoring Top 10 singles with Pictures Of Matchstick Men and Ice in The Sun. "Pictures of Matchstick Men" remains the only Top 40 hit single the group has ever charted in the United States. They have never achieved the same level of success there, that they have enjoyed in their home country.
After their second album Spare Parts they decided to change into a heavy boogie rock band. During the seventies they became one of the UK's leading rock bands, gaining a faithful following due to their excellent live gigs. They showed a great amount of energy during this decade and in the early 80s. They and are best known for songs from this era such as Paper Plane (1972), Caroline (1973), Down Down (1975), John Fogerty's Rockin' All Over The World (1977) and Whatever You Want (1979). Down Down topped the UK charts in January 1975 (their only British No. 1 single to date).
Lynes left in 1971, to be replaced initially by guest keyboard players on album, including Jimmy Horowitz and John Parker, and later on a more permanent basis on record and stage by ex-The Herd and Judas Jump member Andy Bown, though as he was contracted as a solo artist with EMI, he was not credited as a full-time member until 1982. Coghlan left in late 1981, to be replaced by Pete Kircher from 1960s band Honeybus. This short-lived lineup played its last gig in 1984 at the Milton Keynes Bowl, and reformed briefly to open the Live Aid charity event at Wembley in July 1985.
That year Rossi recorded and released two solo singles with longtime writing partner Bernie Frost. Parfitt was also working on a solo album which is still unreleased, although some tracks have been re-recorded by Status Quo and released as 'B' sides. Bass player John Edwards and drummer Jeff Rich, both ex-Judie Tzuke Band and Climax Blues Band, assisted Parfitt in the studio.
In the summer of 1985 Rossi, Parfitt and Bown, along with Edwards and Rich started work on a new album. Lancaster, who was living in Australia at the time, took out a legal injunction to stop the band using the Status Quo name on any records. The injunction was lifted after a court hearing in January 1986. Lancaster had had increasing musical differences with the group, notably during the sessions for the 1983 album Back to Back over two tracks which became hit singles for the group around that time. He had written Ol' Rag Blues, but was angered when the producers chose to release a version with Rossi singing lead vocal in preference to the one sung by himself, and he objected to Marguerita Time, which he thought unduly corny and too pop-oriented for them. He remained in Australia, forming a band called Party Boys, who had no success in Britain.
The commercially successful In The Army Now album was released in 1986, and the band continues to this day with the revised personnel. Rich left in 2000 and was replaced by Matthew Letley. Andrew Bown took a year off at the same time for family reasons and was replaced on stage by Paul Hirsh, formerly of Voyager.
According to Songfacts.com, Quo's 29th studio album, Quid Pro Quo, was released in a deluxe format exclusively at Tesco on 30 May 2011. The regular edition was released elsewhere a week later on 7th June. The LP debuted at #10 in the UK charts, the band's best chart placing for an original album since Don't Stop peaked at #2 in 1996.
Although Quo still release new material every few years, recent years have seen them release a series of greatest hits compilations and covers albums. One of the band's most recent original albums, Heavy Traffic, shows a return to classic form not seen since the late 1970s.
Status Quo have often been characterized, perhaps unfairly, as producing very simple songs, always in the same format: 4/4 rhythm, three chord structure. However, the recordings from their first decade demonstrate a diversity in musical style and complexity to rival most of the late 60s UK bands, and several of their singles and album tracks from later show considerable subtlety, not least the mainly acoustic 1979 single Living On An Island, and the 1980 album track, later a single, Rock'n'Roll, which is ironically one of the least rock'n'roll-like songs they have ever recorded.
They have a loyal group of fans in the United Kingdom, where they have enjoyed more hits than any other group in rock and roll history (over 60 as of mid-2005), as well as a big following in Europe, notably in The Netherlands.
In September 2005 a contestant on the long-running BBC television quiz programme Mastermind chose Status Quo as his specialist subject. That same year they took part in the long running ITV soap opera Coronation Street in a storyline which involved them being sued by the layabout Les Battersby.
In December 2005 it was announced that Parfitt was undergoing tests for throat cancer. All subsequent dates of the UK tour were cancelled as a result. However on 20th December it was further announced that the growths found in Parfitt's throat were benign and had been removed.
Quo have even been the subject of a Doctoral Thesis, purporting to demonstrate that their music composition skills could be favourably compared to the likes of the classical music composers, such as Beethoven!
In Autumn 2008 German techno legend Scooter released new single Jump that rock together with Status Quo.
On 1 February 2016, it was officially announced that Status Quo, in addition to the spring and summer dates already scheduled, would tour Europe starting in October. The final dates would take place in the UK towards the end of the year, after which the group would retire from playing 'electric' tours.
On 28 October 2016, Rick Parfitt permanently retired from live performances after suffering a heart attack earlier the same year. On 24 December 2017, he died in hospital in Marbella, Spain as a result of severe infection, after suffering an injury to his shoulder. Parfitt's funeral was held at Woking Crematorium on 19 January 2017. Irish guitarist Richie Malone, who had substituted for Parfitt during some 2016 live shows, took his place on rhythm guitar.
Riverside
Status Quo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
She left me cold and hungry by the riverside
She left me so downhearted there and I really cried
About mistakes I'd made and it's a crying shame
I can't believ the way they start all over again
She left me cold and hungry by the riverside
Without a word or a note, so I couldn't find
A reason for to stay where I wanted to stay
There didn't seem to me to be anyway
I got away from the city from the riverside
And it was oh, such a pity ''cause I really tried
It didn't make me feel how I wanted to feel
I turned around to be where I wanted to be
I got away from the city from the riverside
And it was all nitty gritty there, however I tried
I didn't wait to feel how I knew I would feel
I had to turn around, ''cause I wouldn't be found
Don't blame me or point your finger at me
I'm not blind and I see, don't point your finger at me
Don't you do it, don't you do it to me
Don't point your finger my way
Don't put the blame all my way
She found me so light-hearted by the riverside
She didn't cry or try and I didn't mind
''cause I just had to stay wher I wanted to stay
And the mistakes I made, I made them anyway
She left me cold and hungry by the riverside
And it was oh, such a pity ''cause I really tried
It didn't make me feel how I wanted to feel
I turned around to be where I wanted to be
Don't blame me or point your finger at me
I'm not blind and I see, don't point your finger at me
Don't you do it, don't you do it to me
Don't point your finger my way
Don't put the blame all my way
She left me cold and hungry by the riverside
And it was oh, such a pity ''cause I really t
She left me so downhearted there and I really cried
About mistakes I'd made and it's a crying shame
I can't believ the way they start all over again
She left me cold and hungry by the riverside
Without a word or a note, so I couldn't find
A reason for to stay where I wanted to stay
I got away from the city from the riverside
And it was oh, such a pity ''cause I really tried
It didn't make me feel how I wanted to feel
I turned around to be where I wanted to be
I got away from the city from the riverside
And it was all nitty gritty there, however I tried
I didn't wait to feel how I knew I would feel
I had to turn around, ''cause I wouldn't be found
Don't blame me or point your finger at me
I'm not blind and I see, don't point your finger at me
Don't you do it, don't you do it to me
Don't point your finger my way
Don't put the blame all my way
She found me so light-hearted by the riverside
She didn't cry or try and I didn't mind
''cause I just had to stay wher I wanted to stay
And the mistakes I made, I made them anyway
She left me cold and hungry by the riverside
And it was oh, such a pity ''cause I really tried
It didn't make me feel how I wanted to feel
I turned around to be where I wanted to be
Don't blame me or point your finger at me
I'm not blind and I see, don't point your finger at me
Don't you do it, don't you do it to me
Don't point your finger my way
Don't put the blame all my way
She left me cold and hungry by the riverside
And it was oh, such a pity ''cause I really t
ried".
The lyrics of the song "Riverside" by Status Quo depict the feeling of heartbreak and disappointment after a lover leaves. The singer of the song feels cold and hungry by the riverside, which symbolizes a desolate and abandoned place. He weeps for his mistakes and regrets starting all over again. The pain of separation is evident when he describes how he feels downhearted and cannot find any reason to stay where he wanted to stay. However, as the song progresses, he finds himself again and decides to turn around and be where he wants to be. The chorus of the song repeatedly stresses the fact that the singer should not be blamed or pointed fingers at for the failed relationship.
The lyrics strongly depict the theme of heartbreak and solitude, which is very common in most of the rock songs. However, what sets this song apart from others is the use of the riverside as a metaphor for the emotions of the song's protagonist. The riverside symbolizes a place of loneliness and despair where he feels abandoned and alone. The repeated use of the phrase "don't point your finger at me" in the chorus is a form of self-defense to protect himself from any further humiliation and rejection.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BERNARD FROST, FRANCIS ROSSI
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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lecturer1960
The change at 3:07 is absolutely sublime!!!!
Moby Whale
The Quo trademark!
mesfeken1
Even devastating...
Treviscoe
IMO this is the band's best song - a distillation of everything that made them one of the country's great guitar rock bands.
Matt Eagle
Quo's nicest song! Look at the rhythm change after 26 seconds !
Shaun Kelly
It's not played like that, it is two separate takes blended together. The second time change is played and is one track.
Moby Whale
I am always wanted to ask Rossi how he created this song
In interviews it’s never about that
It’s always joking and answering the same questions
But never about producing
One of their best!
Adilson Moreno
Melhor banda do mundo.
Donna Jag
Ahhh such good memories of playing this on my ghetto blaster had the plastic stacking thing for tapes with this, whatever you want, just supposin and every one i could get my hands on. Good times
Vicente Veras
Muito
Porrada !!!!!!!!!!