The Pretty Things was preceded by Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys which consisted of Dick Taylor, fellow Sidcup Art College student Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger. When Brian Jones joined Little Boy Blue and the Blues Boys as guitarist, Taylor was pushed from playing guitar to bass and the Rolling Stones were formed.
Several months later Dick Taylor (born Richard Clifford Taylor, 28 January 1943, in Dartford, Kent) quit the newly formed Rolling Stones to pursue his schooling when he was accepted at London Central School of Art, where he met up with Phil May (born Phillip Arthur Dennis Kattner, on 9 November 1944, in Dartford, Kent: died 15 May 2020) and they formed Pretty Things.
Taylor was once again playing his preferred guitar with May singing and playing harmonica. They recruited Brian Pendleton (born 13 April 1944 in Wolverhampton–died 16 May 2001 in Maidstone, Kent) on rhythm guitar; John Stax (born John Edward Lee Fullegar, 6 April 1944 in Crayford, Kent) on bass; and, after trying a couple of different drummers, including Pete Kitley and Viv Andrews, stuck with Viv Prince (born Vivian St John Prince, 9 August 1944, in Loughborough, Leices).
Early career
They caused a sensation in England, and their first three singles — "Rosalyn" #41, "Don't Bring Me Down" #10, and the self-penned "Honey I Need" at #13 — appeared in the UK singles chart in 1964-1965. They never had a hit in the United States, but had considerable success in their native United Kingdom and in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands in the middle of the decade. However, in the U.S. they, along with The Yardbirds and Van Morrison's Them, were a huge influence on hundreds of garage bands, including the MC5 and The Seeds.
Their early material was hard-edged blues-rock influenced by Bo Diddley (they took their name from Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing" in humorous contrast to their unkempt long-haired appearance) and Jimmy Reed, much like that of their contemporaries The Stones and The Yardbirds. They were known for wild "rock and roll" behaviour and shocking the establishment; their song "Midnight to Six Man" defined the mod lifestyle. Around this time, the first of what would be many personnel changes over the years also began, with Prince the first to go late in 1965. He was replaced by Skip Alan. Pendleton left late in 1966, and was not initially replaced. Then, Stax quit early in 1967 and Jon Povey and Wally Waller joined to make the band a five piece once again.
After an uncomfortable flirtation with mainstream pop on the Emotions album in 1967, they embraced psychedelia, producing the groundbreaking concept album S.F. Sorrow during 1967-68. This album, released in late 1968, is arguably one of the first rock operas, preceding The Who's Tommy by about a year. It was recorded in the legendary Abbey Road Studios six months after The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Each album shares a similar forward-thinking late-1960s psychedelic sound (as well as sharing the same record producer, Norman Smith, as the Floyd). S.F. Sorrow was followed by the highly-acclaimed record album Parachute, which continued the psychedelic sound and was named "Album of the Year" in 1970 by Rolling Stone Magazine. During this period they also recorded an album for a young French millionaire, Philippe DeBarge, which was intended only to be circulated among the man's social circle. The acetate has since been bootlegged.
Later career
From this point on, the group enjoyed less in the way of commercial success, but the devotion of a strong cult following, especially with critics and other rock musicians. Their material in the early 1970s tended towards more the hard rock and early heavy metal end of the spectrum, although still blues-based, on albums like Silk Torpedo. 1980's Cross Talk saw them incorporating influences of punk and New Wave into their hard rock sound; like most of their records, it was an artistic but not a commercial success.
With a new manager, Mark St John, they gigged sporadically during the 1980s. By the end of the decade their profile had almost disappeared, when founder members Phil May and Dick Taylor reformed the band for a successful European blues tour in late 1990 with Stan Webb's Chicken Shack and Luther Allison. This gigging outfit included drummer Hans Waterman (formerly of Dutch rock group Solution), bassist Roelf ter Velt and guitarist/keyboardist Barkley McKay (Waco Brothers and Pine Valley Cosmonaut's with Jon Langford of Mekon Fame). This line up regularly toured the European mainland playing a revitalised set that show cased their earlier, rootsy blues and r'n'b materiel, until late 1994. By 1995, they reformed the Cross Talk line-up and added Frank Holland on guitar in place of Peter Tolson. Their label, Snapper Music, issued remastered CDs with many bonus tracks, plus a DVD of a re-recording of S.F. Sorrow at Abbey Road Studios (with Dave Gilmour & Arthur Brown guesting). They toured more frequently, including a tour of the U.S. for the first time in decades
Original rhythm guitarist Brian Pendleton died of lung cancer on May 16, 2001.
In the early 2000's, they released new recordings, including a live album and the studio album Rage Before Beauty.
In 2003, Alan Lakey's biography of the band, Growing Old Disgracefully, was published by Firefly. The book dealt with the long and involved history of the band, and paid special attention to the legal proceedings issued against EMI in the 1990s.
The band did their final tour in 2018.
I See You
The Pretty Things Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The night is here my day is done.
Through dark forests of my mind
A light is shone - it's you i find.
I see you.
On a dark and windswept street
The faces i see of the people i meet.
That takes me back to the forests of my mind
I see you.
Silent shadows creep on walls.
Catch the wind it's yours to catch
She's going away.
As i look into the sea,
The waves they break and part for me.
As my mind slips into sand
The water returns with the warmth of your hand.
I see you.
The Pretty Things's song, "I See You," is a hauntingly beautiful track that delves into the ideas of memory, perception, and connection. The opening lines are heavily symbolic, as the singer notes that as the sun sets and night comes, their day is done. It could be interpreted that the "sun" represents a particular moment or experience in their life, and that they now must move on into the darkness. However, there is a glimmer of hope, as a light shines on them - representing the person they see in their mind's eye.
The chorus is where the title and main idea of the song comes into play. The singer sees the person they are thinking of, projected onto the faces of the people they pass on the street. It's a beautiful concept, as the singer sees this person in everyone they encounter. Eyes are given an almost supernatural power - they "build a shrine" that takes the singer back to the "forests of [their] mind," where their memories of this person reside. It's as though the singer is seeing the world anew, with every person they see serving as a reminder of the one they miss.
The final verse sees the singer looking out to sea, where they find further solace in their connection to this person. The waves part for the singer - perhaps symbolizing the obstacles and difficulties they've faced - and the water returns with the "warmth" of their loved one's hand. It's a beautiful ending to a poignant song, and one that captures the heartache and hope of missing someone deeply.
Line by Line Meaning
As evening shadows chase the sun
The day is ending and the darkness is coming.
The night is here my day is done.
The singer's day is over and the night has come.
Through dark forests of my mind
The singer's mind is a dark and mysterious place.
A light is shone - it's you i find.
At the center of the artist's mind, there is a light shining bright which represents the love interest.
I see you.
The artist is seeing the love interest.
On a dark and windswept street
The singer is walking in a street which is dark and windy.
The faces i see of the people i meet.
The singer sees faces and meets people on the street.
With their eyes they build a shrine
Through their eyes they are paying homage to someone or something.
That takes me back to the forests of my mind
The shrine takes the artist back to the dark forests of his mind where he sees the love interest again.
Silent shadows creep on walls.
The artist is in a place where shadows are falling silently on the walls.
Catch the wind it's yours to catch
The singer advises someone to catch the wind before it blows away.
She's going away.
Someone the artist loves is leaving.
As i look into the sea,
The singer looks into the sea water.
The waves they break and part for me.
The waves break for the singer to reveal the deep water.
As my mind slips into sand
The singer's mind is sinking like sand.
The water returns with the warmth of your hand.
The love interest is seen as bringing warmth and comfort to the artist's mind.
I see you.
The artist sees the love interest again.
Lyrics © Ultra Tunes, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: KALEEM RENALDO TAYLOR-DECONTEAU, ANTONIO MEMEB
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind