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.
Maybe You Tried
The Pretty Things Lyrics
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You really keep your ice-cream cold
Mine's melting in my hand,
I don't understand,
I guess you never could have been told.
You want to be a star
Yes you are.
Driving back home from my venture
I'm really feeling empty handed
Hand's on my stick
It's making me sick
Why did you leave me out in the cold.
You want to be a star
Yes you are.
Maybe you tried but you missed it
Maybe you tried it again
Maybe you tried but you missed it
Long goodbye.
Thought my viper would excite her
Believing what the good book had told
I showed her my pet
She phoned for the vet
Then killed it with a mean strangle hold.
You want to be a star
Yes you are.
Maybe you tried but you missed it
Maybe you tried it again
Maybe you tried but you missed it
Long goodbye.
You got me running girl
I'm an astronaut
But I just seem to burst in flame
You got me running girl
I'm a laid-back tiger but I'm never tame.
Little queeny have you seen me
I'm waiting every night at ten
Hands on your hips
Blood on your lips
I make it but I just don't know when.
The Pretty Things's Maybe You Tried is a cryptic song that mixes metaphorical allusions with a sense of bitterness and frustration, giving voice to a lover who feels rejected and left out in the cold. The song begins with a scene on a veranda where Sweet Miranda, the singer's lover, seems to be keeping her ice-cream cold while his own is melting in his hand, suggesting a contrast between her coolness and detachment and his own emotional turmoil. The phrase "I guess you never could have been told" adds to the sense of detachment, implying that she is a mystery to him and that he never fully understood her.
The chorus, "You want to be a star, yes you are," is sarcastic and bitter, implying that Miranda is vain and self-absorbed and that she sees herself as a star but does not care about the singer's feelings. The verse about driving back home from a venture reinforces the sense of disappointment, as the singer feels empty-handed and sick with frustration, almost as if he had been trying to impress Miranda or win her attention but failed miserably. The metaphor of "my stick" also suggests a sexual frustration and impotence, adding a layer of complexity and ambivalence to the song.
The verse about the viper and the good book introduces a religious and mythological dimension, as the singer shows Miranda his pet viper, perhaps symbolizing his own power or danger, but she reacts with disgust and violence, killing the snake with a "mean strangle hold." This could be seen as a metaphor for the way Miranda rejects or destroys the singer's attempts to win her over or impress her, or it could also be read as a commentary on the way society or culture chokes and destroys individual creativity or rebellion. The final verse about Little Queeny is also ambiguous and elliptical, as the singer seems to be waiting for her every night but never knowing when he will make it or succeed. The lines "hands on your hips, blood on your lips" suggest a sexual or violent encounter, but again the meaning is elusive and open to interpretation. Overall, Maybe You Tried is a powerful and haunting song that combines poetry and passion with a sense of disillusionment and despair.
Line by Line Meaning
Sweet miranda, on the veranda
You really keep your ice-cream cold
Mine's melting in my hand,
I don't understand,
I guess you never could have been told.
Addressing Miranda, the singer notes how she is able to keep her ice cream cold on the veranda. Unlike hers that's melting in her hand. The singer cannot understand how she's able to do it since no one ever told her.
You want to be a star
Yes you are.
Miranda wants to be a star and the singer confirms that she is indeed one.
Driving back home from my venture
I'm really feeling empty handed
Hand's on my stick
It's making me sick
Why did you leave me out in the cold.
Narrator is driving back home from a venture and feeling empty-handed. He's holding his stick and feeling sick wondering why Miranda left him out in the cold.
Maybe you tried but you missed it
Maybe you tried it again
Maybe you tried but you missed it
Long goodbye.
Narrator suggests that Miranda tried something, probably being with him, and didn't succeed. She tried it again but failed. As a result, it's a long goodbye.
Thought my viper would excite her
Believing what the good book had told
I showed her my pet
She phoned for the vet
Then killed it with a mean strangle hold.
The artist believed that Miranda would be excited upon seeing his viper since he believed what the good book had told him. However, Miranda called the vet to kill the pet instead.
You got me running girl
I'm an astronaut
But I just seem to burst in flame
You got me running girl
I'm a laid-back tiger but I'm never tame.
Miranda has the singer running around and feeling like an astronaut but he just seems to burst in flames. He's normally a laid-back tiger but with Miranda, he's never tame.
Little queeny have you seen me
I'm waiting every night at ten
Hands on your hips
Blood on your lips
I make it but I just don't know when.
The singer is trying to get the attention of an unnamed person, possibly Miranda again, whom he calls Little Queeny. He's waiting every night at ten with his hands on his hips and blood on his lips. He's making his move but he's not sure when it will happen.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PETER TOLSON, PHILIP MAY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind