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.
S F Sorrow Is Born
The Pretty Things Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nobody thought there would be
Family laughter behind the windows
Or a Christmas tree.
Then a couple from up north
Sorrow and his wife arrived
Before the sun had left the streets
They were living inside.
Then before too long
The street it rang with the sound
From number three there came a cry
S. F. Sorrow is born.
The sunlight of his days
Was spent in the grey of his mind
As he stole love with a tongue of lies
The world is shrinking in size.
The lyrics of The Pretty Things's song S.F. Sorrow Is Born tells a story of a couple, Sorrow and his wife, who arrive in a new neighborhood and move into an empty house that has been vacant for ten weeks. It is likely that Sorrow and his wife are either expecting a child or have just given birth to their child, as there is a mention of "family laughter behind the windows" and "a Christmas tree." The lyrics suggest that the arrival of Sorrow and his wife has brought life and joy to the neighborhood, which was once empty and quiet.
As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that Sorrow is a troubled individual, who spends his days in a state of depression and misery. He resorts to lying in order to obtain love from others, and this behavior only serves to make his world feel smaller and more suffocating. The lyrics are a reflection of the human condition, exploring themes of love, loss, and the struggle to find meaning in life.
The song is notable for its use of complex harmonies and instrumentation, as well as its poetic lyrics. It is considered to be a seminal work in the genres of rock and psychedelic music, and has been covered by numerous artists over the years.
Line by Line Meaning
For ten weeks now number three stood empty
For ten weeks, the third house on the street remained unoccupied.
Nobody thought there would be
No one expected anyone to occupy the house.
Family laughter behind the windows
No one expected the house to be full of happy family sounds.
Or a Christmas tree.
No one expected there to be a Christmas tree in the house.
Then a couple from up north
Then a couple from the north arrived in the town.
Sorrow and his wife arrived
The couple's last name was Sorrow.
Before the sun had left the streets
They arrived during daylight hours.
They were living inside.
They moved into the third house on the street.
Then before too long
Not long afterward,
The street it rang with the sound
The sound echoed through the street.
From number three there came a cry
A cry came from the third house.
S. F. Sorrow is born.
The baby was named S. F. Sorrow.
The sunlight of his days
S. F. Sorrow's happiness in life.
Was spent in the grey of his mind
He suffered from depression and had a bleak outlook on life.
As he stole love with a tongue of lies
He was not truthful in his romantic relationships.
The world is shrinking in size.
He felt like the world was closing in on him and becoming smaller.
Writer(s): Philip May, Alan Waller, Richard Taylor, John Alder, Jonathan Povey
Contributed by Jason M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
marcin crux
[Verse 1]
For ten weeks now number three stood empty
Nobody thought there would be
Family laughter behind the windows
Or a Christmas tree
Then a couple from up north
Sorrow and his wife arrived
Before the sun had left the streets
They were living inside
[Chorus]
Then before too long
The street, it rang with the sound
From number three there came a cry
S. F. Sorrow is born
Then before too long
The street, it rang with the sound
From number three there came a cry
S. F. Sorrow is born
[Verse 2]
The sunlight of his days
Was spent in the grey of his mind
As he stole love with a tongue of lies
The world is shrinking in size
nowhirr
This band did it all, from creating some of the greatest proto-punk r&b beat to practically inventing the rock opera & creating beautiful psychedelic music, they always stayed hip but never traded their authenticity & always stayed true to themselves. Incredible band, one of the greatest of all time. Rest in Peace Phil May.
Max Merry
The unfortunate thing about the album was its being released towards the end of 1968, six months or more after its recording began. Depending on what source material you read, the band were apparently working on it at Abbey Road around about the time the Beatles were finishing off Sgt Pepper and Pink Floyd were about to release Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. However, some documentation indicates that most of it was being recorded early in 1968. Whatever the case, it really should have been issued much earlier in 1968 as its psychedelic qualities were already seen as being somewhat passe. However, its cult status hasn't diminished and the album is, arguably, more popular than it was at the time of its original release. Regardless of its historical status, this track is one of the all-time GREAT opening cuts on ANY album!
Tigerbug
Max Merry yep the Pretties career suffered from bad management.
georgeharrison70
It's so disappointing that S.F. Sorrow is destined to remain in obscurity. S.F. Sorrow was a commercial failure when it came out in 1968, and it received mixed to negative reviews on its original release. Even in modern times, S.F. Sorrow is overlooked in comparison to The Who & The Beatles, and Allmusic implied that S.F. Sorrow was a flawed effort. S.F. Sorrow deserves to get more recognition.
posstockhoarder
To his credit, Pete Townsend gave them full due. These poor guys, PT, got put on Motown in the USA and got trashed for ripping off TOMMY. Meanwhile, Pete said that the PT gave HIM the idea. Talk about bad karma.
Bioniking
But those who know of it, know it's great. Id put it in the top 10 psychedelia albums. It's not a perfect album, but it's damn good.
YooTuba
Music geeks don't give a flying toot what Allmusic says. Everybody I know loves SF Sorrow, and most of those people were born long after the album came out.
Gamers against Lean Alberta 2007
It's basically the first rock concept album too lmao.
Gamers against Lean Alberta 2007
The Pretty Things are better than The Beatles or Who,and that's not a lie.
Daniel Richter
Such an incredible song from a truly exceptional band.