Wishbone Ash can trace its origins back to Torquay, Devon, England, a seaside resort in the southwest of the country. It was there that Martin Turner and Steve Upton first performed together; Turner on bass, Upton on drums, before moving to London in 1969 to seek fame and fortune. In the capital the decision was made to place an advertisement for a keyboard player and a lead guitarist. The resulting audition threw up two guitar leads, but nobody could decide who to choose and the trademark twin-lead sound of Wishbone Ash was born.
Ted (David) Turner and Andy Powell soon went through the poverty and growing pains of a new band, but were fortunate that Miles Copeland was championing their cause and a fairly rapid progression was achieved. The first Album, Wishbone Ash, was released in December 1970 and their second, Pilgrimage, surfaced just six months later to reach #6 in the NME charts. Great things were just 11 months away with the release of Argus (1972) -- possibly the band's best album; certainly their most commercially successful -- which reached #2 in the UK charts and went gold. Argus is considered to be one of the great rock classics of all time. The next album, Wishbone Four, only 12 months later, went silver.
After these early highs, Ted Turner decided that he had had enough, and left the band to be replaced by Laurie Wisefield. Although Laurie’s style was not to everyone’s taste, he was generally well liked by the fans and brought a slightly harder edge to the folk-tinged progressive rock that was the Wishbone Ash formula. Wisefield was a dynamic player and became an excellent partner to Andy -- they were to play together for a very successful 11 years and the MKII version of the band is very well thought of for most of its output. About this time the band became more influenced by America and would eventually move there.
The next album, There's The Rub (1974), was recorded in Florida and produced by Eagles producer Bill Szymczyk. Once again it was to do well, achieving silver disc status. There's the Rub included the instrumental piece F.U.B.B. Steve Upton was arrested in New Zealand for announcing at a concert it's full title. In New Zealand, swearing in public is a criminal offense, and when Upton announced the title at an outdoor concert, a woman sunbathing in her garden nearby complained to the mayor. Upton spent the night in jail, and the album reached #3 in New Zealand due to the publicity.
It was inevitable that a turkey was due and to fans Locked In (1976) fit this bill. This record was not released -- it escaped! Fortunately things were much better with the quality of the following albums and although the high chart positions were gone, the fans were enjoying some competent, well-crafted output.
After 11 years in the band, Martin Turner decided to leave. This move began a period of frequent changes of bass player with the likes of John Wetton and Trevor Bolder being two of the better known; however, Wishbone Ash always has attracted musicians of the highest order. A much more controversial move was the introduction of Clair Hamill to fill in some of the vocal talent Martin had taken away with him. Clair was not popular with the fans which was perhaps a little unfair. She had contributed backing vocals on Just Testing (Turner's last album (1980), which he had also produced) and had co-written the excellent Living Proof, which is still a crowd favourite today. Her stay was short-lived with Andy Powell taking on more vocal duties. Wisefield left in late 1985 and the band continued to tour with various replacements, but were very much in limbo until 1987 when a miracle occurred. Miles Copland persuaded the original lineup to reform for a project for a music charity that he was helping, and a Hammersmith Odeon concert which the BBC recorded resulted. The project produced an instrumental album Nouveau Calls (1987), which was very well received. Even better received was the fact that three years of the original lineup were to follow.
Just when things were going so well, Steve Upton decided to quit the business entirely in 1990, to be replaced by Ray Weston. Martin Turner carried on for another year before leaving to pursue a solo career, and Ted left two years later. The next five years saw lots of personnel changes, but eventually resulted in a good period of stability with Ray Weston returning and Bob Skeet joining on bass in 1998.
The new millennium has also seen stability in respect of Andy's guitar partner, with the last 6 years being filled by Ben Granfelt and subsequently Muddy Manninen, both of whom come from Finland. 2005 saw Wishbone Ash celebrate their 35th year. 2006 heralded the new album Clan Destiny (the first featuring Muddy as guitarist). 2007 saw the exit of long-term drummer Ray Weston, due to the increasingly hectic pace of band life. Joe Crabtree (formerly of The David Cross band) stepped up to fill his place. With regard to new releases, 2007 saw First Light, which features original recordings of the songs featured on their debut album, as well as some outtakes. Also released that year was the new album The Power of Eternity (partly featuring Joe Crabtree on drums), which coincided with the Autumn tour.
Wishbone Ash are still performing 150 gigs a year in the U.S. and Europe. They get very supportive crowds with good numbers turning out all over Europe -- the U.S. tends to attract smaller audiences, but very committed fans. If you want to hear classic Wishbone Ash, get ahold of Argus. Visit their web site www.wishboneash.com, where tour dates and albums, etc. can be obtained.
So Many Things To Say
Wishbone Ash Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A million dollars
You make me fight an army
Win and get away
CHORUS:
I've got so many things to tell you
I've got so many things to say
You expect me to lay the crown
Pour upon you gold and
Silver too
Nasty things that you ran away from
Will catch you up again
Heroes that you try to be like
Will make you feel your pain
There'll you sit alone and lonely
Everything'll turn gray
You try to figure out the high
Life came and made you insane
You want me to go out and steal
A million dollars
I got to hold everybody off
While you get away
The lyrics of Wishbone Ash's song "So Many Things To Say" are filled with powerful imagery and emotive language that conveys a sense of defiance, frustration, and betrayal. The singer is being asked to carry out dangerous and unethical actions, such as stealing a million dollars and fighting an army, by an unknown figure who is trying to gain power and wealth. In response, the singer refuses and instead speaks out about their own thoughts and feelings, declaring that they have "so many things to tell you" and "so many things to say."
Throughout the song, the singer seems to be railing against a society that values material possessions and ruthless ambition over personal authenticity and honesty. The crown and jewels mentioned in the second verse symbolize the trappings of power and wealth, while the line "nasty things that you ran away from will catch you up again" suggests that those who pursue these things will eventually face the consequences of their actions. Similarly, the heroes that the figure is trying to be like are ultimately revealed to be sources of pain and disillusionment, leading to a sense of "loneliness" and despair.
Overall, "So Many Things To Say" seems to be a call to reject the superficial values of a corrupt world and instead embrace personal truth and integrity, even if it means going against the expectations of those around you.
Line by Line Meaning
You want me to go and steal
You are asking me to commit a crime
A million dollars
To obtain a large sum of money
You make me fight an army
You are having me face a large opposition
Win and get away
To succeed in this task and escape without consequence
CHORUS: I've got so many things to tell you I've got so many things to say
I have a lot that I need to express to you
You expect me to lay the crown
You have high expectations of me
Jewels at your feet
To offer you valuable possessions
Pour upon you gold and Silver too
To supply you with wealth
Nasty things that you ran away from
Events that you have tried to evade
Will catch you up again
Will resurface and affect you
Heroes that you try to be like
People that you aspire to be similar to
Will make you feel your pain
Will cause you emotional distress
There'll you sit alone and lonely
You will be left feeling isolated and unhappy
Everything'll turn gray
Your life will lose its color and vibrancy
You try to figure out the high
You struggle to comprehend the wealth and status you have achieved
Life came and made you insane
The pressures of life have driven you to lose your sanity
You want me to go out and steal
You are asking me to commit a crime
A million dollars
To obtain a large sum of money
I got to hold everybody off
I need to prevent others from interfering
While you get away
So that you can escape without being caught
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ANDREW POWELL, DAVID TURNER, MARTIN TURNER, STEVE UPTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Leonidas Carlos
You want me to go and steal
A million dollars
You make me fight an army
Win and get away
I've got so many things to tell you
I've got so many things to say
You expect me to lay the crown
Jewels at your feet
Pour upon you gold and
Silver too
Nasty things that you ran away from
Will catch you up again
Heroes that you try to be like
Will make you feel your pain
There'll you sit alone and lonely
Everything'll turn gray
You try to figure out the high
Life came and made you insane
You want me to go out and steal
A million dollars
I got to hold everybody off
While you get away
Kamakiri Sassorichan
Listening to this album on headphones maybe for the first time—I don’t even think I HAD headphones in 1973—I find it atrocious! The music is good—the same old Wishbone Four that I remember so well—but the mix is downright appalling.
I used to be a recording engineer so for years I mixed stuff down in headphones, so I developed a good ear for stereo and placement and all those things you learn in that business.
To compare this to something contemporary, you should listen (on a good pair of headphones) to Thick As A Brick, by Jethro Tull.
When I listened to that for the first time on headphones, sometime in the 90s, I was kind of expecting 70s technology, shitty mixes and awful dynamic range etc. but I was knocked off my chair at the INSANELY great recording that hit me in the ears—literally, to this day one of the finest recordings I’ve ever had the privilege to witness, including classical music and jazz recordings as well as rock.
So that’s kind of what I was expecting when I sat down to listen to this album, courtesy of the generous WishboneAshAllSongs.
Imagine my surprise when I heard the atrocious quality of this recording—the weird “mix right down the middle” of all the main instruments—the terrible vocal spread, the clipped drums; all the sorts of mixing errors you would expect from a demo tape, because this is what this sounds like.
As it happens, I’m simultaneously reading Martin Turner’s autobiography, “No Easy Road,” so I immediately skipped ahead to his accounts of the making of Wishbone Four.
And BINGO: here is what Martin Turner says exactly about the awful recording, transcribed by me from his book (there is no Kindle version and the paperback is inexplicably selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay. And lucky me, I happen to have bought a copy that was autographed “To Martin (signed) Martin Turner.” I don’t know who “Martin” was!)
But Martin Turner says:
“We felt we’d learned enough to be able to produce ourselves. In retrospect that was maybe a bit naive and I was really disappointed at how the album eventually turned out, mainly because something went seriously wrong at the mastering stage. (No fucking kidding! -ed.)
“When we were recording it in the studio it sounded really good, but all the balls and hi-fidelity got lost during the mastering, making it sound very mid-rangey.
“I don’t think enough care was taken over the mastering. Maybe that was down to us and, through inexperience, we under-estimated how important that final stage was.
“That was one thing Derek Lawrence was very good at. He always used to follow it through until the test pressing was received and if it didn’t sound right he’d go back and do it again.
“I would love to get my hands on the multi-track tapes and actually re-mix the album. As yet I have only been able to find one reel. That is a real disappointment because the album could really benefit from being re-mixed.”
You said it, Martin! I never heard any of this when I was listening to it on vinyl on shitty record players back in the 70s but now, listening with fantastic headphones, it’s literally a crime to have mixed it down like this—I cannot believe anyone got away with it actually coming out of the studio.
Heads should roll on this, but mainly it’s the BANDS’ heads that should roll—Andy Powell’s in particular but also the producers of this horrendous mistake (I guess the band itself was the producer of Wishbone Four).
I think Martin Turner understates things to a high degree. I am not surprised at all that the fans were horrified at this abortion of a record, especially when the band themselves were so care-free about creating it.
I attribute this to BURNOUT. At this point, Wishbone had been constantly touring and promoting for years and years . . . no wonder Ted Turner called it quits and quit. Martin Turner talks about this quite a lot in his book—I have Andy Powell’s book too and he mentions almost none of this—it’s mostly preoccupied with promoting Andy Powell.
But anyway, thanks for posting this—it’s still our beloved Wishbone Ash, no matter how bad the recording.
Very too bad about this. But happy listening! —Nick
Heavyer Cuadra
I still have this amazing album in vinyl.
Stuart Mark Hayes
Everybody loved "Argus"; here they break away. Artistic integrity is what we have here. Why repeat what's already been done? I can't say that about a lot of bands. I knew "Argus" fans that hated "Wishbone 4", which was a better album, a far more mature recording. And then, for me, "New England", WOW. I have to rake them as follows: "New England", "Four", "Argus", in that order. Obviously I'm not addressing anything beyond 1980 and I have no comment on that period.
George Ovens
Me too, love it.
wishbone
surely I do,too
nothing much to say
arthur smith
And me mate
nobby goss
On of my favorite songs of Wishbone Ash, great feeling and great lyrics 👍🏼
Mario
Today I have listened this song closing an incredible concert of Wishbone Ash!!!
Sir Boris Dumpling
What a year 1973, the year I met my wife and we both fell in love with this album and especially "Everybody Needs A Friend" such an emotional song for us and a brilliant album.
Kamakiri Sassorichan
That song is one of the best WA ever did—proof of Martin's raw talent.
John Drx
This is one of my favorites. So much angst in the vocals. Love it!