Happy Wednesday and I’d like to welcome you to another installment of my midweek feature that takes a deeper dive into a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. Sometimes it takes me a while to come up with a new pick for this series. On other occasions, a song pops up seemingly out of the blue. Reflections of My Life by The Marmalade was one of those happy moments. It’s a song I’ve always loved and it fit the above criteria, so it was an easy decision to feature.
Reflections of My Life was co-written by Junior Campbell and Dean Ford, who were the lead guitarist and vocalist, respectively, of the Scottish pop rock band. This gem first appeared as a single in the UK in November 1969, followed by the U.S. in March 1970. The song was also included on the group’s studio album Reflections of the Marmalade released in June 1970. In the U.S., it was titled Reflections of My Life.
The song became the band’s biggest hit worldwide. In the UK, it climbed to no. 3 of the Official Single Chart. Only their rendition of The Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da charted higher there, reaching no. 1. In the U.S., the single peaked at no. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. It did best in Ireland where it surged to no. 2. Elsewhere, it reached no. 5 in South Africa, no. 6 in Canada, no. 8 in Norway, no. 9 in Belgium and no. 13 in New Zealand. Reflections of My Life has sold in excess of two million copies, including more than one million in the U.S. alone.
Songs with heavy orchestration can sound over the top, but in this case, I feel the brass and string arrangement by British composer and arranger Keith Mansfield gives the song a majestic beautiful vibe. Curious how Reflections of My Life sounds without orchestration? Here’s a live version I found. It still sounds great to my ears, though I do prefer the brass and strings on the studio recording.
Lyrically, Reflections of My Life describes a bleak outlook on life, touching on themes of changes in life, harsh living conditions and nostalgia. Songfacts describes it as a “dramatic ballad from the Age of Aquarius” and “a sort of a hippie version of the blues.”
The song was recorded over three days in late 1969 at Decca Studios in London. In addition to Ford (lead vocals) and Campbell (harmony vocals, electric guitar, keyboards), the recording session included the group’s Pat Fairley (acoustic guitar), Graham Knight (harmony vocals, bass) and Alan Whitehead (drums).
It was The Marmalade’s first recording session after they were signed to Decca Records. The lucrative advance deal allowed them to write and produce their own songs with no constraints for studio time. The remarkable arrangement paid off nicely for both sides!
Musically, the song has some interesting features. The intro, verses and choruses all share the same eight-bar chord progression (G major, B minor, E minor, G major 7, C major, B minor, A minor, D major). But the changes in dynamics, a cool guitar solo and the beautiful orchestration keep things interesting. I also love Knight’s melodic bass line! And, man, the harmony singing is just sweet!
Campbell played the aforementioned guitar solo on a Gibson ES-355 semi-hollow. It’s a so-called reverse guitar solo, which Wikipedia breaks down as follows:
The first 4 bars were recorded as normal, with Campbell playing a long “G” note, tied over from the last beat of bar 3, through bar 4, with slight feedback sustaining the long note. The eight track tape was then turned over, and Campbell played against the reverse sound of the track, including his initial first four bars ensuring that he played another long “G” near the same point which could be cross-faded against the original – the tape was then turned over to normal setup, and he selected just 4 bars from the reverse recording which are bars 4–7 inclusive – this was cross-faded with the original at bar 4 – he then picked up from bar 8 through to bar 16 as normal, so in fact, only 4 bars are actually “reversed”.
That’s perhaps more than most of you wanted to know! 🙂
Last but not least, Reflections of My Life has been covered by various artists over the years. A rendition by Australian band Flake recorded in 1970 became a top 40 hit on the national top 60 chart by Australian pop music newspaper Go-Set – higher than The Marmalade’s original which had peaked at no. 47. Other versions include a 1983 reggae rendition by Ruddy Thomas as a duet with Barry Biggs and Dexys Midnight Runners (Dexys) frontman Kevin Rowland. Here’s Flake’s version.
Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube
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