‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’ is the first hit single by British rock band Status Quo, then named the Status Quo. It was released on 5 January 1968. The song reached number seven on the British charts, number eight in Canada, and number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming their only top-40 single in the United States. Francis Rossi confirmed on DVD2 of the Pictures set that it was originally intended to be a B-side to "Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Cafe", but it was decided to swap the B-side and the A-side of the single.
The song opens with a single guitar repeatedly playing a simple four-note riff before the bass, rhythm guitar, organ, drums, and vocals begin. ‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’ is one of a number of songs from the late 1960s which feature the flanging audio effect. The band's next single release, ‘Black Veils of Melancholy’, was similar but flopped, which caused a change of musical direction.
Rossi (living in a prefab home in Camberwell at the time) later said of the song: “I wrote it on the bog. I'd gone there, not for the usual reasons...but to get away from the wife and mother-in-law. I used to go into this narrow frizzing toilet and sit there for hours, until they finally went out. I got three quarters of the song finished in that khazi. The rest I finished in the lounge.” The "matchstick men" reference is to the paintings of Salford artist L. S. Lowry.
tatus Quo are best known in Britain for their no-nonsense, heads-down boogie rock which they have played since the 1970s, but this psychedelic effort is their best-known hit in America, where it is a staple of oldies radio. When the song hit the American charts, the group made the fateful decision to remain in Europe, focusing their efforts on the UK market. This paid off with wild success in their homeland, as Status Quo became one of the most popular bands in Britain, charting over 60 singles. They did tour the US in the mid-'70s, but never broke the American market. Their only other chart entry there was "Ice in the Sun," released later in 1968.
Label – Pye
Songwriter – Francis Rossi
Producer – John Schroeder
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]When I look up to the sky
I see your eyes a funny kind of yellow
I rush home to bed, I soak my head
I see your face underneath my pillow
I wake next morning, tired, still yawning
See your face come peeping through my window
[Chorus]
Pictures of matchstick men and you
Mirages of matchstick men and you
All I ever see is them and you
[Verse 2]
Windows echo your reflection
When I look in their direction gone
When will this haunting stop?
Your face it just won't leave me alone
[Chorus]
Pictures of matchstick men and you
Mirages of matchstick men and you
All I ever see is them and you
[Bridge]
You in the sky, you with this guy
You make men cry, you lie
You in the sky, you with this guy
You make men cry, you lie
[Outro]
Pictures of matchstick men
Pictures of matchstick men
Pictures of matchstick men
Pictures of matchstick men