Pictures of Matchstick Men

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"Pictures of Matchstick Men" was the first single from Status Quo, released in January of 1968. It reached number seven in the British charts.[1] 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 rhythm guitar comes in with chords and the drums and lyrics begin. Pictures of Matchstick Men is one of a number of songs from the late sixties to feature phasing (the audio effect).

"I wrote it on the bog (i.e. toilet). I'd gone there, not for the usual reasons - having a crap and what have you - 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." Francis Rossi [2]

The song is very similar in many respects to another early Quo song, Black Veils of Melancholy.

[edit] Remakes and Cover Versions

In 1989 U.S. group Camper Van Beethoven scored a number one hit on Billboard magazines alternative music chart "Modern Rock Tracks" with a cover version of Pictures Of Matchstick Men. [3] The song is off of their critically acclaimed album Key Lime Pie.
Ozzy Osbourne, backed by Type O Negative, covered Pictures Of Matchstick Men as part of the soundtrack to the Howard Stern biographical movie Private Parts in 1997. [4]

In 2003, Death in Vegas released the title track of their album Scorpio Rising as a single (featuring Liam Gallagher from Oasis on vocals). The song featured a melody and chord sequence almost identical to Pictures Of Matchstick Men; so much so, in fact, that Status Quo were credited as co-writers.

In 2006, Kasabian released a version of the song on the CD single of their second release from the album Empire[5], Shoot The Runner. Although a first performance of this song was heard on Dermot O'Leary's[6] BBC Radio 2 show, this version was recorded in the studio for the CD release.