"Itchycoo Park"
Single by Small Faces
B-side	"I'm Only Dreaming"
Released	August 4, 1967 (UK) November 11, 1967 (US)
Format	7"
Recorded	Olympic Studios London 1967
Genre	Psychedelic pop
Length	2:45
Label	Immediate
Writer(s)	Steve Marriott Ronnie Lane
Producer	Glyn Johns
Small Faces singles chronology
"Here Come the Nice" (1967) "Itchycoo Park" (1967) "Tin Soldier" (1967)

"Itchycoo Park" is a psychedelic pop song written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of the group Small Faces. The song reached number three in the UK Singles Chart, 1967.

[edit] Song profile

"Itchycoo Park" was released by mod band The Small Faces in August, 1967. Together with "Lazy Sunday", "Tin Soldier" and "All or Nothing", the song is one of the band's biggest hits and has become a classic of its time.^[1]

The song reached number 16 in the American Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968.^[2]

Long running British music magazine NME cites readers poll voting "Itchycoo Park" number 62 out of top 100 singles of all time.^[3]

"Itchycoo Park" climbed to the top of the charts again when it was re-released on 13 December 1975.^[4]

[edit] Inspiration

The song was first thought of by Ronnie Lane, who had been reading a leaflet on the virtues of Oxford which mentioned its dreaming spires.^[5]

A number of sources claim the song's name is derived from the nickname of Little Ilford Park, on Church Road in the London suburb of Manor Park, where Small Faces' singer and song-writer Steve Marriott grew up. The "itchycoo" nickname is, in turn, attributed to the stinging nettles which grew there. Other sources cite nearby Wanstead Flats (Manor Park end) as the inspiration for the song.^[6]

Photo of Wanstead Flats, London E12 near Marriott's Manor Park home

Marriott and Small Faces manager Tony Calder came up with the well-known story when Marriott was told the BBC had banned the song for its overt drug references, Calder confirms:

"We scammed the story together, we told the BBC that Itchycoo Park was a piece of waste ground in the East End that the band had played on as kids - we put the story out at ten and by lunchtime we were told the ban was off." - Tony Calder (Manager)^[7]

Ronnie Lane on the true location of Itchycoo Park:

"It's a place we used to go to in Ilford years ago. Some bloke we know suggested it to us because it's full of nettles and you keep scratching". - Ronnie Lane

^[8]

[edit] Other possible etymologies

Another local park, in the nearby town of Ilford, called Valentines Park, was also often referred to as Itchycoo Park.

Itchy Park is located in the East End of London and dates back to the Victorian era.^[9]

The hairy seeds from the Rose hip (or wild Dog Rose) were called "Itchycoos" by English children in the 1950s^{[citation needed]} The seeds could be broken out of the berry and dropped down someone's collar between shirt and back to cause itching.^[10]

[edit] Uses and cover versions

• 1984 - covered by progressive rock band The Enid
• 1993 - Blue Murder cover on the album, Nothin' But Trouble
• 1993 - Heavy metal band Quiet Riot covered on the album Terrified.
• 1994 - cover by 90s dance band M People on their album Bizarre Fruit
• 1996 - covered by Ben Lee for the I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack
• 1996 - Tasmin Archer covered the song as a bonus track to the Japanese edition of her album, Bloom
• 1999 - Itchycoo Park 1999 was a "Pre- Bonnaroo" like music festival in Manchester, Tennessee, the same place in which Bonnaroo is today. The festival was successful its first year but did not fulfill its plans to return in 2000.
• 2006 - The original version is heard in the opening scenes of the British film Severance starring Danny Dyer.^[11]
• 2007 - Zero Punctuation used the track as opening music for the review of The Orange Box.
• 2009 - Used in soundtrack in movie The Men Who Stare At Goats starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor & Jeff Bridges

[edit] Notes

Notes:

References:

[edit] External links

• The Small Faces Official Site
• youtube:Small Faces - Itchychoo Park