Ordinary People (Steve Harley song)

"Ordinary People"
Single by Steve Harley
Released	25 September 2015
Format	Digital download
Recorded	June 2015, Shrubbery Studio, Suffolk
Genre	Pop rock
Length	3:59
Label	Comeuppance Ltd
Writer(s)	Steve Harley, Jim Cregan, Robert Hart
Producer(s)	Steve Harley
Steve Harley singles chronology
"For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn" (2010) "Ordinary People" (2015)

"Ordinary People" is a song by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released as a single in 2015.^[1] It was written by Harley, Jim Cregan and Robert Hart, and produced by Harley. The song is Harley's first new song of five years, following the 2010 album Stranger Comes to Town.

Background

The song was originally a demoed track written and performed by Jim Cregan and Robert Hart, who handed the recording to Harley in 2010. However the song was not developed any further over the following years, until 2015, when Harley gained the support of Cregan and Hart to further develop the song.^[2] The song, in an early incarnation, was first performed live by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel during their Autumn/Winter 2014 tour at the York Barbican on 13 December. During this airing Harley revealed the song was a "work in progress".^[3] The following performance of the track was at Hull City Hall on 26 February 2015. In an online diary entry, dated 13 January, for his official website, Harley noted: "Next show: Hull City Hall – complete with new song. Well, the same new song we played at York Barbican, but with a twist. I said it was a work in progress, and now it has a separate section, a middle eight."^[3]

In June 2015, Harley spent several days in the Shrubbery Studio at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, recording "Ordinary People". Harley used the current Cockney Rebel's line-up of musicians to record the single, while the studio's owner Richard Clark engineered the track.^[4] "Ordinary People" is bassist Marty Prior's debut performance on a Steve Harley song, after joining the band in 2014. During the sessions, assistant engineer George Perks had posted a photograph to his official website, and announced: "Honoured to be in the Shrubbery studio this month with Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, assisting the recording of "Ordinary People". The new single sounds great, and has been sent over to producer extraordinaire Matt Butler for mixing. I'm really excited to hear the final mix! Stay tuned...!"^[5] It was announced during the same month that the song would be released as a single nearer the time of the upcoming Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel tour in November.^[6]

In Harley's online diary entry for 22 June, he wrote: "We spent a few days in a recording studio recently, and "Ordinary People" came out sounding like a potential R2 play-lister... if only! I've added an extra 12 bars of new melody and lyric (a Middle 8, which is actually 12)." It was noted that the digital recording files had been sent via Ethernet to Matt Butler who would re-mix the song using Pro-tools. Harley further revealed plans for the song to be released as a single during the autumn season, in the hope that radio airplay across the UK would act as a publicity boost for the upcoming Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel tour in November.^[6] The single's release was first announced outside of the official website in the Southend Echo on 15 July, with the article noting that the single was still in the process of being remixed and prepared for release at that time.^[7]

During an interview on the BBC Radio 2 show Steve Wright in the Afternoon, in November 2015, Harley explained how the song was developed: "The tune was sent to me by my dear friend Jim Cregan, and he wrote the tune with Robert Hart, a great singer. So Robert and Jim sent me a demo of that five years ago, and for five years the MP3 file was sitting on the desktop of my computer. And I've looked at this thing, and played it twice a year for five years, and said 'I like that, I like that, but it's not finished'. So I called Jim and Robert and said 'Can I finish this for you? I need about 30 more percent, a new tune, a new part and new lyrics', and they went 'Get on with it, it's too old for us now'. So I finished it and recorded it."^[8][9]

In an interview on 19 July 2015 for Phoenix FM, backstage at the Brentwood Music Festival, Harley revealed: "Well it's a song, a good song. It started life written by Jim Cregan and Robert Hart, and they gave it to me five years ago. And I sat on it, it's been sitting on my computer for five years, and I hear it now and again and think I really like this song. Then I said to Jim and Robert, look, you know, it needs extra, it needs a middle eight, the new section, and are you in for giving me a free hand. Because it's like, well, they've had a song for five/six years that hasn't done anything, so its not earning them anything. So they're quite happy for someone like me to come along and say I'm gonna make some alterations for a bit of the publishing, obviously it's business. But I mean they just said get on with it, so I made some changes and I've made a record of it. And we're really pleased with it. We're going to play it today in the set." It was also confirmed Harley was in the process of recording a new album at the same studio.^[2]

The song has been described by Harley as "Beatle-esque".^[10] In the Classic Rock magazine of October 2015, an interview with Harley saw him reveal what the song was about: "It's a cri de coeur – I'm speaking for the little man, as it were. It's not John Lennon, but as I get older I'm not ashamed to wear my heart on my sleeve." The interviewer also quoted Harley from his online diary when saying that the new single is "a potential Radio 2 playlister... if only", and noted "that doesn't sound very confident". Harley replied: "The new single from Cliff Richard is on the A-list, and they play David Gilmour, but it's tough. I'd love it if Radio 2 played my single – half the world and its grandmother thinks I only wrote one song. If it had the right name stuck to it I think they would play it."^[11]

In an interview with the East Anglian Daily Times Suffolk magazine, Harley spoke of the song and its release: "I've got a single out (Ordinary People) that we're really pleased with and might well get some good airplay with, but I'm only pressing 150 copies to give to local radio. The national radio, everywhere else, you send them a memory stick or MP3. We've played it at four festivals this year and it's proving popular so my hopes are quite high – although I'm pretty long in the tooth, I'm not young and hip, so it's pretty hard to get on the A or B list of Radio 2, which is what I need. It's tough. I've a new single out, a big tour that will probably sell out, so no, I'm not complacent, but I have my place. I've got my audience and I don't want to lose them, it's even increasing somewhat with airplay."^[12]

Release

On 5 September 2015, "Ordinary People" was made available as a pre-order digital single on iTunes.^[13] It was released on 25 September.^[14] It also later appeared on Amazon as a digital download.^[15] The song was not given a full commercial release on a physical format. The single's artwork features a close-up photograph of Harley, taken by Mike Callow.^[1]

A promotional one-track CD edition of the single was later issued with an "impact" date of 27 November, specifically for radio stations in effort to gain airplay. As an exclusive for radio, the promotional CD features a "Radio Edit" version of the song, which has a shortened introduction and first verse, and is approximately 20 seconds shorter than the full version as a result. The promotional CD features the same photograph as the digital version for a picture sleeve, housed in a plastic wallet, with a record company information sticker placed on the rear side.^[16][17] The physical format release was limited to 150 copies,^[12] and was issued by Comeuppance Ltd and promoted by All About Promotions.^[16][17]

The song was given its first play on BBC Radio on 3 October, on the Billy Sloan Show of BBC Radio Scotland.^[18][19] On 8 October 2015 the song was given its first play on the Norwegian Oslo Radio.^[20] On 21 October it received its first BBC Radio 2 airing on Vanessa Feltz's show,^[21] and this was followed by on 9 November with a play on Steve Wright in the Afternoon.^[9]

On 7 November 2015, an official video of the song being performed live was uploaded onto YouTube. The footage was recorded during the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel tour of that same month.^[22]

Track listing

Digital Single

1. "Ordinary People" - 3:59

Promotional CD Single

1. "Ordinary People (Radio Edit)" - 3:37

Critical reception

In an article from the Westmorland Gazette, dated 6 November 2015, a review of the single by writer Andrew Thomas noted: "The latest single from Steve Harley is a deceptively simple song, of the type that you need years of experience to pull off so well. It has a Beatles/George Harrison feel, with lyrics that are straightforward but heartfelt – a plea for ordinary people to band together and show their essential humanity to try to make the world a better place. Harley's vocals are rich and assured – in fact, this is a very mature song which grows on you with each listen."^[23]

In a review of the band's performance at Scunthorpe Baths Hall, the writer for the Scunthorpe Telegraph noted the song's inclusion within the setlist: "New single Ordinary People in the first half showed that at the age of 64, Steve is still making great music."^[24] Another similar review on the band's Liverpool Philharmonic show, for the Wirral Globe, saw reporter Peter Grant comment: "We were treated to Ordinary People – Steve's new single which is, he says, unashamedly Beatle-esque."^[10]

When giving the song its first radio-play on BBC Radio Scotland, Billy Sloan commented: "I know there's a lot of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel fans listening in from all points of the compass. The band has got back together again to go on a 40th anniversary celebration tour, and there's a brand new song which I think really is a fantastic piece of work, and I hope you agree. One of Steve Harley's best vocals in a long-long time, and that really is saying something when you consider his incredible back-catalogue."^[19] On playing the song on his BBC Radio 2 show during November 2015, presenter Steve Wright commented that the song was "highly familiar", and that it "really does sound like a song I've heard before."^[8][9]

After being played on Oslo Radio, the song received much feedback from listeners, including comments:^[20]

• "Brilliant! Sounds like Ray Davies."
• "Could be a leftover from The Beatles."
• "Great song. Instant classic!"
• "Steve Harley can still create magic. Love his voice. He's still got it. Great song."
• "Harley at his best. Hope I can buy the record soon."

Personnel

• Steve Harley – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, producer
• Barry Wickens – violin, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
• Robbie Gladwell – guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
• James Lascelles – piano, organ, percussion, backing vocals
• Marty Prior – bass guitar
• Adam Houghton – drums

Additional personnel

• Richard Clark – engineer
• George Perks – assistant engineer
• Matt Butler – re-mixing on Pro-tools
• Mike Callow – photography

References