The Marmalade -"Man In A Shop" Vinyl 45 rpm Single, 1967 (Epic)

 

The Marmalade is not a Scottish band with a lot of character. There is a good song here and there, but then there is Man in a Shop, a record I have been obsessing with for the past 12 months. It's strange how a song or recording hits you when you at least expect it. I think I was intrigued just by the title; what does it mean to be a man in a shop? Before we go into that subject matter, it is best to describe The Marmalade's music as very radio (at least in the UK) friendly with touches of Roy Wood's The Move mixed with the vocal abilities of The Hollies. Which sounds good on paper, but they don't have the Roy Wood genius of writing tunes. Still, they came up with Man in a Shop. 

The song is full-on psychedelic chamber-pop with a certain amount of sadness—a cocktail of a tune that I couldn't avoid at any cost. I don't know if MIAS was a hit or not, but I don't understand how such a brilliant piece of earworm music could have failed. Reading the lyrics off the computer screen seems to be about a male shop owner who runs a clothing boutique for women, and is soft (in the head? Sexually?) and is lonely. There is a crowd of girls outside looking at the display window and admiring the mannequin or doll wearing the clothes for sale. He puts up a new dummy in the window and throws the old one into the basement. One can also read that this is about a psycho-killer. There is a weird communication between the kids outside the shop and the man (very much) inside. 

The song opens with an electric guitar playing backward. Any record that starts off with a backward guitar is more likely be a masterpiece as a rule. And then when you add trumpets to the backward guitar, well, you're close to God. Even though I have my suspicions about this 'man in a shop.'

Here are the lyrics:

Here's a tale of a man in a shop, who was

Kinda soft and liked to, dream all day

In the day a loving man in a shop, there are

Lots of things that I would, like to say, about loneliness

There's a little crowd of kids formed 'round my window

They've all come to see my Princess, ain't she beautiful

You can tell, by their smiles

What she means to their, little minds

She like's something out of, one of them child rhymes

There's a crowd of little girls now, 'round my window

They all like the clothes she wears lying there beautiful

You can tell by their smiles

That they like the style but not the price

That they, would have to pay, to live like her

Just a tale of man in a shop, who was

Kinda soft and liked to, dream all day

In the day a loving man in a shop, there are

Lots of things that I would, like to say, about loneliness

There's a lovely new girl in my window

Threw the old one in the cellar, ain't that pitiful

Maybe he can make more dough

Since he's to change the girl, we don't know

We will just have to wait, and see

That's my tale of a man in a shop, who was

Kinda soft and liked to, dream all day

In the tale of a man in a shop, there are 

Lots things that I have, had to say

- W. Campbell and S. MacLeese