- Auteurs : Phil May, Dick Taylor, Ian Stirling
- Album : Emotions (1967)
- Single : Death of a Socialite / Photographer (1967)
- Durée : 2 min 41 s
- Éditeur : Dunmo Music Publishing
- Compilations :
- Attention! The Pretty Things! Vol. 2 (1976)
- Closed Restaurant Blues (1985)
- The Star Club Singles Complete Vol. 12 (V/A, 1990)
- Get a Buzz: The Best of the Fontana Years (1992)
- Unrepentant: The Anthology (1995)
- The Very Best of The Pretty Things (2003)
- Come See Me: The Very Best of The Pretty Things (2004)
- Introducing The Pretty Things (2013)
Le 17 décembre 1966, une Lotus Elan traverse à toute vitesse le quartier londonien de South Kensington et finit par s’encastrer dans un camion en stationnement après avoir grillé un feu rouge. Grièvement blessé, le conducteur, un jeune homme de 21 ans, décède le lendemain. Pas vraiment de quoi défrayer la chronique à première vue, si ce n’est que ce jeune homme n’est autre que Tara Browne, célèbre jet-setteur et héritier de la richissime famille Guinness. La mort de cette figure du Swinging London inspire aux Beatles le second couplet de A Day in the Life (« he blew his mind out in a car… ») et aux Pretty Things la chanson qui ouvre l’album Emotions.
Paroles
You dance, you spin round, you circle the big town without stopping
You play the game of remaining the same without changing
Been a hard way of living but it wouldn’t seem so bad
Been a hard way of living and you know it only makes me sad
People they see you and love you without knowing what your name is
If that be one day or two days but never for always
It’s been a hard way of living and it wouldn’t seem so bad
Been a hard way of living but you know it only makes me sad
When you lose the life from your eyes then they’re no longer [smiling?]
Will you retain every [???] knowing the place they remember?
Then they will leave you and lose the thought of you
[???] they’ll be gone, it’s over
It’s over
Yes it’s over
Yes it’s over
You know it’s over
Don’t you know it’s over
This is now over
Death of a Socialite — Children →