"Pinball" is a 1974 song by the actor and musician
Brian Protheroe
Brian Protheroe (born 16 June 1944) is an English musician, actor and narrator. He is best known for his first single, "Pinball", which was released in August 1974, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. ...
. An autobiographical song written whilst Protheroe was living in a friend's flat in
Covent Garden, it was released as his first single after he was signed by
Chrysalis on the strength of a song he wrote and performed in a play. Upon release, it gave Protheroe his
only hit, reaching a peak position of 22 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in September 1974. It was later included on his debut album of the same title.
Background
Though he had been interested in music from an early age, Brian Protheroe had focused on a burgeoning acting career in the years leading up to his musical releases. His initial stage performances in 1966–67 were with his local
repertory theatre at
Salisbury Playhouse
Salisbury Playhouse is a theatre in the English city of Salisbury, Wiltshire. It was built in 1976 and comprises the 517-seat Main House and the 149-seat Salberg, a rehearsal room and a community & education space. It is part of Arts Council En ...
.
After leaving
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
, Protheroe settled with the
New Theatre Royal Lincoln
The New Theatre Royal Lincoln is a theatre in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.
The present theatre, initially called the ''New Theatre Royal'', was built in 1893 to the designs of Bertie Crewe and W.G.R. Sprague. After an explosion and fire in ...
in 1968. There he met Martin Duncan, who became a musical collaborator.
Stage roles such as in
Bath Theatre Royal
The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacity for an audienc ...
's 1970 production of ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'', for which he was also the composer, followed, as well as television appearances in the historical drama ''Frontier'' and the anthology mystery series ''
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes''.
In 1973, Protheroe appeared in a production of
William Fairchild
William Fairchild (sometimes credited as W. E. C. Fairchild) (1918–2000, aged 81-82) was an English author, playwright, director and screenwriter. He was married to actress Isabel Dean from 1953 to the early 1970s, and to producer, agent, and w ...
's play ''Death on Demand'' in the role of a pop singer. For the play, he set a lyric written by Fairchild to music and, after it had been shopped around by Fairchild, this composition caught the attention of a
Chrysalis Records rep. The label signed Protheroe as a solo artist.
Protheroe never released a recording of the song from ''Death on Demand'', instead opting for "Pinball" as his debut single.
Composition
"Pinball" is an autobiographical song, described by Protheroe as "a diary entry for one particular weekend in 1973", a time when he had just split up with his girlfriend and was living in a friend's flat in
Covent Garden.
The song describes Protheroe's despondent feelings ("my music bores me once again"), setbacks ("and I've run out of
pale ale") and activities ("I've been on the
pinball
Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...
) at this time. It has been described by one reviewer as "example of ennui, Covent Garden
Blues".
The lyrics also reference
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
and the Beatles' "
Hey Jude". There is no chorus, with the track being made up of several melodically identical verses. The song begins with an acoustic guitar riff, and builds to include elements such as a
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
(played by
Tony Coe
Anthony George Coe (born 29 November 1934) is an English jazz musician who plays clarinet, bass clarinet, flute as well as soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones.
Career
Born in Canterbury, Kent, England, Coe started out on clarinet and was self- ...
), bass, drums and sound effects such as a cat's meow after the lyric "And the cat just finished off the bread".
The single was produced by
Del Newman
Derrick Martin "Del" Newman (5 October 1930 – 10 August 2020) was a British conductor, orchestral arranger and music producer. His orchestral arrangements appeared on songs by many rock and pop artists from the 1960s to the 1990s, including Ca ...
, who would produce all three of Protheroe's 1970s albums.
Release
"Pinball" was released as a single in August 1974, backed by "Money Love". It entered the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
at number 40 and eventually reached a peak of number 22 in September. It spent six weeks on the chart.
Protheroe performed the song live on ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...
'' during its chart run. He would later reflect on this time: "When I was on ''Top of the Pops'' the record label said 'right, we'll get you a velvet suit' I said, 'NO'. To succeed in the music business to have to embrace everything and I wasn't prepared to do that. I was an actor and much more comfortable in that world. I did no touring, just a couple of concerts around London."
Reception and legacy
The song has received critical acclaim. Upon release, ''
Reading Evening Post
The ''Reading Post'' (until 2009, the ''Reading Evening Post'') was an English local newspaper covering Reading, Berkshire and surrounding areas. The title page of the paper featured the Maiwand Lion, a famous local landmark at Forbury Gardens. T ...
''s Pete Butterfield called "Pinball" "one of the most interesting singles of the year"
while Max Bell of ''
New Musical Express'' praised the song's production and its "instant, stylised commercialism".
Among retrospective reviews, ''
AllMusic's''
Stephen Thomas Erlewine has described the song as "an exquisite piece of post-
McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
pop"
and Scott Hammond of ''The Fix Magazine'' has declared it "one of the lost gems of the 1970s".
"Pinball" was included on
Sean Rowley's ''Guilty Pleasures'' compilation album, released in 2004. The song provided the inspiration for the track "
Riverman
Riverman (1969–1999) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse.
Background
Foaled in Kentucky, Riverman was bred by Harry F. Guggenheim of the prominent American Guggenheim family. Riverman was from the mare River Lady and sired by Guggenheim's s ...
" from
Noel Gallagher's 2015 album ''
Chasing Yesterday.'' Gallagher had been introduced to the song by
Morrissey in a
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
bar.
"Pinball" remains Protheroe's only hit single, and his best known song. Both sides of the single appeared on Protheroe's debut album, also titled ''Pinball'', and the track also lent its name to the first compilation of his music, ''Pinball and Other Stories'', released in 2006. In that release's booklet, Protheroe reflects on the song; "I'm very proud of "Pinball". It perfectly encapsulates how I was feeling at the time".
Track listing
7" Single
References
{{reflist
1974 singles
1974 songs
Chrysalis Records singles
British pop songs
Songs about depression