Reflections of My Life

Recording

The recording took place over three days in October 1969 at Decca Studios 2 and 1 in West Hampstead London with band members Graham Knight on bass, Alan Whitehead on drums, Pat Fairley on acoustic guitar, and Junior Campbell on keyboards and electric guitars. Dean Ford sang lead vocal and Junior Campbell and Graham Knight provided harmony vocals.

The added brass and strings were orchestrated by Keith Mansfield. "Reflections of My Life" was released on 14 November 1969 in the UK. The Decca staff recording engineers were Bill Price and Peter Rynston.

Credits

• Dean Ford – lead vocals
• Junior Campbell – harmony vocals, electric guitar, keyboards
• Graham Knight – harmony vocals, bass guitar
• Patrick Fairley – acoustic guitar
• Alan Whitehead – drums
• Keith Mansfield – brass and string arrangements

Structure

The song structure is unusual in that the intro, verses and choruses all share the same 8-bar sequence, reminiscent of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life". The chord sequence is: G, Bm, Em, G7, C, G/B, Am, D7 repeated throughout.

Guitar solo

The guitar solo in "Reflections of My Life", often referred to as "reverse" guitar solo, was a sixteen bar (measure) sequence featured in the recording by Junior Campbell, the band's lead guitarist.

The song is in the key of G major and the solo was recorded thus:

The first 4 bars were recorded as normal, with Campbell playing a long "G" note, tied over from the last beat of bar 3, through bar 4, with slight feedback sustaining the long note.

The eight track tape was then turned over, and Campbell played against the reverse sound of the track, including his initial first four bars ensuring that he played another long "G" near the same point which could be cross-faded against the original – the tape was then turned over to normal setup, and he selected just 4 bars from the reverse recording which are bars 4–7 inclusive – this was cross-faded with the original at bar 4 – he then picked up from bar 8 through to bar 16 as normal, so in fact, only 4 bars are actually "reversed".

The solo was played on his left-handed Gibson Stereo ES355 using a Sound City stack.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

• The Australian band Flake recorded the song in 1970. It charted regionally in Adelaide and Sydney, where it reached No.10; as well as settling in as a top 40 hit on the Go-Set National Top 60 in January 1971. Marmalade's original had peaked at No.47.
• Ruddy Thomas included a reggae rendition on his 1983 album Reggae By Ruddy Thomas. It was a duet with [Barry Biggs, who also arranged and co-produced the song. It was released as a single in 1983 and reached No.25 in the Netherlands.
• The Hong Kong band Blue Jeans (藍戰士) covered the song into Cantonese and named the song as "Blue Jeans" in 1988.

References

References

1. Eder, Bruce. "Various Artists - ''Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 2'' (1990) Review".
2. "Reflections of My Life – Marmalade | Song Info". [[AllMusic]].
3. "THE MARMALADE". Carlinmusic.com.
4. Steffen Hung. "Forum – 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)".
5. "flavour of new zealand – search listener".
6. "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (M)". Rock.co.za.
7. "Marmalade: Chart History".
8. Whitburn, Joel. (1993). "Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993". Record Research.
9. "Top 100 1970-05-23". [[Cashbox (magazine).
10. (17 July 2013). "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
11. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1970". [[Single Top 100]]. Hung Medien.
12. "Top 100 Hits of 1970/Top 100 Songs of 1970".
13. "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1970". [[Cashbox (magazine).
14. "Pop Archives".
15. (1999). "[[Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop]]". [[Allen & Unwin]].
16. (3 April 1971). "National Top 60". Waverley Press.
17. "Ruddy Thomas & Barry Biggs - Reflections of My Life".
18. (15 June 2015). "Blue Jeans: Reflections of My Life (1988)".