Some thought Beg A Little Love was the strongest track on the effort and is co-written by Hunter and R. McNasty, a pseudonym for guitarist Robbie Alter. This is a dramatic and personal tune with galloping drum patterns and twisting Ronson guitar contributions. The song is a profound statement of growing, coming of age, and learning in life. When the harshest experiences in life come at you so you look for that perfect stranger and you beg a little love; even at the end of the song he inverts age with the closing lines, "I'm still a child And I get down on my knees and I beg Beg a little love," brilliant! Hunter has numerous religious allusions even in the most secular of contexts and this one is no different with a "sacrificial lamb"along with a bit of echoing his Mott The Hoople song When My Mind's Gone reprised with:
"When my mind had gone, when both o' my minds had gone
When my minds had gone."
No matter what our age we seem to always want the same things and Hunter says this is a song to himself. The lyrics are among his favorites as the best on the record and a diary of someone floundering in middle life.
Who is Robbie McNasty?
Beg a Little Love
(Hunter/McNasty)
Life takes a little piece of you away
Most everyday of your life
Oh learn to get wise, you learn to compromise-
You learn to criticise yourself
I guess we all grow up 'cos one day everything-
seems so further from the truth
And you try to find yourself- in this endless youth
I said you try to find yourself-and you
Beg a little love
Fate takes another stab at your face
And you can never cease to resist
And you take it on the chin-that old sucker punch again
Reminds you what you've missed
When the colors blazed and your jealousy raged
You were so sensitive to every touch
And it ain't to forget in this endless youth
So you find a perfect stranger- and you
Beg a little love
What do you get in the end
Did you really need that friend
Your emotions dulled to save your heart
From failing at the hardest part
But you still get down on your knees
I said you get down n your knees
And you beg
Now there's nothing left to laugh at
Nothing left to say-nothing left do
There's nothing left-so there's nothing left to ask for
But you still get down on your knees- and you beg
These words are my sacrificial lamb
Burnin' a hole down my heart
Dancin' down that river of no return
You know you missed that boat- but you still get
down on your knees
After all o' those years
After all o' those fears
After all o' those dreams
After all o' those screams
After all o' those nights
After all o' those fights
When my mind had gone, when both o' my minds had gone
When my minds had gone
I'm still a child
And I get down on my knees and I beg
Beg a little love
Ian Hunter CD: "YUI Orta"
Sleeve and track listing
Lemon CD LEM 6.
Review
Ian teamed up with his old mate Mick Ronson once again to record this album in the middle of 1989. Ian and Mick had toured the USA and Europe in late 1988/early 1989, before the album was even recorded, and the result is a highly polished album - one of their best.
Highlights include the Stonsey Women's Intuition (if only Mick 'n' Keef were still this good!), the full-tilt rocker How Much More Can I Take, Big Time (Ian borrows his own riff from Once Bitten...), Tell It Like It Is (Mick borrowing the Get It On riff) and Mick's guitar showcase Sweet Dreamer which is breathtaking beautiful.
When the album was released, they toured the USA and Europe again to promote it. Intended in some ways as a comeback album for both men, the record company did little to promote it themselves, and it didn't sell in great numbers. They were dropped by the record company, and all plans for a follow-up were put on hold when Mick Ronson was diagnosed with liver cancer.
Unavailable for many years, this CD has finally been reissued on the Lemon label (a planned reissue on NMC having fallen through when NMC went bust). This reissue includes a couple of Ronno bonus tracks from 1971 - great for the completist but somewhat at odds with the rest of the album. The insert includes the lyrics from the original CD, but the sleeve notes are appallingly inaccurate - a shame really that Campbell Devine's notes for the aborted NMC release weren't used.
In 1995, Windsong issued an official release of their 15-Feb-89 concert, which had been recorded by the BBC for radio broadcast. This live album has since been reissued on Strange Fruit.
As is normal these days, there was material left over in the vaults, some of which is circulating amongst fans. This includes (Give Me Back My) Wings, which was demoed but never recorded, Ill Wind (now available on the Once Bitten Twice Shy compilation), More To Love Than Meets The Eye and Look Before You Leap, which IMO would have been a great single and features some beautiful guitar work from Mick Ronson.
The album title is derived from "Why you... I ought to...", a phrase popularised by The Three Stooges.
Technical
The original CD
The reissued CD
Comments
Analysis of the reissued CD shows some compression being used; this has boosted overall loudness slightly (by some 2.2dB) without any noticeable affect on sound quality.
| Beg A Little Love | 6:26 | Originally issued on YUI Orta. |
Posts
