Excerpt:
Following In Your Footsteps is about heredity, genetics, and not wanting to be like your father. Two key lines are:
You never got what you wanted
So I never got what I need If the father is deficient then the child will not get what they need. The child has to follow in the footsteps of what they know. The "someone" is the father knowing that:
Someone must have given me anger,
someone must have given me hate
Or why would I stand here shakin',
when there's so many chances to takeWith all these drawbacks the child is inhibited while there are so many things to do and possibilities in life. The genes can hold you back. The frustration that Hunter had with his father are explored in Ships and No Hard Feelings. Ian realizes that his father had a really difficult life with war and the Great Depression. Then, his father got stuck in a job as a cop. Hunter reconciled with his father but the song relates how important he was as he was growing up in his father's footsteps and how fatherhood is critical.
The track was released on YUI Orta but there are two live versions as well one on BBC Live in Concert and another on Bag of Tricks Vol. 3 with just Steve Holley on drums and James Mastro on guitar.
Following In Your Footsteps
(Ian Hunter/Mick Ronson)
Some folk leave courage, some folk leave you hope
Why am I out here hangin'
like a fool at the end o' my rope
Some folk leave you wisdom,
some folk leave you signs
You can never be sure what went on before
Life is just a matter of time
Picture of you, clouding my view
I'm following in your footsteps,
tryin' to make some sense of it all
Maybe it's a sign of weakness,
but that's where my footsteps fall
I'm following in your footsteps,
tryin' to hang on to your dreams
You never got what you wanted
So I never got what I need
I'm following in your footsteps,
'cos that's where the footsteps lead
Someone must have given me anger,
someone must have given me hate
Or why would I stand here shakin',
when there's so many chances to take
Pictures of you,
climb into view
I'm following in your footsteps,
tryin' to make some sense of it all
Maybe it's a sign of weakness,
but that's where my footsteps fall
I'm following in your footsteps,
watchin' my children grow
They're following in my footsteps
Takin' it on the road
We're following in your footsteps
'cos that's where the footsteps go
We're following in your footsteps, yeah
'cos that's where your footsteps go
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 Shycompilation), 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.
| Following In Your Footsteps | 5:02 | Originally issued on YUI Orta. |
| Following In Your Footsteps (live 15th February 1989) | 5:41 | This live version (recorded The Dominion, London England) was issued on BBC Live in Concert. |
| Following In Your Footsteps (live 23rd February 2008) | 5:15 | This live version (recorded at the Lowry Theatre, Manchester England) was released on Bag Of Tricks (Vol 3) (box set only). |