The changing of sunlight to moonlight
Reflections of my life, oh, how they fill my eyes
The greetings of people in trouble
Reflections of my life, oh, how they fill my mind

All my sorrows, sad tomorrows
Take me back to my own home
All my cryings (all my cryings), feel I'm dying, dying
Take me back to my own home (oh I'm going home)

I'm changing, arranging, I'm changing
I'm changing everything, ah, everything around me

The world is a bad place, a bad place
A terrible place to live, oh, but I don't wanna die

That song, by the group Marmalade, was a prophetically simple song back in 1970. Marmalade as a group was founded as Dean Ford And The Gaylords in 1963. They enjoyed little success in England, and changed their name to Marmalade after signing to CBS in 1967. One of the promotional giveways to radio stations was, jars of marmalade, what else? After four singles that failed to break into the charts, Marmalade entered the charts with a cover of the Grass Roots' "Lovin Things." But notieriety was still a ways off, and a few more cover singles made them a group that had to compromise to achieve success.

In 1969, they signed to Decca Records, and their contract gave them complete freedom to write and produce their own records. The fruits of this arrangement was the recording of the song that pushed them into the British charts and finally, the American charts. That song, "Reflections Of My Life," was written by Campbell and McAleese. The song, while well received in both markets, didn't do anything for the album that followed, not making it to the charts in the UK ond only to number 71 in the US. Further singles and one more album showed their creative potential, but "Reflections" forever etched Marmalade into the one-hit-wonder hall of fame. One more song, in 1976, did chart in the US with a modified lineup of the group; called "Falling Apart At The Seams." You can hear both of these songs on The Hits of Yesterday.

Thanks to Sounds Of The Sixties for the biography and list of singles by Marmalade.


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