ROD STEWART - HANDRAGS & GLADRAGS
Ever Seen A Blind Man Cross The Road
Trying To Make The Other Side?
Ever Seen A Young Girl Growing Old
Trying To Make Herself A Bride?
So What Becomes Of You My Love
When They Have Finally Stripped You Of
The Handbags And The Glad-Rags
That Your Granddad Had To Sweat So You Could Buy?
Baby
Once I Was A Young Man
And All I Thought I Had To Do Was Smile
You Are Still A Young Girl
And You Bought Everything In Style
Listen
But Once You Think You're In, You're Out
'Cause You Don't Mean A Single Thing Without
The Handbags And The Glad-Rags
That Your Granddad Had To Sweat So You Could Buy
Ooh
Sing A Song Of Six-Pence For Your Sake
And Take A Bottle Full Of Rye
Four And Twenty Blackbirds In A Cake
And Bake Them All In A Pie
They Told Me You Missed School Today
So What I Suggest You Just Throw Them All Away
The Handbags And The Glad-Rags
That Your Poor Old Granddad Had To Sweat To Buy
Oh, Whoa
They Told Me You Missed School Today
So I Suggest You Just Throw Them All Away
The Handbags And The Glad-Rags
That Your Poor Old Granddad Had To Sweat To Buy Ya, Baby
Bye, Bye
SONG FACTS
Writer(s): Mike D'Abo
Producer(s): Lou Reizner
Manfred Mann vocalist Mike D'Abo wrote this song about the futility of fashion ("Glad Rags" are stylish clothes) and the irrelevance of outward appearances in 1967. The same year it was recorded by Chris Farlowe, who took it to #33 in the UK. D'Abo's own version appeared on his solo album "D'Abo", released in 1970. A then little known Rod Stewart covered it on his 1970 debut album "An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down", and the following year a recording by the American Jazz-Rock group Chase reached #84 on the American charts. Other versions followed, the most successful being one by The Stereophonics, which peaked at #4 in the UK.
The Stereophonics version is often mistaken for the one used a few months later as the theme to the BBC comedy The Office. It was British composer George Webley, aka "Big George," who arranged this version with vocals from Metal band Waysted vocalist Fin. Big George was at one time the bassist for the R&B group Q Tips, and Fin was for a time their vocalist, replacing Paul Young, who later found fame in the 1980s with recordings such as "Every Time You Go Away."