There are two versions of the song, a stereo and mono version, with significant differences: the mono version, which was the original single, has the trademark wah-wah guitar in the breaks between lyrics, but the stereo version omits it.
The group's lead singer Francis Rossi wrote this song - he was still a teenager and it was just the second tune he had ever composed. Like many of his later songs, this one is about a woman who treats him wrong ("You make men cry, you lie"). In an interview with Rossi, he explained: "'Matchstick Men' was basically about my ex-wife. I'd just got married, and I thought, Oh, this is a mistake, what have I done?" "I wrote it on the bog [toilet]. I'd gone there, not for the usual reasons...but to get away from the wife and mother-in-law. I used to go into this narrow frizzing toilet and sit there for hours, until they finally went out. I got three quarters of the song finished in that khazi. The rest I finished in the lounge."
This song was inspired by the matchstick men paintings of L.S. Lowry (1887-1976). Lowry was an English painter who became famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of northern England during the middle of the 20th century. They were peopled with spindly human figures who looked like matchstick men.
There are two versions of the song, a stereo and mono version, with significant differences: the mono version, which was the original single, has the trademark wah-wah guitar in the breaks between lyrics, but the stereo version omits it.
The group's lead singer Francis Rossi wrote this song - he was still a teenager and it was just the second tune he had ever composed. Like many of his later songs, this one is about a woman who treats him wrong ("You make men cry, you lie"). In an interview with Rossi, he explained: "'Matchstick Men' was basically about my ex-wife. I'd just got married, and I thought, Oh, this is a mistake, what have I done?" "I wrote it on the bog [toilet]. I'd gone there, not for the usual reasons...but to get away from the wife and mother-in-law. I used to go into this narrow frizzing toilet and sit there for hours, until they finally went out. I got three quarters of the song finished in that khazi. The rest I finished in the lounge."
This song was inspired by the matchstick men [paintings of L.S. Lowry](https://www.google.com/search?q=L.S.+Lowry&rlz=1C1ASUT_enUS508US508&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=rYXiZW9JBX8k1M%253A%252C80jifHhrMkBaHM%252C_&usg=__MDJT2kuyiCzpklCXxBM6KAHunxs%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjm2dvR8LfZAhVFAqwKHRWdBNQQ_h0ItQEwDQ#imgrc=9acee95uVL5gDM:) (1887-1976). Lowry was an English painter who became famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of northern England during the middle of the 20th century. They were peopled with spindly human figures who looked like matchstick men.
There are two versions of the song, a stereo and mono version, with significant differences: the mono version, which was the original single, has the trademark wah-wah guitar in the breaks between lyrics, but the stereo version omits it.
The group's lead singer Francis Rossi wrote this song - he was still a teenager and it was just the second tune he had ever composed. Like many of his later songs, this one is about a woman who treats him wrong ("You make men cry, you lie"). In an interview with Rossi, he explained: "'Matchstick Men' was basically about my ex-wife. I'd just got married, and I thought, Oh, this is a mistake, what have I done?" "I wrote it on the bog [toilet]. I'd gone there, not for the usual reasons...but to get away from the wife and mother-in-law. I used to go into this narrow frizzing toilet and sit there for hours, until they finally went out. I got three quarters of the song finished in that khazi. The rest I finished in the lounge."
This song was inspired by the matchstick men paintings of L.S. Lowry (1887-1976). Lowry was an English painter who became famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of northern England during the middle of the 20th century. They were peopled with spindly human figures who looked like matchstick men.