Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile)
Steve Harley (1975).

The main chords* of the song are F, C and G. Classic, common and probably the first three chords budding musicians try out - on guitar or keyboard (if I'm right about that, A and D won't be far behind).

I've referred before to the genesis of the song or the kernel (I just like that word!) - Steve had in 1972 (maybe even in 1971). However, the lyrics couldn't be finalised until the break up of the original Cockney Rebel.

It's interesting to speculate that he maybe started with it (the earliest chords), whilst he was still playing with Odin...

Anyway, the backing track is uncomplicated. This must give hope to budding young songwriting talent, in terms of what might be possible from three basic chords, for the verses and three more for the guitar solo....

In the guitar solo, Em, Am and Dm feature, again much used chords. The outro also uses these. Dm is also used in the opening of the glorious chorus....

I've just written about Big Big Deal (currently the adjacent thread) and was thinking that Harley was not only a masterful lyricist, he was the master of pause in a song.

Make Me Smile and Big Big Deal (latterly to a greater extent) are each examples of how he could do that.

Once he'd strummed those chords, got that octave shift and had the interaction with 'blue eyes....', the rest is history! Actually, it's likely that the octave shift, could only happen with the top line and lyrics, which in turn could only happen after the interaction (or confrontation) with 'blue eyes, blue eyes...', in 1974.

120 or more covers of this song, by other artists, speak for themselves...x

* chords source: Ultimate Guitar

Pleasurable addition:

In February and March 1975, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are, for me, the coolest band in the UK and that continues into the summer...During that period, I felt like a big fish in a small pond, until college (where I felt like a small fish in a big pond) but then, to cheer me up, Roxy Music released Love Is The Drug.

Andy Mackay (classically trained), wrote the.music and Bryan Ferry, the lyrics. Just looking, this morning, I've realised that each song here contains almost the same chords (though Love Is...ends on C6) but obviously, different chords predominate. In Rebel's, major chords predominate in the verses and with Roxy's, the minor chords predominate i.e. Dm, Am...Though C (a major chord) is used between minor chords in the verses.

The chords are essentially the harmony of the song. The top line (vocal) is the horizontal progression, a progression of single notes comprising the melody (in turn, melody is inextricably linked to the rhythm). Chords, as most of you will know are several notes sounding together, which work as the vertical backdrop to the top line tune, that much I do understand.

Where they get closest for me, is where Bryan sings the opening line to Love... "T'aint no big t'ing..." with Dm backing chord and Steve, on Make Me...sings the first part of the chorus, "Come up and see me...", also backed with Dm. Mutual iconic moments of two massive pop songs.

Sometimes it is said that the vertical structure also helps to convey mood, as a generalisation, the major chords convey 'happy' and the minor chords convey 'sad'. In Make Me...Steve might be feeling sad that the first group broke up, and with Love...the tension is maybe present until a love is found, sometimes discos or clubs don't work...The mood and narrative of the respective songs. There's also excitement, however, with the major chords. There's also depth...

Who knew?! (to digress, I've come to love Pink...another performer with such heart and 'Who Knew' is my favourite of her songs). Make Me...made No.1 (here) and Love...made No. 2 (here). Ferry's own single music, within the Roxy output, also included a number 2, with 'Dance Away' (1979, a radical change of direction). For the next two years, I struggled (as an obsessive), trying to decide whether I 'identified' with Rebel or Roxy, most. Only later did I realise, that was never going to happen,...Rebel & Roxy ruled equally, OK! xxx

Chord source for 'Love...': 'Roxy Music Greatest Hits' songbook/sheet music (1978), E.G. Music Ltd.

1975 was pretty significant for Harley, Cockney Rebel, Ferry, Roxy Music...All were at the height of their popularity. They rode the wave...with great style and substance...and kept on keeping on...

P.S. I wish Steve could have read this, it.might have made him smile..I'll carry [his] music with me, for the rest of my own days...

P.S.2
Last night we saw (at the cinema) The Royal Theatre Haymarket production of Othello, with David Harewood as Othello, Toby Jones as Iago (I used to see his father, the late actor, Freddie Jones, in a pub I used to frequent in 1987/1988 - to say hello to), Caitlin FitzGerald, as Desdemona, Vinette Robinson as Emelia, Luke Treadaway as Cassio and Tom Byrne as Roderigo et al.

One phrase from Iago to Roderigo (in this production, not necessarily in Shakespeare's original, started 'Such metal (or such mettle). These are variations of the same word but the latter was introduced in Elizabethan times (1558 - 1603), to separate the physical metals, like gold, from the metaphorical metal (mettle), to describe, spirit, power, (the person's) forcefulness...

Shakespeare used the alternatives interchangeably, for instance, in Julius Ceasar, he used both 'metal' and 'mettle', in the metaphorical context...

This led to immediate thoughts of Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) and specifically, Steve's lyric, ...for only metal - what a bore'. As a sixteen year old, I remember thinking 'what does that line mean' and I think I thought that 'metal' - for that is how it is written on the inner sleeve of the album - is about money or gold - but I simultaneously remember thinking, that that didn't make obvious sense, making a living is not a bore, maybe for some, but not all...

I realise today, with Steve's explanations about the lyrics, together with my nominal understanding of some of Shakespeare (and Steve's considerable reading), that this, 'for only metal - what a bore', is more likely to refer to the three members of Cockney Rebel, trying to impose their will (on songwriting for the band)?

Another thought I had, leading from this, is that 'The Psychomodo', the Cockney Rebel second album, might have been inspired by Othello (who became murderously paranoid, through jealously and misconceived feelings of betrayal)?! Before that, I also thought that, Steve has also directly referred to Desdemona, in the song, 'Psychomodo', so Shakespeare's work must at least have inspired Steve's own work, to some degree. X

P.S.3 This afternoon I've just stumbled across JustinGuitar's ...(Guitar Lesson SB-418) on YouTube from 11 years ago, 8mins 13secs, it's had 244K views at this time - he points out, in the guitar solo - the major chords are played between the minor chords during the solo. Apparently, he has another lesson that runs through the guitar solo separately...

Anyway, this classic song is just six chords.