“Crying Inside My Heart”
by Little Ritchie Marsh
1963 song
Despite an almost folk-rock feel, "Crying Inside My Heart" is very similar to the song "Darling, I Swear That It's True". Both songs were pre-Seeds, pre-psychedelic, pre-garage tunes by pop idol wannabe Sky Saxon. "Crying Inside My Heart", credited to Little Ritchie Marsh, was the flip side of "Goodby".
Despite the similarities in mood and in melody, 1964’s "Crying Inside My Heart" differs from past Sky songs in its execution: the band sound great and hit all their marks. It isn’t their fault that the song itself is boring and they perform their task admirably. This, on his fourth single, is the first Sky Saxon song that a listener can actually get lost in. As a vocalist, Ritchie too is far more believable than before.
Not that it made Little Ritchie a star; he was improving on every release in some way but he wasn’t there yet. When The Seeds dropped out of the sky (pun intended) they seemed to be fully-formed, great from the get-go. There is nothing to explicitly suggest the raw power of that band in a confection like "Crying Inside My Heart" but the trend was upward, a path to something greater.
For decades "Crying Inside My Heart" was unavailable to fans not lucky enough to own a copy of the original vinyl single, but finally it became accessible on the 2003 vinyl album Sky Saxon Presents “A Starlight Date With Richard Marsh”. This version, sourced from a 7″, is pumped full of noise reduction that robs it of its nuances.
