Pictures of Matchstick Men'' by Status Quo Limited Edition Prints of Original Painting

‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’ is the first hit single by Status Quo, released in November 1967. It reached number seven in the UK charts and number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their only hit single in the United States. The song opens with a single guitar repeatedly playing a simple four note riff before the rhythm guitar comes in with chords and the drums and lyrics begin. Francis Rossi said about the song: “I wrote it on the bog. I'd gone there 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.”