How Long (Has This Been Goin' On)

1974

Ace

This is another one of those songs that anyone with 'Teen' suffixed to their age back in '75 recognizes from the first note of the intro. You hear that bass guitar start up, then the drums join in, and finally the piano kicks in, and at thirty two second in you join in with 'Howwww Loooooonnnnngg...

And as recognizable and well known as this one is the song is not about what everyone thinks it's about. I'll repeat here...it's not about a guy who busts his cheating girlfriend. It was written about Ace's Bass player Tony Comer, who left the group for awhile to perform with The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver before returning to Ace. Oh...he didn't tell his band mates about the other bands and they felt, well, cheated. And thus this tune was born. This is also very likely why the song kicks off with a Bass solo. It also makes the lyric 'Break up our scene that way' a bit more relevant.

It was one of the first songs penned by Ace's lead singer, Paul Carrack, and remains his and the bands biggest hit, and, in fact, Aces only hit. Of course, if you're only going to have a single hit, ya might as well make it a good one! Ace was a British band, so it debuted across the Pond in late '74 before being released in the U.S. at the head end of 1975. It debuted on The Billboard Hot 100 on March 8^th, 75, and began a steady climb as it gained airplay and fans. It cracked the Top 20 at # 19 on April 26^th, and peaked well into the Top 10, at # 3, on May 31^st,, hanging on to the 3-spot for two weeks before dropping off the charts only two weeks later for a total chart run of 16 weeks.

It may not have been about what all of us Seventies Kids thought it was about, but we still liked it enough to take it to #3. It was all over the radio that Spring and I can recall silently lip-syncing to it as I attempted to decipher Physics...I passed the final by the skin of my teeth as I recall.

'How Long?' Is one of those songs that pretty much permanently embedded itself in the memory of all of us Seventies Kids to the point that, as I noted above, all of us know what it is as soon as we hear that first deep bass guitar strum. And happily, we don't have to dredge it up from memory to hear it...it's still a staple on Oldies stations like Richmond's Classic Oldies 107.3 and Hampton Roads' Oldies powerhouse, 106.9.

This one'll be around forever, more than likely. Our grandkids'll be hearing that base guitar leading into the drum and piano intro long after we're gone...and they'll probably think it's about a guy who caught his girl cheating, too!

So Enjoy! How Long (Has This Been Going On) by Ace. Crank the volume on this one!

As a bonus, Ace performing 'How Long' live on NBC's The Midnight Special on June 27^th, 1975.

'How Long' was covered pretty extensively, including a cover by Rod Stewart, which he executed with his distinctive style and flair and included on his 1981 album 'Tonight I'm Yours'. It was also released as a single, which made it to the Billboard Hot 100's Top 50. As a second bonus, here's Rod's version...compare 'em and see which one ya like best!