How Long

Album

Five‐a‐Side

Label

Anchor

Genre

Soft Rock

Media Type

45s

Duration

9:00

Composer(s)

Paul Carrack

Entered Chart

Mar 8, 1975

Peak Date

May 31, 1975

Released

March 1975

Recorded

1974

Catalog #

Anchor 21000

B-Side

Sniffin' About

"How long has this been going on" sure sounds like something a guy would say to his cheating lover, but this song has a very different meaning. Ace bass player Terry Comer was working with other bands - he played briefly with The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver - and he didn't tell his bandmates, who felt cheated when they found out. Ace lead singer Paul Carrack wrote the song; when he appeared on the BBC Breakfast news programme on June 29, 2009 he was asked about the inspiration. Rather than being about a two-timing lover it was, he said, about another band who were "trying to nick our bass player." "How Long?" was one of the first songs he ever wrote and remains one of his biggest hits. It was released on the Anchor label in 1974, backed by "Sniffin' About" and produced by John Anthony for Neptune Productions. It has been recorded many times since. Terry Comer, the bass player a rival band were trying to "nick," returned in time to play on the original recording. Paul Carrack was the lead singer of Ace. He went on to sing for Squeeze and Mike And The Mechanics and had a solo hit with "Don't Shed a Tear." This was Ace's only hit. They broke up in 1977. The bass introduction is borrowed from "Traveling Song" by the British folk rock group Pentangle. The song had a resurgence after being used in an Amazon Prime Advert titled "Binge Cheat." The commercial features the song's opening line, "How long has this been going on?"

How long has this been going on?
How long has this been going on?

Well, if friends with their fancy persuasion
Don't admit that it's part of a scheme
But I can't help but have my suspicions
'Cause I ain't quite as dumb as I seem

And you said you was never intending
To break up our scene this way
But there ain't any use in pretending
It could happen to us any day

How long has this been going on?
How long has this been going on?

Ooh, your friends with their fancy persuasion
Don't admit that it's part of a scheme
But I can't help but have my suspicions
'Cause I ain't quite as dumb as I seem

Oh, you said you was never intending
To break up our scene this way
But there ain't any use in pretending
It could happen to us any day

And how long has this been going on?
How long has this been going on?
(How long?)
How long has this been going on?
(How long has this?)
How long has this been going on?
(How long?)
How long has this been going on?