Humble pie

To eat humble pie, in common usage, is to apologize and face humiliation for a serious error. Humble pie, or umble pie, is also a term for a variety of pastries based on medieval meat pies.

Etymology

The expression derives from umble pie, which was a pie filled with the chopped or minced parts of a beast's 'pluck' - the heart, liver, lungs or 'lights' and kidneys, especially of deer but often other meats. Umble evolved from numble, (after the French nomble) meaning 'deer's innards'.

It has occasionally been suggested that 'umbles' were considered inferior food and that in medieval times, the pie was often served to lower-class people, possibly following speculation in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable but there is little evidence for this. Early references in cookbooks such as Liber Cure Cocorum present a grand dish with exotic spices.

Although "umbles" and the modern word "humble" are etymologically unrelated, each word has appeared with and without the initial "h" after the Middle Ages until the 19th century. Since the sound "h" is dropped in many dialects, the phrase was rebracketed as "humble pie". While "umble" is now gone from the language, the phrase remains, carrying the fossilized word as an idiom.

Humble Pie (band)

Humble Pie were an English rock band formed by Steve Marriott, in Essex during 1969. They are known as one of the late 1960s' first supergroups and found success on both sides of the Atlantic. the band are also remembered for songs such as "Black Coffee", "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Natural Born Bugie". The original band lineup featured lead vocalist and guitarist Steve Marriott from the Small Faces, vocalist and guitarist Peter Frampton from The Herd, former Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and a seventeen-year-old drummer, Jerry Shirley.

Formation and chart success

In January 1969 Steve Marriott, having just left Small Faces, got together with Greg Ridley, Peter Frampton and Jerry Shirley, who had been the drummer for the mod band Apostolic Intervention. Originally Marriott had brought together Shirley and Ridley as a possible band for Frampton, but ended up joining them himself. They eventually chose the name Humble Pie and were signed to Andrew Loog Oldham's record label Immediate Records. Their debut single, "Natural Born Bugie", was released on 8. August 1969 becoming a No. 4 hit in the UK Singles Chart and was quickly followed by the album As Safe As Yesterday Is, which peaked at No. 16 in the UK album charts. As Safe As Yesterday Is was one of the first albums to be described by the term "heavy metal" in a 1970 review in Rolling Stone magazine. Their second album, Town and Country released in the UK during 1969 while the band was away on its first tour of the US. This album featured a more acoustic sound and songs written by all four members. Humble Pie concerts at this time featured an acoustic set, with a radical re-working of Graham Gouldman's "For Your Love" as its centerpiece followed by an electric set. Recent tape archives show that the band recorded around 30 songs in its first nine months of existence, many of which remained unreleased for decades, including a cover of Henry Glover's "Drown in My Own Tears".

Humble Pie (album)

Humble Pie is the third studio album released by English rock group Humble Pie in 1970, and their first with A&M Records.

Background

Humble Pie was a transitional album and a harbinger of the band's new, heavier direction. The material was darker than their previous two efforts, with striking contrasts in volume and style — Peter Frampton's gentle "Earth and Water Song" is buttressed between two of the heaviest tracks on the record, the band composed "One Eyed Trouser Snake Rumba," and a cover of Willie Dixon's "I'm Ready". Drummer Jerry Shirley contributed a rare lead vocal on his song "Only a Roach," a country-twinged ode to cannabis that also appeared as the B-side of the summer 1970 single "Big Black Dog". This was their first release under the auspices of new American manager Dee Anthony — who'd pushed for a louder, tighter sound both live and in the studio — and for their new label, A&M Records. At the end of 1969, the Pie's old label, Immediate, owned by Andrew Loog Oldham, went bankrupt — a saga chronicled by Marriott on the satirical ballad "Theme from Skint (See You Later Liquidator)".