🎸 My Personal Top 10: T. Rex — No. 6 “Solid Gold Easy Action” — Glam Rock at Its Most Irresistible

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My Personal Top 10: T. Rex — No. 6 “Solid Gold Easy Action”

My No. 6 choice is “Solid Gold Easy Action,” released in 1972.

It ranks at No. 6 here, but in terms of personal attachment, it could easily make my Top 3. The guitar bursts out from the opening, the rhythm immediately pushes forward, and Marc Bolan’s slightly nasal vocal cuts right through. In just over two minutes, T. Rex’s gift for being simple yet unforgettable is concentrated into one compact burst of rock and roll.

Within just a few seconds, you know it is T. Rex. The song has an immediacy that makes the body react before the mind has time to analyze it. For me, that sound is also inseparable from memories of my junior high school years in the early 1970s.

A Free Interpretation of the Lyrics

Life has never really changed all that much.
Don’t overthink it — just enjoy this moment.
Trust the rhythm your body feels more than any explanation.
Come on, jump lightly into the brightest action of all.

First, Listen to the Official YouTube Audio

Official Audio Credits
T. Rex — “Solid Gold Easy Action” (1972)
Written by: Marc Bolan
Produced by: Tony Visconti
Marc Bolan: vocals, guitar
Steve Currie: bass
Mickey Finn: congas
Bill Legend: drums
Sue & Sunny: backing vocals
Tony Visconti: string arrangement, backing vocals

Released as a single on December 1, 1972, the song reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. It was a standalone single rather than a track on a contemporary studio album, and it captures T. Rex at the height of its golden era.

Two-Line Note
Sharp guitar, a driving rhythm, and the “Hey! Hey! Hey!” chants combine to capture the explosive momentum of T. Rex at its peak.
Simple yet instantly unforgettable, the song shows Marc Bolan’s instinct for making music more powerful by stripping it down.

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1972 — One Final Hit in a Year Dominated by T. Rex

“Solid Gold Easy Action” was released as a single in the UK on December 1, 1972.

This was T. Rex at its absolute peak.
“Telegram Sam” had reached No. 1 earlier in the year.
“Metal Guru” followed it to the top.
Then, in September, “Children of the Revolution” reached No. 2. With that momentum still intact, “Solid Gold Easy Action” arrived at the end of the year.

The single remained on the UK chart for 11 weeks and reached No. 2 in January 1973. Although it stopped just short of the top spot, the song shows how T. Rex was releasing major singles only months apart and maintaining a constant presence at the center of British pop.

When the Single Itself Was the Main Event

“Solid Gold Easy Action” was not included on a contemporary T. Rex studio album.

During this period, T. Rex repeatedly released important songs as standalone singles, including “Children of the Revolution” and, the following year, “20th Century Boy.”

Today, we often think of a single as something selected from an album or streaming release. In Britain at the time, however, the single itself could stand as a complete new work.

For fans, every new seven-inch record in the shops offered another glimpse of the latest version of T. Rex.

The B-Side Was “Born to Boogie”

The UK single featured “Born to Boogie” on the B-side. That same year, Ringo Starr directed the T. Rex film Born to Boogie.

The song, the film, the stage image, and Marc Bolan himself all seemed perfectly suited to the word “boogie” during this extraordinary period.

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Short, Sharp, and Powerful — T. Rex Rock and Roll Stripped Down

“Solid Gold Easy Action” is not a song built around long developments or extended instrumental passages. The energy is high from the instant the intro begins, and the track races straight ahead without wasting a moment.

“Jaga-jaga-ja, Hey! Hey! Hey!”

Before I even begin to explain the song’s appeal in musical terms, the first thing that comes to mind is that rhythm.

“Jaga-jaga-ja, Hey! Hey! Hey!” Written down, it looks rather strange. But anyone who knows the song will probably understand exactly what I mean.

There is no elaborate guitar solo and no series of dramatic key changes. A short guitar phrase, a thick beat, shouted responses, and backing vocals are enough to make your body move naturally. T. Rex did not need to do anything complicated to sound unmistakably like T. Rex. That was one of Marc Bolan’s greatest talents.

Just Over Two Minutes — and You Immediately Want to Hear It Again

The song does not begin with a grand introduction, move into a long instrumental break, and finish with a dramatic climax. Instead, it seems to end just when you are starting to want more.

But that is not a weakness. Its short running time makes every sound hit harder, and as soon as the track ends, the opening riff makes you want to start again.

Many T. Rex hits have this same quality that makes you want to replay them immediately.

Strings and Backing Vocals Add Unexpected Depth

Producer Tony Visconti also added strings to the track. But the orchestration is never used to overwhelm the guitar and rhythm with unnecessary grandeur. Instead, it quietly adds weight behind the band’s forward motion.

The backing vocals from Sue & Sunny, together with Visconti’s own voice, give the brief recording an unexpectedly layered sound. On the surface, the song is simple. Listen more closely, however, and you can hear the small details supporting that simplicity. That balance keeps “Solid Gold Easy Action” from becoming nothing more than a burst of energy.

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The Lyrics — Enjoy the Sound of Bolan’s Words More Than Their Literal Meaning

The lyrics to “Solid Gold Easy Action” are also unmistakably Marc Bolan. Rather than telling one clear story from beginning to end, they present unusual images and phrases whose meanings resist being pinned down.

Instead of forcing an interpretation such as “Solid Gold means eternal value” or “Easy Action means a free way of life,” the song works better when the feeling created by the words is allowed to speak for itself.

Bolan’s Voice Becomes Part of the Rhythm

Short phrases tumble one after another, the vocal interacts with the backing singers, and Bolan’s delivery seems to slide directly into the rhythm. Some lines can appear strange when read on the page, yet inside the music they somehow feel completely natural.

Rather than simply placing meaningful sentences over a melody, Bolan uses his voice almost like another instrument, moving the track alongside the guitar and drums. That is one of the pleasures of listening to T. Rex.

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“Solid Gold Easy Action” and My Junior High School Years

When the song was released in 1972, I was in my second year of junior high school. Even now, whenever I hear “Solid Gold Easy Action,” one friend immediately comes back to mind: Sato, a fellow rock fan.

The Phrase Sato and I Used to Exchange

Whenever we met, we would say to each other, “Jaga-jaga-ja, Hey! Hey! Hey!”

Anyone listening from the outside probably had no idea what we were doing. But for the two of us, that phrase alone meant “Solid Gold Easy Action.”

There was no YouTube and no streaming service at the time. You could not search for a favorite song and immediately hear it again whenever you wanted.

We waited for songs to come on the radio, followed the ranking programs, and looked at record sleeves in the stores. Perhaps because of that, each individual song became more deeply woven into everyday life than it often does today.

An Intro That Can Still Take Me Back Half a Century

Release dates and chart positions can be checked in reference books and archives. But who you laughed with while listening to a song, where you talked about it, and how old you were at the time are memories that exist only inside you.

Even after more than half a century, the moment this intro begins, I can still return to those exchanges with Sato when I was in junior high school.

Music has the power to turn back time. “Solid Gold Easy Action” is one of the songs that makes me feel that most strongly.

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Why I Chose It as No. 6

As I wrote at the beginning, purely in terms of personal attachment, this song could easily have made my Top 3. Even so, I placed it at No. 6 because there are still songs ahead that have been even more deeply etched into my memory since I first discovered T. Rex.

Still, “Solid Gold Easy Action” has something none of the others can replace. The moment I hear it, the atmosphere of 1972 and 1973 returns together with the junior high school version of myself. That is something no sales figure or historical reputation can measure.

Musically, it is short, simple, and full of forward momentum — pure T. Rex rock and roll. Personally, it is also inseparable from the junior high school years when I laughed about the song with a friend. Those two things completely overlap for me, and that is why “Solid Gold Easy Action” remains so special.

No. 6 is “Solid Gold Easy Action.” It is a song in which the instantly physical excitement of T. Rex rock and roll remains inseparably connected to my memories of junior high school, even after more than half a century.