•
Rating: "Dirty old river
must you keep rolling,
flowing into the night..." *
Hello guys,
I take this Kinks collection as an excuse to say goodbye. In the previous review, I talked about my stay in London to improve my English.
The Kinks were my musical backbone along with the Small Faces from the great songs "All or nothing" onwards. But they mostly added a sense of intimacy to my London days when I would go for a walk or work, making London feel familiar to me, not as the "great" city the world talks about.
It was the living like "at home" that I liked, which made me feel like "someone," albeit in a small way, but always "someone."
The opening of this review is entrusted to "Waterloo sunset," my favorite song, which demonstrates Ray Davies' skill as a writer and (small) poet, earning the Kinks a place in the 1990 "Walk of fame" and Pete Townshend's declaration (his Who would enter the "Walk" at the same time) regarding Ray, "the man who should be considered as the 'Poet Laureate', having introduced a new way of writing into British music."
I don't know, but I can certainly say the Kinks were fantastic in the '60s, from "Face to face" onwards, for their (many) great songs and (all) great covers (including, for me, "Muswell Hillbillies").
"Waterloo sunset" was the second song I sang with a sheet of paper in hand on a sunny afternoon on the Waterloo Bridge, thinking about a beautiful young woman I admired and a young, yet younger than me, person I held in my heart, and at the same time thinking of the four who performed at the "Beat Club" (while Ray Davies, forty years later, would sing with a choir for the Bbc's "Electric Proms" (fantastic!)).
Every time I was over the river, whether at London Bridge or Putney (on the District Line - the "Green") or at Embankment, this song sprang to mind like a reflex.
"Waterloo" was written when the Merseybeat (that is, the Beatles' movement) was ceasing to exist; and the ending of the song has a touch of the "Californian," a solar quality.
When I began visiting places related to the Kinks, I started from the blue door in Muswell Hill, at the house where the Davies brothers lived.
There, my musical tour began with "Sunny afternoon" from 1966, born on the wave of the Beatles' "Taxman," against the many taxes of Harold Wilson's government, whose finance minister was Edward Heath.
In Ray Davies' case, the character in the song is one of the new bourgeoisie of the time, grappling with a tidal wave of taxes and his girlfriend fleeing with his car and telling stories of "drunkenness and cruelty" to her parents.
Next came "Dedicated follower of fashion" on Carnaby Street, where the literary aspect of Davies' lyrics is very evident in the definition of "Carnabitian army," which means "the army of Carnaby," in a track that ironically comments on Swingin' London.
In the same year (1966), the group filmed a video at Little Green Street, a (private) alleyway in the city's north that starts like a creuza (a narrow Ligurian coastal path) and ends after 20-25 meters with a tiny gallery (and houses on the side), for a song that went like this:
" There's a crack up in the ceiling
and the kitchen sink is leaking.
Out of work and got no money
a Sunday joint of bread and honey " **
I'm talking about "Dead end street," a song about the poor still present in '60s England, whose video, in which the four are dressed as early 1900s undertakers, was censored by the Bbc because it was considered "depressing," in a celebratory moment, as London was at the time.
I had other special moments in Kinksian London, though briefly, in visits to Soho, where the adult cinemas and porn shops perfectly match "Lola," in the green park beneath the house where I lived in Archway (the pub opposite the subway was where the cover photo of "Muswell Hillbillies" was taken) I found myself humming "Village green" and "The village green preservation society" and, skipping a year from the last mentioned songs, every day on the bus ride from home to Holloway Road tube station (north of London) for work, I saw all the identical "chimney pots" and couldn't help but think of "Shangri-la" (also once seeing the sky over the houses on Fulham Road and nearby areas from the tube train).
When it was time to move for work to a small Surrey village (the London hinterland), I had the more seasonal Kinks with me, specifically the "autumnal" ones from "Something else by the Kinks": "End of the season" (an amazing minor masterpiece, in my opinion) and "Lazy old sun" (psychedelia with a Rolling Stones flavor). While alone, "Autumn almanac," about English traditions (with a food-related line dear to me: "Tea and toasted, buttered currant buns"***) and "Mr. Pleasant" described by the author as a song about "someone superficially enjoying life for the things he owns, not realizing the rot behind it" (like "the wife who ran off with someone else").
Due to my family upbringing, I tend to love music from the past, especially a past that doesn't belong to me. I certainly would never want to live in a time before I was born, but to imagine it... yes (even though much music I listen to gives me the sensation of being made now and not decades ago).
If "Muswell Hillbillies" was the posthumous album of the Kinks' glorious phase ending with "Lola," for me, it's the album (but even more so the song) that always reminds me of my first period spent in North London, a London that wouldn't have been intimate without the Kinks.
* Old and dirty river / that keeps rolling, / flowing into the night.
** There's a crack in the ceiling / and the kitchen sink is leaking. / I'm out of work and got no money / a Sunday meal of bread and honey.
*** Tea and toasted, buttered currant buns.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 You Really Got Me (02:14)
Girl, you really got me goin'
You got me so I don't know what I'm doin'
Yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night
Yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I don't know what I'm doin', now
Oh yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night
You Really Got Me
You Really Got Me
You Really Got Me
See, don't ever set me free
I always wanna be by your side
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night
Yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I don't know what I'm doin', now
Oh yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night
You Really Got Me
You Really Got Me
You Really Got Me
Oh no...
(instrumental)
See, don't ever set me free
I always wanna be by your side
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night
Yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I don't know what I'm doin', now
Oh yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night
You Really Got Me
You Really Got Me
You Really Got Me
02 All Day and All of the Night (02:22)
I'm not content to be with you in the daytime
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night
I believe that you and me last forever
Oh yea, all day and nighttime yours, leave me never
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night
Oh, come on...
I believe that you and me last forever
Oh yea, all day and nighttime yours, leave me never
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night time
All day and all of the night
03 Tired of Waiting for You (02:31)
I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
I was a lonely soul
I had nobody till I met you
But you keep-a me waiting
All of the time
What can I do?
It's your life
And you can do what you want
Do what you like
But please don't keep-a me waiting
Please don't keep-a me waiting
'Cause I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
So tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
I was a lonely soul
I had nobody till I met you
But you keep-a me waiting
All of the time
What can I do?
It's your life
And you can do what you want
Do what you like
But please don't keep-a me waiting
Please don't keep-a me waiting
'Cause I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
So tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
For you
For you
I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
I was a lonely soul
I had nobody till I met you
But you keep-a me waiting
All of the time
What can I do?
It's your life
And you can do what you want
Do what you like
But please don't keep-a me waiting
Please don't keep-a me waiting
'Cause I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
So tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
I was a lonely soul
I had nobody till I met you
But you keep-a me waiting
All of the time
What can I do?
It's your life
And you can do what you want
Do what you like
But please don't keep-a me waiting
Please don't keep-a me waiting
'Cause I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
So tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
For you
For you
05 Set Me Free (02:11)
Set me free, little girl.
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl.
You know you can do it if you try,
All you gotta do is set me free, free,
Free.
Set me free, little girl.
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl.
You know you can do it if you try,
All you gotta do is set me free, free,
Free, free.
I don't want no one,
If I can't have you to myself.
I don't need nobody else.
So if I can't have you to myself,
Set me free.
Set me free.
Oh set me free, little girl.
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl.
You know you can do it if you try,
All you gotta do is set me free, free,
Free, free.
I don't want no one,
If I can't have you to myself.
I don't need nobody else.
So if I can't have you to myself,
Set me free.
Set me free.
Oh set me free, little girl.
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl.
You know you can do it if you try,
All you gotta do is set me free, free,
Free.
Set me free,
Oh, set me free.
06 See My Friends (02:43)
See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,
See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,
She is gone,
She is gone and now there's no one left
'Cept my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,
She just went,
She just went,
Went across the river.
Now she's gone,
Now she's gone,
Wish that I'd gone with her.
She is gone,
She is gone and now there's no one left
'Cept my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,
She is gone and now there's no one else to take her place
She is gone and now there's no one else to love
'Cept my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,
See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,
See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river
08 Dedicated Follower of Fashion (03:00)
They seek him here, they seek him there,
His clothes are loud, but never square.
It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.
And when he does his little rounds,
'Round the boutiques of London Town,
Eagerly pursuing all the latest fads and trends,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.
Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
He thinks he is a flower to be looked at
And when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight
He feels a dedicated follower of fashion.
Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
There's one thing that he loves and that is flattery.
One week he's in polka-dots, the next week he is in stripes.
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.
They seek him here, they seek him there,
In Regent Street and Leicester Square.
Everywhere the Carnabetian army marches on,
Each one an dedicated follower of fashion.
Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
His world is built 'round discoteques and parties.
This pleasure-seeking individual always looks his best
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.
Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
He flits from shop to shop just like a butterfly.
In matters of the cloth he is as fickle as can be,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.
He's a dedicated follower of fashion.
He's a dedicated follower of fashion.
09 Sunny Afternoon (03:33)
The taxman's taken all my dough
And left me in my stately home
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
And I can't sail my yacht
He's taken everything I've got
All I've got's this sunny afternoon
Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze
I've got a big fat momma trying to break me
And I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazin' on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
My girlfriend's run off with my car
And gone back to her ma and pa
Tellin' tales of drunkenness and cruelty
Now I'm sittin' here
Sippin' at my ice-cool beer
Lazin on a sunny afternoon
Help me, help me, help me sail away
Or give me two good reasons why I oughta stay
'Cause I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazin' on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze
I got a big fat momma trying to break me
And I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazin' on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
11 Waterloo Sunset (03:17)
Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, flowing into the night
People so busy, make me feel dizzy, taxi light shines so bright
But I don't need no friends
As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset, I am in paradise
Sha-la-la
Every day I look at the world from my window
Sha-la-la
But chilly, chilly is the evening time
Waterloo sunset's fine (Waterloo sunset's fine)
Terry meets Julie, Waterloo Station, every Friday night
But I am so lazy, don't want to wander, I stay at home at night
But I don't feel afraid
As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset, I am in paradise
Sha-la-la
Every day I look at the world from my window
Sha-la-la
But chilly, chilly is the evening time
Waterloo sunset's fine (Waterloo sunset's fine)
Millions of people swarming like flies 'round Waterloo underground
But Terry and Julie cross over the river where they feel safe and sound
And they don't need no friends
As long as they gaze on Waterloo sunset they are in paradise
Waterloo sunset's fine
Waterloo sunset's fine
Waterloo sunset's fine
12 Autumn Almanac (03:11)
From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly caterpillar,
When the dawn begins to crack.
It's all part of my autumn almanac.
Breeze blows leaves of a musty-coloured yellow,
So I sweep them in my sack.
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac.
Friday evenings, people get together,
Hiding from the weather.
Tea and toasted, buttered currant buns
Can't compensate for lack of sun,
Because the summer's all gone.
La-la-la-la...
Oh, my poor rheumatic back
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac.
La-la-la-la...
Oh, my autumn almanac
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac.
I like my football on a Saturday,
Roast beef on Sundays, all right.
I go to Blackpool for my holidays,
Sit in the open sunlight.
This is my street, and I'm never gonna to leave it,
And I'm always gonna to stay here
If I live to be ninety-nine,
'Cause all the people I meet
Seem to come from my street
And I can't get away,
Because it's calling me, (come on home)
Hear it calling me, (come on home)
La-la-la-la...
Oh, my autumn almanac
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac.
La-la-la-la...
Oh, my autumn almanac
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Bop-bop-bopm-bop-bop, whoa!
Bop-bop-bopm-bop-bop, whoa!
(etc.)
13 Wonder Boy (02:50)
La-la-la-la...
Wonder boy, life's just begun.
Turn your sorrow into wonder
Dream alone, don't sigh, don't groan
Life is only what you wonder.
Day is as light as your brightest dreams,
Night is as dark as you feel it ought to be.
Time is as fast as the slowest thing,
Life is only...
Wonder boy,
Wonder boy.
Everybody is looking for the sun.
People strain their eyes to see,
But I see you and you see me,
And ain't that wonder?
Wonder boy, some mother's son,
Life is full of work and plunder[?].
Easy go, life is not real,
Life is only what you conjure.
Wonder boy,
And the world is joy, every single day.
It's the real McCoy,
Wonder boy.
Everybody is looking for the sun.
People strain their eyes to see,
But I see you and you see me,
And ain't that wonder?
Wonder boy, some mother's son,
Turn your sorrow into wonder
Dream alone, go have your fun.
Life is only...
Life is only...
Life is only...
16 Victoria (03:39)
Long ago, life was clean
Sex was bad, called obscene
And the rich were so mean
Stately homes for the Lords
Croquet lawns, village greens
Victoria was my queen
Victoria
Victoria
Victoria, 'toria
I was born, lucky me
In a land that I love
Though I'm poor, I am free
When I grow I shall fight
For this land I shall die
Let her sun never set
Victoria
Victoria
Victoria, 'toria
Victoria
Victoria
Victoria, 'toria
Land of hope and gloria
Land of my Victoria
Land of hope and gloria
Land of my Victoria
Victoria, 'toria
Victoria
Victoria
Victoria, 'toria
Canada to India
Australia to Cornwall
Singapore to Hong Kong
From the west to the east
From the rich to the poor
Victoria loved them all
Victoria
Victoria
Victoria, 'toria
Victoria
Victoria
Victoria
17 Lola (04:09)
I met her in a club down in old Soho where you
Drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-Cola C-O-L-A cola
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said
Lola L-O-L-A Lola
Lo lo lo lo Lo - la
Well I'm not the world's most physical guy
But when she sqeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walked like a woman but talked like a man
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Well, we drank champagne and danced all night
Under electric candle light
She picked me up and sat me on her knee
And said "Dear boy won't you come home with me?"
Well, I'm not the world's most passionate guy,
But when I looked in her eyes, well I almost fell for my
Lola Lo lo lo lo Lo - la Lo lo lo lo Lo - la
Lola Lo lo lo lo Lo - la Lo lo lo lo Lo - la
I pushed her away
I walked to the door
I fell to the floor
I got down on my knees
Then I looked at her and she at me
Well that's the way that I want it to stay
And I always want it to be that way for my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Well I left home just a week before
And I'd never ever kissed a woman before
But Lola smiled and took me by the hand
And said "Dear boy, I'm gonna make you a man"
Well I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am in the bed, I'm a man
And so is Lola
La-la-la-la
Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Lola la-la-la-la
Lola la-la-la-la Lola
18 Apeman (03:51)
I think I'm sophisticated
'cos I'm living my life a good homo sapiens.
But all around me ev'rybody's multiplying
And they're walking round like flies man:
So I'm no better than the animals
Sitting in the cages in the zoo man
'cos compared to the flowers and the birds
And the trees
I am an APEMAN.
I think I'm so educated and I'm so civilised
'cos strict vegetarian. And with the over population
And inflation and starvation crazy politicans.
I don't feel safe in this world
No more don't want to die in a nuclear war.
I want to sail away to a distant shore
And make like an APEMAN.
I'm an APEMAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
Oh
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
Oh
I'm a APE MAN.
'cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky
Compared to the clouds as they roll by
Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies
I am an APE MAN. La
la
la
la...
In man's evolution he has created
The cities and the motor traffic rumble
But give me half a chance and I'd be taking off my
Clothes and living in the jungle.
Cos the only time that I feel at ease
Swinging up and down in a coconut tree.
Oh
what alife of luxury to be like an APE MAN.
I'm an APE MAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
Oh
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
Oh
I'm a Ape MAN.
I look out of the window
but I can't see the sky
'cos air polution is a fogging up my eyes
I want to get out of this city alive
And make like an APE MAN.
Come and love me
be my APE MAN girl
And we'll be so happy in my APE MAN world.
I'm an APE MAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
Oh
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
Oh
I'm a APE MAN.
I'll be your Tarzan
you'll be my Jane
I'll keep you warm and you'll keep me sane
We'll sit in the trees and eat bananas
All day just like an APE MAN.
19 David Watts (02:37)
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
I am a dull and simple lad
Can not tell water from champagne
And I have never met the queen
And I wish I could have all that he has got
I wish I could be like David Watts
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
And when I lie on my pillow at night
I dream I could fight like David Watts
Lead the school team to victory
And take my exams and pass the lot
(Wish I could be)
Wish I could be like David Watts
(Wish I could be)
Wish I could be like David Watts
(Wish I could be)
Conduct my life like David Watts
(Wish I could be)
I wish I could be like David Watts
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
He is the head boy at the school
He is the captain of the team
He is so gay and fancy free
And I wish all his money belonged to me
I wish I could be like David Watts
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
And all the girls in the neighborhood
Try to go out with David Watts
They try their best but can't succeed
For he is of pure and noble breed
Wish I could be like
Wish I could be like
Wish I could be like
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
(repeat)
20 Where Have All the Good Times Gone (02:50)
Well, lived my life and never stopped to worry 'bout a thing
Opened up and shouted out and never tried to sing
Wondering if I'd done wrong
Will this depression last for long?
Won't you tell me
Where have all the good times gone?
Where have all the good times gone?
Well, once we had an easy ride and always felt the same
Time was on our side and I had everything to gain
Let it be like yesterday
Please let me have happy days
Won't you tell me
Where have all the good times gone?
Where have all the good times gone?
Ma and Pa look back at all the things they used to do
Didn't have no money and they always told the truth
Daddy didn't have no toys
And mummy didn't need no boys
Won't you tell me
Where have all the good times gone?
Where have all the good times gone?
Well, yesterday was such an easy game for you to play
But let's face it things are so much easier today
Guess you need some bringing down
And get your feet back on the ground
Won't you tell me
Where have all the good times gone?
Where have all the good times gone?
Where have all the good times gone?
24 Death of a Clown (03:12)
My makeup is dry and it clags 'round my chin
I'm drowning my sorrows in whisky and gin
The lion tamer's whip doesn't crack anymore
The lions they won't fight and the tigers won't roar
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
So let's all drink to the death of a clown
Won't someone help me to break up this crown
Let's all drink to the death of a clown
Let's all drink to the death of a clown
The old fortune teller lies dead on the floor
Nobody needs fortunes told anymore
The trainer of insects is crouched on his knees
And frantically looking for runaway fleas
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
Let's all drink to the death of a clown
So won't someone help me to break up this crown
Let's all drink to the death of a clown
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
Let's all drink to the death of a clown
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
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