People who Listen to Rap and hip hop, Katy perry and eminem ,..who dare try to listen to the kinks ,.. are fucking really annoying disgusting uneducated people ,..time to turn off mtv forever ,..and take the righteous path - or the other ,..
@Gunman610 No it was nothing to do with Phil Spector and his wall of sound. The sound of brass band music was as English as cricket. Not quite so many of them around now, but they do still exist. It's just part of the picture he was painting with his lyrics.
@blockntackle He's one of the best to be sure, and certainly one of the most clever. But I'd name a few in his league. Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, to name a few. What's amazing about Davies is that he could write really simple hard rockers like You Really got Me, and then something like this. Great versatility and scope to his writing.
I believe a cover of this track was used as the theme song for the fooolishly cancelled TV programme Jam & Jerusalem (jennifer Saunders). Has anyone heard that version?
@juancabezas This is a much deeper song than McCartney's lark about an old Victorian band coming out of retirement to rock the show. So "We are..." is somehow ripping off the Beatles? lol
Lovely stuff from the Kinks. Saw them in about 1975 doing this. If you love this you'll also love (Waiting for you and) England to Return by Stackridge (watch the animation, it's beautiful. Also Slow Train by Stackridge or any of their stuff, it's very in keeping with this early Kinks stuff, they opened and closed the 1st Glastonbury fest in 1970, yet no one has hardly heard of them and their latest album 'A victory for common sense' is absolutely fantastic.
Just as essential as McCartney/Lennon when it comes to great British song! The Kinks' best, and an underrated classic. Give Ray a knighthood to reject!
@bartonim Great response, it made me smile when you wrote that the UK should give Ray a knighthood to reject! Long live Lennon and the Davies brothers.
Of course Ray was gonna be a leg-spinner - a leg-spinner's mind if ever I've seen one. But he needs to get his right shoulder around more after he lets the ball go. And someone needs to tell him he's never gonna get an lbw around the wicket unless he's got a vicious googly.
@shrike1313 Agreed! I'll be privy to a CD reissue in mini LP replica form here in Japan--check out Amazon Japan if you have the cash. It'll be worth it. Arthur and Something Else also are getting the reduxe!
You sad sod, if this is the best comment you can leave regarding village green. One of rays and the kinks finest but only a certain class of you good people out there could appreciate the preservation society. Ray keep it up your a classic.
Not a very novel idea unclejoe, Pete Townshend has publicly and famously said that many many times, and as paolo said, that lyric is from a Beatles song.
Dont forget Brian also had a big lyrical input in many of the lyrics written by Tony Asher and mike Love, people forget that. On Pet sounds for example Caroline no was almost all Brians. The concept of a childhood girl called Carol was his. Asher actually first wrote it as Carol I know but Brian heard it as Caroline no and it was changed. A lot of people tend to think Brian didnt write lyrics but its far from the truth. Thanks for a interesting debate.
I don't know if he had a big input, though he definitely shaped the direction of the lyrics. I thought the title of Caroline No was changed for that reason, but the rest of the lyric was as Asher wrote it. In fact, I think I've read him talking about the specific ex who inspired it. The relationship with Love is interesting in that Love was a member of the group who wrote with Brian while everyone else was an employee who wrote for Brian. Thank you for the conversation. I enjoyed it.
Ive also heard Brian say on several occasions Carol Mountain (An old school crush) inspired the song and once that it was about his then wife. Also it is important to remember that Brian has written several songs all by himself. Untill I die and You're so good to me are two that spring to mind and Still I dream of it is another.
I honestly believe this song and album was influenced by the Kinks getting banned from America and deciding to look inwards ie England and try and write songs about their home country and surroundings. Of course this isn't to suggest that people from other countries cant relate to the meanings and sentiments of any of these songs.
Are you thinking of "Nothing In The World Can Stop Me From Worrying About That Girl" from the second album?
When I was talking about Pet Sounds being a bigger influence, I was thinking mainly musically. Lyrically, Ray Davies and Tony Asher have different ways of working. Asher would write something in the first person where Davies would create a story and characters to illustrate something personal in his own life. ...
... Those characters don't necessarily understand what's going on the way Ray Davies does, though. That's why I made that comment about the narrator of the song not being Ray Davies. It's a character Davies is playing. Waterloo Sunset is a good example. The narrator of the song probably doesn't see himself as sad and lonely at all. He just thinks "I've got this great view and I know these people are in love, so I'm happy," but Ray can recognize the sadness in a life like that. ...
... Look at VGPS in light of Victoria, where Arthur sees the past in a romantic light, but Ray can see the Victoria era as a repressive time when people were kept in their place. He has affection for people who think "Victoria loved them all," but I don't think he believes that himself.
You're probably right about them looking inward after the ban, but I think there's also a lot of Chuck Berry influence in Ray's writing; narratives about kind of people and places he grew up around.
Yes Mike Love was heavily influenced by Chuck Berrys lyrics as was Brians music in the early days. Surfing USA being a massive example of course. Brian was also inflenced heavilly by Phil Spector but I think by Pet sounds he had surpassed these influences and gone way beyond anything spector did. But this is only my opinion of course.
CONT Ie lost love, unrequited love, moving away from home, idealism and that kind of thing. Ray davies on the other hand is a master story teller and observer and I believe this song to be a observation on the simple values and traditions that many of us cling to. You being a big kinks fan you may be able to help me do you know that early rare Ray davies song about his paranoia that is lover is going to leave him, I heard it once and never been able to find it since.
What a great song. The Kinks will always be one of my favorite rock bands. What a great song in honor of Great Britain, forever our (American) friends.
This song is all about preserving the British way of life and maintaining our identity. What a shame most people believe our current goverment is hell bent on destroying that.
Donald Duck is about as American as you can get, as was vaudeville (the British equivalent would be music hall). Don't forget, the song is about protecting the new ways, too.
Though I'm not sure how big Dave Davies was on protecting or preserving anyone's virginity at the time.
This IS one of the greatest songs that ever came out of Britain. Too bad this song isn't more famous. It has mojo and great lyrics that really say something.
Although I think the Beatles always did show concern for others, The Kinks just come across as being closer to the real world, such as their obvious concern about the demise of the village green or, certainly in Ray's case, the working man's cafe-god save the kinks!
Yes, the Kinks had songs about village greens and cafés, but the Beatles had songs about spinsters dying alone (Eleanor Rigby) and girls running away from home (She's Leaving Home).
I love the Kinks. I love loads of 60s bands, and a lot of other stuff besides (punk, hardcore, prog, folk-rock, some metal, funk, soul, whatever) but for me, popular music since 1962 has been divided into two categories: The Beatles, and Everybody Else.
Pye Records definitely didn't know what they were doing with the Kinks. Pye deserved to lose them. They did not bother promoting the album when it came out "because it didn't have an obvious single" and scheduled its release the same time as the Beatles' White Album. How stupid was that?!?
Actually, suprisingly enough this is like one of the only songs by the kinks that isnt sarcastic. Ray said himself its actually taking the piss out of metropolis and modern life and in is favour of village life.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
You can hear why Ray and Dave fought. Jesus Christ. The tempo is ungodly slow and lets just say they lack... what we might call... natural blood harmony? Christ. What a great song though.
The song isn't really about saving the British way of life. It's about wanting to recapture an idyllic, more innocent way of life, even though it might never really have existed. The narrator of the song (who isn't necessarily Ray Davies) is asking "why can't everything be the way it was when I was a kid."
Blackmonk66, You are not British. So what do you know about it? You have missed my point completley. It dosen't matter if Donald Duck is American or austrian. Its not the point. The point is this song paints a nostolgic potrait of Britain in times gone by and values and traditions held dear to the people here. I can assure you this way of life did exist to a large degree although of course life can never be as perfect as it sounds in a song.
If you're claming that he's singing about a return to the "British way of life," then obviously it matters whether or not the things he sings about are British. Donald Duck isn't, Vaudeville isn't.
Havhe you ever read what Ray Davies has actually said about the song, Davies is intelligent enough to understand the difference between a romanticized version of the past and what it was really like. Listen to Arthur for perspective.
No, no no "a british way of life" dosen't have to be about everything british. During those times Donald duck was as much a british institution here as in the US. And of course Ray could have been speaking about values which were important in the US too. By the way was you hinting earlier Ray didn't write this.
No, Ray definitely wrote the song. He's one of my favorite writers and I'd never say any credit of his was undeserved.
As for why he mentions Vaudeville, I suppose that if the album really is about a British way of life, it, along with the Donald Duck reference, could be a comment about how American influence was creeping in even then. I still think the album is really about seeing the world as a child and trying to hold on to that. Cont. next post...
... From the big picture, I think the album was more influenced by Pet Sounds than by Sgt. Pepper, and Pet Sounds was definitely about growing out of childhood. More specifically, there seems to be a theme of childhood running through the songs. Walter is about having a friend who grew up while the narrator wants things to be like they were before, Phenomonal Cat is a fairy tale (and Wicked Anna
Wicked Annabella is a ghost story. Village Green is about wanting to return to the world of his childhood. There are the photography songs, about trying to preserve a moment after it's past and the show-biz songs, where someone finds out that it's not the glamourous world that it seems-a childhood illusion shattered.
"The narrator of the song {which isnt nessecarilly Ray davies" thats why I thought you were questiong who wrote it. Listen I have Pet Sounds tatooed on my arm thats how much I love that album, and if im honest I probably know more about the Beach boys/Brian Wilson than the Kinks. However I cant see the comparison on a large scale. Pet sounds is "growing out of childhood" for sure. But I find it much more of a personal heart wrenching album about growing up and the problems we all face. PTO
I must concede though its strange he mentions vaudeville because there are no links to britain at all really where as everything else is british or at least a big part of british life.
I'm not sure what you mean. You tried to imply the songs we're similar by changing the lyrics to one of them. I'm not sure why. One is about a fake band and one is about rural English nostalgia. Musically they're not similar either.
Wait, is your argument that any songs that start "We are" and then have 4 or more words after that are by definitiion similar and one must be a "rip off" of the other?
Okay, I didn't understand that the first time because that idea is moronic.
True the KinKs are ny favorite all time band ever,& Beatles,Stones,Who Zeppelin, Nirvanna, Beach Boys (old floyd with syd)& Stones would very well all have albums on my all time favorite lists too. The Smiths, Oasis, Springsteen maybe. The Ramones, Love, The Move, more likley, Lucina Williams, Dylan( seeing him Monday night in NYC) The Dead, The Band, The MC5, world Party, The Byrds, The Faces, The Black Crowes, all could have albums on my top 100 too, but must leave room for most KinKs albums!
I agree with your Kinks selection and Syd's PF. With MC5 I would add the first two Stooges LP's as well. I would also add the first Ronettes LP (Phil Spector) if only to show today's singers that you don't have to sound like Craig David having his nuts clamped. Ronnie Spector's phrasing shows what pop is all about and also how to sing a great tune.
If I was compling a list of the 25 Greatest albums of all time...half of them would be from the KinKs or solo Ray Davies material. Village Green Preservation Society, Muswell Hillbillies, Arthur, Something Else, Lola Vs Powerman, EveryBody's in show Biz Preservaton Act 1&2, Soap Opera, SleepWalker, Misfits, Face to Face, Phobia, Give the people What they Want, State of Confusion, UK Jive...Oh let's face it there isn't a KinKs or Ray davies record that I can't live without - God Save the KinKs !
That's probably because you obviously love the Kinks! The greatest albums of all time, though, aren't only about your favourite group. They did some great stuf, but not half of all great music ever!! The Stones, Beatles, Who, Dylan, Springsteen, Led Zep, Stone Roses, Smiths, Nirvana, Oasis, Pink Floyd, Beach Boys, Dire Straits etc etc etc all contributed a lot!
The KinKs, the Greatest band of all time that no one talks about..God Save them and all their loyal fans who have supported them from the start right through their solo careers!
beatiful song..
erenbircan 3 months ago
People who Listen to Rap and hip hop, Katy perry and eminem ,..who dare try to listen to the kinks ,.. are fucking really annoying disgusting uneducated people ,..time to turn off mtv forever ,..and take the righteous path - or the other ,..
GreenhouseEffectGE 4 months ago
I love The Kinks. Good song.
ElektraAutumn 5 months ago
Rhyming vernacular with Dracula -- that's pure genius.
DonkeyYote 5 months ago
china cups and virginity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oasishaun 6 months ago
God save The Kinks!
kronos66 6 months ago
Lead singer = hot.
FibonaziProductions 8 months ago
WTF is it with this brass section? I guess this was during the height of the 'Wall of Sound' era....
Gunman610 8 months ago
@Gunman610 No it was nothing to do with Phil Spector and his wall of sound. The sound of brass band music was as English as cricket. Not quite so many of them around now, but they do still exist. It's just part of the picture he was painting with his lyrics.
99Quench 4 months ago
@Gunman610 you don't have clue.
keaton1895 2 months ago
Love the lyrical beauty of the song. Indeed it does have some quotable lines.
Broblem12 8 months ago 2
Never will there by a greater lyricist than Raymond Davies...
blockntackle 1 year ago 8
@blockntackle He's one of the best to be sure, and certainly one of the most clever. But I'd name a few in his league. Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, to name a few. What's amazing about Davies is that he could write really simple hard rockers like You Really got Me, and then something like this. Great versatility and scope to his writing.
frepler 5 months ago
This is better than the studio version! Was it ever on a live album?
temporaryguy 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
gay ass shit
psnapplebee 1 year ago
the prolific one hisself... amazing catalog of great evocative songs! tanks...
bobzubb 1 year ago
HOT FUZZ!
TheGamanic 1 year ago
why bother copmparing Kinks to Beatles? They were each originals doing their own thing.
melissacarterTS 1 year ago
@melissacarterTS The Beatles, original? lol
damjs 1 year ago
I believe a cover of this track was used as the theme song for the fooolishly cancelled TV programme Jam & Jerusalem (jennifer Saunders). Has anyone heard that version?
LOVE The Kinks!
ArcadianQueen 1 year ago
@ArcadianQueen Yep it was. The show was called 'Clatterford' here in Thailand. Kate Rusby sang the theme.
SoiCowboy2 1 year ago
@ArcadianQueen Kate Busby sung it on this very neglected show...the song is more relevant now than ever
daze2525 1 year ago
Far superior to the Beatles.
Underground906 1 year ago 3
Haha "Morning, Sergeant"
farmerboy245 1 year ago
Great version! Love tho brass-section and the Gospel choir. God save the Kinks!
Marduk4life 1 year ago
Comment removed
SixtiesPopGold 1 year ago
the kinks are great they rank up there with the beatles stones and who
scottyb43 1 year ago
This is the second of my favourites by Kinks..
3de, is Rosy
4th Two sister
And lots of others on my list
Beautiful songs
ed
onlinelondon 1 year ago
OMG hoos heard the kinks choral collection version of this its amazing
acciesfan8 1 year ago
Smells like Sargent´s Pepper, "We are..." , but it´s a good song indeed
juancabezas 1 year ago
@juancabezas This is a much deeper song than McCartney's lark about an old Victorian band coming out of retirement to rock the show. So "We are..." is somehow ripping off the Beatles? lol
grski88 1 year ago
Esos bronces...bellísimos! Qué buen gusto, que banda del diablo!
ememiriam 1 year ago
oh to be in england when it was just like this gone forever attacked by greed
williehackitt 1 year ago
Ray looks so fragile in the first few seconds of this clip.
rocktenniscat 1 year ago
Is this documentary for sale ANYWHERE??
0000jacki 1 year ago
Lovely stuff from the Kinks. Saw them in about 1975 doing this. If you love this you'll also love (Waiting for you and) England to Return by Stackridge (watch the animation, it's beautiful. Also Slow Train by Stackridge or any of their stuff, it's very in keeping with this early Kinks stuff, they opened and closed the 1st Glastonbury fest in 1970, yet no one has hardly heard of them and their latest album 'A victory for common sense' is absolutely fantastic.
madjulie100 1 year ago
Just as essential as McCartney/Lennon when it comes to great British song! The Kinks' best, and an underrated classic. Give Ray a knighthood to reject!
bartonim 1 year ago 5
@bartonim Great response, it made me smile when you wrote that the UK should give Ray a knighthood to reject! Long live Lennon and the Davies brothers.
juliangee 1 year ago
Of course Ray was gonna be a leg-spinner - a leg-spinner's mind if ever I've seen one. But he needs to get his right shoulder around more after he lets the ball go. And someone needs to tell him he's never gonna get an lbw around the wicket unless he's got a vicious googly.
martinlickert 1 year ago
@martinlickert Shane Warne he is not.
GOD SAVE THE KINKS & TEST MATCH CRICKET
DanielBowden1975 1 year ago
Sheer Genius - as fresh now as it was 40 years ago.
shrike1313 1 year ago
@shrike1313 Agreed! I'll be privy to a CD reissue in mini LP replica form here in Japan--check out Amazon Japan if you have the cash. It'll be worth it. Arthur and Something Else also are getting the reduxe!
bartonim 1 year ago
Oh the emotions when I watch it!!!! God save the kinks :::)))))))
michaelfanthom 1 year ago
Great Song, band at it's peak, but Donald Duck is American, no?
OK relax just messing with all of you
28if 1 year ago
Viva Los Kinks!
phillydog17 1 year ago
the drums remind me of live forever oasis
servetakid 1 year ago
it ends mid song wtf
foodeater398 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
What a crap song. I mean... lmao!
IbanezJoey 2 years ago
@IbanezJoey I'm sure you could do better with your ibanez.
jhannerhan 2 years ago
Or my Gibson Explorer, yeah.
IbanezJoey 2 years ago
haha you play an ibanez and an explorer
catpjamas 2 years ago
@catpjamas And... what is wrong with that? Yes I do.
IbanezJoey 2 years ago
You sad sod, if this is the best comment you can leave regarding village green. One of rays and the kinks finest but only a certain class of you good people out there could appreciate the preservation society. Ray keep it up your a classic.
beejaykk 2 years ago
@beejaykk Also known as Hippies United.
IbanezJoey 2 years ago
I wish they played it uptempo like on the album... but great song nonetheless!
Lifestream 2 years ago
Great stuff. Ray can't bowl for toffee though..
llanbo 2 years ago
Ray SHOULD be poet laureate of England. It was actually him that taught me what it was like "sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun?
unclejoemama 2 years ago
That was John Lennon, but i agree.
paolomanueldec 2 years ago
Not a very novel idea unclejoe, Pete Townshend has publicly and famously said that many many times, and as paolo said, that lyric is from a Beatles song.
jbrown1169 2 years ago
Great clip. Alot of fun. Thanks for posting
corbijo0920 2 years ago 4
@corbijo0920 : Υοu 're welcome. Happy New Year and Long Live The Kinks!
allivegp 2 years ago
I wish The Kinks had a better sound engineer, anyway their albums are amazing, classics.
pacoiec 2 years ago 2
Anyway back to the kinks and what a great song this is whatevever the true meaning. Ray Davies is a prolific writer Thats for sure!
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
Dont forget Brian also had a big lyrical input in many of the lyrics written by Tony Asher and mike Love, people forget that. On Pet sounds for example Caroline no was almost all Brians. The concept of a childhood girl called Carol was his. Asher actually first wrote it as Carol I know but Brian heard it as Caroline no and it was changed. A lot of people tend to think Brian didnt write lyrics but its far from the truth. Thanks for a interesting debate.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
I don't know if he had a big input, though he definitely shaped the direction of the lyrics. I thought the title of Caroline No was changed for that reason, but the rest of the lyric was as Asher wrote it. In fact, I think I've read him talking about the specific ex who inspired it. The relationship with Love is interesting in that Love was a member of the group who wrote with Brian while everyone else was an employee who wrote for Brian. Thank you for the conversation. I enjoyed it.
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
Ive also heard Brian say on several occasions Carol Mountain (An old school crush) inspired the song and once that it was about his then wife. Also it is important to remember that Brian has written several songs all by himself. Untill I die and You're so good to me are two that spring to mind and Still I dream of it is another.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
I honestly believe this song and album was influenced by the Kinks getting banned from America and deciding to look inwards ie England and try and write songs about their home country and surroundings. Of course this isn't to suggest that people from other countries cant relate to the meanings and sentiments of any of these songs.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
Are you thinking of "Nothing In The World Can Stop Me From Worrying About That Girl" from the second album?
When I was talking about Pet Sounds being a bigger influence, I was thinking mainly musically. Lyrically, Ray Davies and Tony Asher have different ways of working. Asher would write something in the first person where Davies would create a story and characters to illustrate something personal in his own life. ...
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
... Those characters don't necessarily understand what's going on the way Ray Davies does, though. That's why I made that comment about the narrator of the song not being Ray Davies. It's a character Davies is playing. Waterloo Sunset is a good example. The narrator of the song probably doesn't see himself as sad and lonely at all. He just thinks "I've got this great view and I know these people are in love, so I'm happy," but Ray can recognize the sadness in a life like that. ...
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
... Look at VGPS in light of Victoria, where Arthur sees the past in a romantic light, but Ray can see the Victoria era as a repressive time when people were kept in their place. He has affection for people who think "Victoria loved them all," but I don't think he believes that himself.
You're probably right about them looking inward after the ban, but I think there's also a lot of Chuck Berry influence in Ray's writing; narratives about kind of people and places he grew up around.
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
Incidently, I also hear a lot of Chuck Berry influence in Mike Love's lyrics before Pet Sounds.
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
Yes that is the song. I think.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
Yes Mike Love was heavily influenced by Chuck Berrys lyrics as was Brians music in the early days. Surfing USA being a massive example of course. Brian was also inflenced heavilly by Phil Spector but I think by Pet sounds he had surpassed these influences and gone way beyond anything spector did. But this is only my opinion of course.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
CONT Ie lost love, unrequited love, moving away from home, idealism and that kind of thing. Ray davies on the other hand is a master story teller and observer and I believe this song to be a observation on the simple values and traditions that many of us cling to. You being a big kinks fan you may be able to help me do you know that early rare Ray davies song about his paranoia that is lover is going to leave him, I heard it once and never been able to find it since.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
The British remember Donald Duck!
DD went to fight the germans in WWII
God Bless Donald Duck and The Kinks!
nanderson1965 2 years ago
can anyone think of anything so fantastically english except maybe syd barrett with pink floyd
LONG LIVE THE KINKS
eric15746 2 years ago
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Nick Drake and Robert Wyatt always give me a similar vibe.
Ic1cle 2 years ago 4
a really underrated song, album and band.
yellowpowerranger94 2 years ago
brilliant!
BipolarPics 2 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
silly brits and their nonsensical music
MyNameHasNoNumbers 2 years ago
What do you know about music? You moron. You have got little bow bow wow on your profile page.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago 14
All I can say is: Woof.
Ic1cle 2 years ago
All I can say is : simpleton.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
All Ican say is: Beef
theellis456 2 years ago
wonderful isn't it?
simonpenum 2 years ago
yet, we've produced the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time!
god save GREAT Britain!
skint0n0minted 2 years ago
hahha and you have lil bow wow and eminem.
they can't even play an instrument let alone write a fucking song!
skint0n0minted 2 years ago 4
Comment removed
keaton1895 2 years ago
What a great song. The Kinks will always be one of my favorite rock bands. What a great song in honor of Great Britain, forever our (American) friends.
isolationblues 2 years ago 9
This song is all about preserving the British way of life and maintaining our identity. What a shame most people believe our current goverment is hell bent on destroying that.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago 2
It is!
MITCHWILD 2 years ago
Donald Duck is about as American as you can get, as was vaudeville (the British equivalent would be music hall). Don't forget, the song is about protecting the new ways, too.
Though I'm not sure how big Dave Davies was on protecting or preserving anyone's virginity at the time.
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
i love this song and jam and jeuslam
musicrockz007 2 years ago 2
it has honor, it has character,
and its British....
jackhillty 2 years ago 4
Didn't finish the song.
:(
509Fuzzypants 2 years ago
there voices going a bit droopy there maby a bit too much on the happy stick...
oliandmiles123 2 years ago
I can recall several bands with a dominant - Genius - composer and brother in the line up.
Also the Beach Boys and Credence Clearwater Revival became hard to manage.
The Kinks were a nightmare management wise.
Only Pete could be considered socially competent.
Had that not been the case they would have beaten the Stones. Not the beatles though ( these had 2 composers, 3 with George )
fsergios 2 years ago
"God save little shops, china cups and virginity..." is my favourite line. Especially as this modern world spins ever faster.
jenzeppelin 2 years ago 23
Here here.
I love that line too.
avril2 2 years ago
I was fortunate enough to hear that line when I was 15 or 16 years old and in awe of Ray Davies enough to actually listen.
renotsecniv 2 years ago
I always adored this song
spreadthissong 2 years ago 2
This songs makes me feel oddly patriotic.
DUELMOUNTAINPICTURES 2 years ago 16
well, it's a very british song
SethKTheGr8 2 years ago
@DUELMOUNTAINPICTURES Well, if your going to be patriotic, you might as well be British.
FetaCheese222 1 year ago
why does everyone compare most rock music to The Beatles!?
espeially The Kinks this songs nothing like 'Strawberry fields' or 'Penny Lane'
The Kinks and The Beatles are soooo very different from each other
skint0n0minted 2 years ago 2
Best band ever
Skankitup1234 2 years ago 4
their harmonies are spot on perfect
ukemanchris 2 years ago
This takes the "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields" nostalgia approach several steps further. You may also like "Beechwood Park" by the Zombies.
Modes9 2 years ago
Hey!!! es alucinante esta canción!! pero no es mejor ni que ob-la-di, ob-la-da, sorry...
caritol14 2 years ago
This IS one of the greatest songs that ever came out of Britain. Too bad this song isn't more famous. It has mojo and great lyrics that really say something.
grababanjoseventy6 2 years ago 3
The only reason the beatles are better is because had managers that screwed them over!
TheStonesTheBeatles 2 years ago
This song is ten times better than anything by the Beatles (and I am a Beatles fan)
organaphus 2 years ago
well i suppose it depends on your particular point of bungalow
firestartertwistedfi 2 years ago
Me too! ive been converted to kinkism:D
I think its because of their evil managers.
TheStonesTheBeatles 2 years ago 2
Although I think the Beatles always did show concern for others, The Kinks just come across as being closer to the real world, such as their obvious concern about the demise of the village green or, certainly in Ray's case, the working man's cafe-god save the kinks!
organaphus 2 years ago 3
Yes, the Kinks had songs about village greens and cafés, but the Beatles had songs about spinsters dying alone (Eleanor Rigby) and girls running away from home (She's Leaving Home).
I love the Kinks. I love loads of 60s bands, and a lot of other stuff besides (punk, hardcore, prog, folk-rock, some metal, funk, soul, whatever) but for me, popular music since 1962 has been divided into two categories: The Beatles, and Everybody Else.
lexo30 2 years ago
"Kinkism"... nice one. Can I be member, too? :)
chateaudur 2 years ago
How can anyone say anything by the Beatles is better than this album?
worldsno1drwhofan 2 years ago 3
I like this song but surly Ray is taking the piss
God save donald duck
Help save fu manchu, moriarty and dracula
God save virginity
SaqibAKAScarface0786 2 years ago 2
He's speaking indirectly. It's not the words, but using them as symbols. :/
Cavelcade 2 years ago
Pye Records definitely didn't know what they were doing with the Kinks. Pye deserved to lose them. They did not bother promoting the album when it came out "because it didn't have an obvious single" and scheduled its release the same time as the Beatles' White Album. How stupid was that?!?
sbarr10 2 years ago 5
this was on hot fuzz so i thought i mite look it up
outoftheshadows1018 2 years ago
Ray is the man! The Kinks, at least in the US, probably the most underappreciated best band around.
BadgerPat 2 years ago 4
I love Ray Davies.
92RedRevolver 2 years ago 3
Me To
Ra Davies > Lennon/McCartney
froggycyrus 2 years ago 3
Come on lads!
"WE ARE THE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY!"
ahh brings back some good memories with the boys
TheParachuteRegiment 2 years ago
ah i love the kinks!
samnninty 2 years ago
I want a custard pie...
Giantsonicmonster 2 years ago 3
i want led zeppelin's custard pie!!!!..shake shake...fuck yeah
godardtruffaut 2 years ago
The Kinks were right up at the top of the mountain with the Beatles, Who, and Stones. One of the great bands ever.
Waterloosunset2 2 years ago 12
No they weren't. They were BETTER than the Beatles.
organaphus 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
OK, but I could do without the horns. Kinda wrecks it.
moorlock2003 2 years ago
love DD
dleiny 2 years ago
AMAZING THIS IS A LEGEND
uktah 2 years ago
I heard this in hot fuzz
Dano94910 2 years ago 2
Great stuff.
isolationblues 3 years ago
horns are great in this version!
embran 3 years ago
this kinky guy luvs THE KINKS!!
bretadounitedfc 3 years ago
Amazing song.
Christonamotorcycle 3 years ago
god save donald duck, vaudeville variety
pietrogutta 3 years ago
god save Fu Manchu, Moriarty & Dracula
Coldacre 3 years ago
God save the Village Green Kinks Preservation Society, we all!
robertlaberge 2 years ago 3
You're being sarcastic right ?
this song is taking the piss out of similar organistions to that
samnninty 2 years ago
smnninty
Actually, suprisingly enough this is like one of the only songs by the kinks that isnt sarcastic. Ray said himself its actually taking the piss out of metropolis and modern life and in is favour of village life.
worldsno1drwhofan 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
You can hear why Ray and Dave fought. Jesus Christ. The tempo is ungodly slow and lets just say they lack... what we might call... natural blood harmony? Christ. What a great song though.
sweetbippity 3 years ago
What a superb song! But what in the world has Donald Duck to do with England? Dont get it...
artwenderley 3 years ago
Ray just likes Donald Duck lol
zstardust838 3 years ago 2
The song isn't really about saving the British way of life. It's about wanting to recapture an idyllic, more innocent way of life, even though it might never really have existed. The narrator of the song (who isn't necessarily Ray Davies) is asking "why can't everything be the way it was when I was a kid."
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
Blackmonk66, You are not British. So what do you know about it? You have missed my point completley. It dosen't matter if Donald Duck is American or austrian. Its not the point. The point is this song paints a nostolgic potrait of Britain in times gone by and values and traditions held dear to the people here. I can assure you this way of life did exist to a large degree although of course life can never be as perfect as it sounds in a song.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
If you're claming that he's singing about a return to the "British way of life," then obviously it matters whether or not the things he sings about are British. Donald Duck isn't, Vaudeville isn't.
Havhe you ever read what Ray Davies has actually said about the song, Davies is intelligent enough to understand the difference between a romanticized version of the past and what it was really like. Listen to Arthur for perspective.
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
No, no no "a british way of life" dosen't have to be about everything british. During those times Donald duck was as much a british institution here as in the US. And of course Ray could have been speaking about values which were important in the US too. By the way was you hinting earlier Ray didn't write this.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
No, Ray definitely wrote the song. He's one of my favorite writers and I'd never say any credit of his was undeserved.
As for why he mentions Vaudeville, I suppose that if the album really is about a British way of life, it, along with the Donald Duck reference, could be a comment about how American influence was creeping in even then. I still think the album is really about seeing the world as a child and trying to hold on to that. Cont. next post...
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
... From the big picture, I think the album was more influenced by Pet Sounds than by Sgt. Pepper, and Pet Sounds was definitely about growing out of childhood. More specifically, there seems to be a theme of childhood running through the songs. Walter is about having a friend who grew up while the narrator wants things to be like they were before, Phenomonal Cat is a fairy tale (and Wicked Anna
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
Wicked Annabella is a ghost story. Village Green is about wanting to return to the world of his childhood. There are the photography songs, about trying to preserve a moment after it's past and the show-biz songs, where someone finds out that it's not the glamourous world that it seems-a childhood illusion shattered.
BlackMonk66 2 years ago
"The narrator of the song {which isnt nessecarilly Ray davies" thats why I thought you were questiong who wrote it. Listen I have Pet Sounds tatooed on my arm thats how much I love that album, and if im honest I probably know more about the Beach boys/Brian Wilson than the Kinks. However I cant see the comparison on a large scale. Pet sounds is "growing out of childhood" for sure. But I find it much more of a personal heart wrenching album about growing up and the problems we all face. PTO
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
I must concede though its strange he mentions vaudeville because there are no links to britain at all really where as everything else is british or at least a big part of british life.
ThePeacepoet 2 years ago
Lovin' Ray's Benny Hill salute!!
cricketbat08 3 years ago
Go KINKS, go England, love you both with all my heart and soul !!!
yorkshirebobdylan 3 years ago 2
One of my all time favourites...Love this song and the album its from..The Kinks are extreme quality..thx for posting
flemwad 3 years ago 3
steezy
frithyman 3 years ago 2
OMG BROCKHAM GREEN I THREW UP AGAINST THE WALL OF THE CHURCH IN THIS VIDEO. whooo go australia!
captainbonzo11811 3 years ago
the kinks are perfection
ricebaker13 3 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
"we're the sgt. peppers lonely hearts club band..." 1 June 1967
"we're the the Village Green Preservation Society..." 22 nov 1968
I can't stand this idea rip off
embran 3 years ago
1971.. The Beatles are no more
1971.. The Kinks release "Lola". Still making terrific music.
minutegongcoughs 3 years ago 5
so what?
embran 3 years ago
That's quite far fetched. And as a huge Beatles fan, I say it un-biasedly.
GazeOnWaterlooSunset 3 years ago 3
Remind me again what song the lyrics "We're THE sgt. peppers lonely hearts club band" were in?
Oh, that's right. No song at all.
mofo197 3 years ago
ehhhh, that is very weak man. Try harder next time
embran 3 years ago
I'm not sure what you mean. You tried to imply the songs we're similar by changing the lyrics to one of them. I'm not sure why. One is about a fake band and one is about rural English nostalgia. Musically they're not similar either.
Wait, is your argument that any songs that start "We are" and then have 4 or more words after that are by definitiion similar and one must be a "rip off" of the other?
Okay, I didn't understand that the first time because that idea is moronic.
mofo197 3 years ago 2
Always one of their many best. It makes me feel good that Ray Davies is a worse bowler than I am!
stujenner 3 years ago 2
True the KinKs are ny favorite all time band ever,& Beatles,Stones,Who Zeppelin, Nirvanna, Beach Boys (old floyd with syd)& Stones would very well all have albums on my all time favorite lists too. The Smiths, Oasis, Springsteen maybe. The Ramones, Love, The Move, more likley, Lucina Williams, Dylan( seeing him Monday night in NYC) The Dead, The Band, The MC5, world Party, The Byrds, The Faces, The Black Crowes, all could have albums on my top 100 too, but must leave room for most KinKs albums!
krankiekat 3 years ago
I agree with your Kinks selection and Syd's PF. With MC5 I would add the first two Stooges LP's as well. I would also add the first Ronettes LP (Phil Spector) if only to show today's singers that you don't have to sound like Craig David having his nuts clamped. Ronnie Spector's phrasing shows what pop is all about and also how to sing a great tune.
minutegongcoughs 3 years ago
If I was compling a list of the 25 Greatest albums of all time...half of them would be from the KinKs or solo Ray Davies material. Village Green Preservation Society, Muswell Hillbillies, Arthur, Something Else, Lola Vs Powerman, EveryBody's in show Biz Preservaton Act 1&2, Soap Opera, SleepWalker, Misfits, Face to Face, Phobia, Give the people What they Want, State of Confusion, UK Jive...Oh let's face it there isn't a KinKs or Ray davies record that I can't live without - God Save the KinKs !
krankiekat 3 years ago 2
That's probably because you obviously love the Kinks! The greatest albums of all time, though, aren't only about your favourite group. They did some great stuf, but not half of all great music ever!! The Stones, Beatles, Who, Dylan, Springsteen, Led Zep, Stone Roses, Smiths, Nirvana, Oasis, Pink Floyd, Beach Boys, Dire Straits etc etc etc all contributed a lot!
219970 3 years ago
The KinKs, the Greatest band of all time that no one talks about..God Save them and all their loyal fans who have supported them from the start right through their solo careers!
Frank Lima, A Montvale, New Jersey Hillbilly Boy!
krankiekat 3 years ago 3
21/f/single hiiiii boys G
brubek1 3 years ago
what is this song about
brianispussy6909 3 years ago
It's pure nostalgia for times simpler and now past. Duh.
pretorious700 3 years ago