The Greatest strength of Ray Davies is his "Observation and Comment" style of songwriting....
It was said of Hollywood Legend - a "Celluloid Hero" indeed - Actor Cary Grant that he could both PLAY a character...and at the same time "Comment" on him...! just watch "Arsenic & Old Lace" etc...
A Rare ability.....Ray Davies as a songwriter shares that rare ability....
Look at "A Well Respected Man"....about town, doing the best things so conservatively....!
who could get a line like that into a song back in 1965...?
going on about "While Discussing Foreign trade /...The Father pulls the Maid...who passes looks as well as milk...!!
it's all superbly put together with biting satire & wit...
Ray made a deliberate decision NOT to "Be Like everybody Else" circa 1966....as everyone went into Psychedelia...Ray chose to question the whole giddy sixties scene in "Dedicated Follower of Fashion"
- "Everywhere the Carnabetian Army marches on....Each one a ..." !
The Kinks - a Classic Band of course - could NOT actually play that much to start with....hence all the early songs are kept SIMPLE...tho' Ray turns the band's musical limitations to their advantage with astounding perception...
listen to one of their RARE covers...."Dancing in The Street" - where half way through they TOTALLY LOSE the Melody...!
Ray thus always kept the song technically straightforward....Dave WAS a stunning Rock guitarist ("Milk Cow Blues" worked FAR better !) ...but the band were happiest with a standard beat...embellished by a bit of classy Nicky Hopkins piano & harpsichord ("He's a "Session Man"...."He's Not paid to THINK...just Play" !)
Ray thus keeps it basic...yet the STRENGTH lies in the Riffs...the wistful Ray & Dave Harmonies (credit MUCH to Dave with the STRONGER harmony voice !)...and the SUPERB Lyrics...
Ray looks at the sixties world around him...of Followers of fashion...profumo scandals....Tax dodgers...Class divides...etc
After the Mini opera of the "Love affair" of the first few singles "which then turns sour" - going from "You Really Got Me" "All Day & All of The Night"....then "Tired of Waiting For You"...through "Set Me Free" to "See My Friends" - inter-cut only by the Soul homage often overlooked "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy" - which featured magnificent Drumming by Mick Avory.
Ray then concluded the Kinks first "hit singles" phase with "Till The End of The Day" - a curtain call number....then turned his attention properly to Albums....tho' the 'b' side (worthy of a "Double A" in fact) hinted at Ray even in 1965...as earlier with "Tired of Waiting For You"... feeling a sense of a deeper "Wistful Loss"....not just of a Girlfiernd this time...but a way of life ...."Won't you tell me...Where have All The Good Times Gone...?"
After looking at Trendy chappies "pulling their frilly nylon panties right up tight..." Ray turned his view to the sad plight of the world around him...the Sixties working class fodder...folk who Often voted Conservative too !
"There's A Crack up in the Ceiling...and the kitchen sink is Leaking..."
"Dead End Street" was a song your Nan & Grandad could identify with...."We are strictly second class...."
the song was TOTALLY at odds with the more famous trendy "Swinging Sixties" image of nearly every other band of the day.......but then Ray was "Not Like Everybody Else" was he...?
"Dead End Street" was sheer BITING Social comment the like of Bob Dylan could appreciate...!
"Face To Face" in 1966 was Ray's first "Real" themed Album....with digs in various directions....how working class folk are conned ("Holiday in Wakkiki")....the Upper Classes..."Most Exclusive Residence for Sale"... at, possibly inspired by the then current Michael Caine film: "Alfie" gigolos in "Dandy" (a welcome USA hit for Ray when covered by Herman's Hermits)....and even a nod to hard times a comin' - pre-dating john Fogerty's later Creedence warnings...."Rainy Day in June".... while still looking at his own relationships - "I'll Remember" etc....
Ray produced a timeless classic in "Sunny Afternoon" - his wistful reflective song styling never more honed to perfection....even a (then...and now) controversial admission of: "Telling tales of Drunkenness and cruelty" (Missed by the very stuffy sixties censors !) - plus as Frank Smyth so memorably put it in the Linear notes:
Fate Flings it's last custard pie....The Taxman cometh...!
"Something Else By The Kinks" (1967) takes Ray's sixties writing even further into "Daviesland"....Social comment re the PERILS of smoking...."Harry Rag" is put to a jaunty almost Irish jig style...yet note the underlying sense of despair re the TOTAL Addiction..."I Curse myself for the Life I've Led....and Roll myself a Harry Rag & put myself to bed..." !
For USA fans: "Harry Rag" - Cockney rhyming slang: Harry Rag....f**...British slang for a Cigarette (presumably nothing else) !
The song is about hopeless addiction to smoking...and addiction in general.
"David Watts" - remember what I said re Cary Grant's "Commenting" ? - Here Ray appears to be cutting that Intolerable School "Golden Boy" down to size....! - or is he ?
Much as we are persuaded to DETEST this "Wonder Boy" Master watts...the refrain is "I WISH I COULD BE LIKE DAVID WATTS...." -Ray is both dismissing Watts...an intolerably "Perfect" schooldays figure : Head boy...captain of the team (spit !) ...yet is also totally ENVIOUS ....Watts only brings Ray's (ours too ?) OWN inner feelings of inadequacy to the fore...in an open admission of envy & begrudged Admiration:
"And all the Girls in the Neighbourhood Try to go out with David Watts..."
note Dave & Pete frantically echo: "wish I wish I wish..." in the background - as Ray always finds time to inject a sense of flippant humour into his songs....!
The key thing here being that we learn MORE about the writer/singer (Ray...or you..or me etc) than the SUBJECT...."David Watts" as the song really reflects more the attitudes, desires & frustrations etc, of whoever sings it...than anything about the "Perfect figure" that supposedly is Watts...himself !
This is what I meant about how Ray...like Cary Grant...can "Comment" on something in a song...while appearing to just observe and/or dissect a subject matter....many Ray Davies songs take this subtle & deeper approach
Ray gets cited now as "Godfather of punk"....but there was in fact a TIMELESSNESS about Ray...he's NOT just "Youth"....he covers all ages plights..."Situations Vacant" reflects the married couples situation....while "Autumn Almanac" ,"Afternoon Tea", "Tin Soldier Man" etc....are songs a much older person might well identify with....
"This is MY street and I'm Never gonna leave it...and I'm always gonna stay here ..if I live to be Ninety-Nine..."
Considering he was in his twenties back then Ray Davies had a remarkably Mature view of Life & the world....he often spoke like an ELDERLY man disdainfully reflecting on what he DIDN'T like....and wistfully longing for a bygone era he did...or thought he did !
"Waterloo Sunset" - again technically very simple - was a Glorious reflection on British lifestyle and attitude...
"Millions of people swarming like flies round Waterloo Underground...."
plus a nod to the sixties: "But Terry (Terence Stamp ?) and Julie (Julie Christie ? then stars of "Far From The Madding Crowd") -...cross over the river (Thames) where they feel safe and sound...."
..or is Ray just playing with us here....? - decide for yourself (Ray HAD just been to see that film he later admitted)
...Ray also again detaches himself from the masses (forever the "Introvert Extrovert") ;
"But I Don't...need no friends...as long as I Gaze on Waterloo Sunset...I am in Paradise..."
...and credit Dave too...his superbly distinctive backing harmonies : "La La La..." make it work so superbly...
Hope these Observations of Raymond Douglas Davies songwriting make some kind of sense....let me know !
Enough waffle for now....!!
