I have that "Spotlight" compilation - in fact it was probably the first Kinks album I bought back when I was just starting to listen to their catalogue. Haven't played it in years though.
The first time I heard this song was on the live "One for the Road" album, around 1980. I was 13. I had no idea they weren't a "new" band. I didn't look closely at the song titles, and I thought the refrain went: "Girl, I want to be with you all of the time.... I'll pay, a dollar a night, I'll pay, a dollar a night." I thought that was rather crass, and insultingly cheap to boot. (and also, "why are they ripping off the Doors?")
I'd heard all the Kinks hits up to and including "Lola," but my obsession didn't start until my brother bought Everybody's in Show Biz. He was my music mentor, so I always paid attention to what he was listening to. Since I was his kid brother, once I "discovered" a band he liked, he'd stop buying their albums, like I had somehow made whoever it was uncool. (We did have a footrace, once, to the only promo copy of Common Sense by John Prine, and he won. Since I had been the one to own Sweet Revenge, after he bought Prine's first two, this was an exception to his rule. But I digress). After I bought Muswell Hillbillies (we he hadn't), I started working backwards, as one does. My brother also had "The Kink Kronikles (so good) so I aimed for earlier. I randomly ended up with Golden Hour of the Kinks Vol 2, and this was one of my favorite songs on it. The classic Kinks sound was already being established on this one.
Even though I heard the Kinks version plenty of times, it wasn't until The Pretenders covered it that I really appreciated the song. So, yeah, I agree. I like Ray's too; I'm a sucker for original versions of songs unless they're plain awful. <grin>
ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT I secretly prefer this to You Really Got Me and, reading through the comments, I'm apparently not alone. Yes, this track is stupendous. And one thing that hasn't been mentioned (apologies if I missed it) is the insistence in the lyrics on spending the night with the girl. The title is not, as one of those American presenters says, "All of the day and all of the night". The emphasis is not on the day but on ALL of the NIGHT. This is unusual in October 1964. It's practically a whole year before Manfred Mann's cover of Dylan's risqué If You Gotta Go, Go Now (...or else you gotta stay all night). And more than two years before the Stones' Let's Spend The Night Together, which was famously censored on Sullivan. There is also a rare kind of determination in the lyrics bordering on the menacing: 'I'm NOT content' / 'All of THE time' / 'Leave me NEVER'. Yep, in October 1964 this was heady stuff. I GOTTA MOVE A great B-side, making this a really exceptional single release. Musically and lyrically fun. The guy has gotta move, but in fact he's only moving to his baby's home which may well be just a few streets away. And if she's not there he's going to brush his (kinky) boots waiting for her to turn up. A kind of English hobo parody.
Yeah I have this as well, I got it from a record shop in Dublin a few years back, it was cheap and in mint condition. It's a fun but slightly erratic selection IMO.
"Tired of Waiting for You" Single by the Kinks from the album Kinda Kinks B-side "Come on Now" Released 15 January 1965 (UK) 17 February 1965 (US) Recorded August and December 1964 Studio Pye and IBC Studios, London Genre Rock Length 2:31 Label Pye 7N 15759 (UK)[1] Reprise 0347 (USA) Songwriter(s) Ray Davies[1] Producer(s) Shel Talmy[1] mono mix (2:30), recorded 17, 18, 24, 25 Aug 1964 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London, with additional guitar overdub at IBC Studios, London in 29 Dec 1964 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 Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Kassner Music Co. Ltd Chart (1965) Peak position Australia (Kent Music Report)[9] 29 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[10] 48 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[11] 3 Canada (CHUM)[12] 21 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[13] 36 France (IFOP)[14] 27 Germany (Official German Charts)[15] 13 Ireland (IRMA)[16] 3 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[17] 18 South Africa[18] 1 Sweden (Kvällstoppen)[19] 6 UK Singles (OCC)[20] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[21] 6 US Cash Box Top 100[22] 5 ------------------------------------------------ According to Ray Davies, the music for "Tired of Waiting for You" was written on the train to the recording studio and the words were written at a coffee shop during a break in the session.[2] The track was a leftover from the sessions of the band's debut album, Kinks.[3] During the recording sessions for the song, the band felt that the guitar sound evident on their previous two singles ("You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night") was missing. Dave Davies said: The recording went well but there was something missing and it was my raunchy guitar sound. Ray and I were worried that putting that heavy-sounding guitar on top of a ponderous song might ruin it. Luckily it enhanced the recording, giving it a more cutting, emotional edge. In my opinion 'Tired Of Waiting' was the perfect pop record.[2] Davies also said of the song, "It was a change of style for us, we got a bit posher! Our material started to get a bit more melodic after that." ---------------------------------------------------- The intro here is excellent, the arpeggio guitar and the sliding two chord arrangement just works beautifully. I also really like how it takes a second to kind of make rhythmic sense. I think because the sliding pattern starts on the second and not the first chord it takes a moment to come together and that ends up being a little highlight. In some ways this track works as the logical link between the Kinks early rock/hard rock tracks, and the more whimsical sort of folk rock that would dominate the sixties material. When we move into the verse we get a really nice change up, and then we change up again in what I assume is the pre-chorus (It's Your Life). I think the arrangement of this song really sets it apart, and although it could have gone on the debut album, I'm kind of glad they held it aside, because it seems somewhat something a bit more than the songs on the first album. Whether that's the extra time and thought that went into it, I am not sure, but this track seems like the Kinks really starting to get their own sound coming directly to the fore. This was another successful single for the band, being a number one in the UK, and top 5 in the US, as well as good performances in many other countries. I don't really know how folks thought about these things back in 64/65, but when I was growing up, a single like this would raise a lot of anticipation for an upcoming album. Anyway, I really like this song, and I reckon it works really well.
Come On Now The b-side is more in line with the whole beat group scene. mono mix (1:45), recorded 22 or 23 Dec, 1964 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London Come on now Come on, let the music get you movin' Let 'em see that you're not losin' See the clock, it's gettin' late now Get you coat and fix your face So come on now (baby come on now) Well come on now Well it's getting late and we better go (It's getting late and we better go) Come on now Come on now while we still got time Come on, baby, the sun is shinin' Put your coat on and stop your whinin' Oh, baby, oh it's all right So come on now (baby come on now) Well come on now Well it's getting late and we better go (It's getting late and we better go) Come on now Come on now honey and let me see Just how much you do for me I'm not waiting all night long You told me to love you and that's all wrong So come on now (baby come on now) Well come on now Well it's getting late and we better go (It's getting late and we better go) Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Kassner Music Co. Ltd. I assume we have Dave singing this track, but I know you'll all correct me if I'm wrong Oddly enough this makes me think of the Easybeats (who formed in 1964, in Australia). Again we open with a nice riff, and we have a good time party track. Nice use of backing vocals. This isn't a very long track, but I think it does everything it needs to in it's 1:45 length. I don't have too much to say about this track, but it's another solid track.
French TV, filmed during rehearsals for a performance of the B side 'Come On Now' on the same show (which was definitely on Youtube at some point, but I can't seem to find it right now ) . I used to think this was just random leftover footage cut to the song, but looking at this clip again now, I realise it might have been an intentional directorial decision to use this footage for this song as it very definitely conveys the Kinks being 'Tired Of Waiting' around. Oh those crazy French!
You got it! Hope you don't mind my constant chipping in about The Kinks TV appearances btw, I like to think of it as my modest area of expertise/unhealthy obsession (delete as appropriate).
Chip in with anything you like mate. I just like the songs, my knowledge of the era and the band is very limited, and you guys are going to probably all have more relevant information than me
'Come On Now' was clearly a live favourite from the start, The Kinks were still known to play it as late as the 80s. This is a great version from their (fantastic) 1982 Rockapalast concert in Essen, Germany. Dave looks incredibly cool here, and it's also notable for being from a very short lived bearded phase for Ray:
Live version of 'Tired Of Waiting' from the NME Pollwinners concert, 11th April 1965, at which infamously the group turned up late and so ended up headlining over The Beatles by default, giving a fairly poor performance to boot. I still enjoy seeing an all live version from this early though.
I think it's possible Kenny and the Kasuals may have heard 'Come On Now' before minting this Nuggets classic. Check out this psychey extrapolation of the Kinks riff!
While obviously not as exciting, Tired of Waiting for You is as good as the previous two smash singles, just pure songwriting magic. The way the arpeggios and two chords attack complete each other to create a “two guitars riff” is sublime. Then it becomes “mersey beatley” for the “I was a lonely soul” section and 100% Ray Davies for the “it’s your life” part, with that sublime regretful chord change, before the guitar crescendo gets us back to the opening chorus (where the arpeggios are replaced by more echoey rhythm guitar). Structurally, this is brilliant, especially the way the two main Kinks styles (rock’n’roll power and fatalistic bittersweetness) seem to wrestle against one another throughout the song. This is really a masterful mid-tempo pop tune, not a ballad but something all the greatest power pop artists of any era would’ve killed to create, from Badfinger and Big Star to Teenage Fanclub and Fountains of Wayne, from Idle Race and Easybeats to Colin Moulding or Tom Petty. I especially see it as paving the way to some of the early Gene Clark masterpieces wrote for the Byrds. All in all, I like it just as much as the previous two singles and I would even argue that with the infectious Come on Now as a B-side, it may be the most satisfying two sides offering by the band yet.
