"Tired Of Waiting For You" A third masterpiece single in a row. The grafting of the chunky riff onto what might otherwise have been another Merseybeat-style track lifts it up a level, and the rising and falling tension during the song is fantastic, building to a great crescendo for the final chorus. Actually it's quite a strange structure - is the "so tired, tired of waiting..." bit the chorus or the verse? Whatever it is, it utterly works. "Come On Now" A basic, but pretty cool track for Dave to sing. I reckon this would have been a great song for The Monkees - I can imagine Davy singing it with Boyce & Hart shouting the backing vocals from the back of the studio.
"Tired of Waiting for You" is definitely a masterpiece, a song for the ages that, by the way is quite timeless. And, while it's not a proto-punk stomper like the previous two singles, it's got quite a rocking energy with DAve's guitar and the dual vocals in the chorus: and that middle 8 -- just utterly sublime, a moment of pure spiritual clarity. It's your life and you can do what you want....but please don't KEEP-ah ME WAITING. It's both funny and profound, I think. "Come On Now": Good rocking song, and an original. Why do a crappy blues cover when you can do your own rave up that sounds better because your sound is yours, not Chuck Berry's or Little Richards or some blues singer. After the last masterpiece it seems like a trifle, but it rocks hard and furious and sometimes that's all I want. Not often. But sometimes.
Tired Of Waiting For You -- the Kinks' third straight outstanding single. It reflects Ray's continuing development as a songwriter, and Dave's steady rise as a versatile guitarist -- if anything, it's a key record in establishing the interplay between the brothers' skill sets that defined the Kinks' records for decades to come. The song's slow build to a satisfying climax is no less potent than that of its predecessor single, despite being softer and more deliberate. Ray was picking up a new trick every song at this point. Come On Now -- a more typical Kinks raver of the period, but a really good one, with one of Dave's most impassioned lead vocals. I've never been a huge fan of Dave as a lead singer, but he nails it here, and that "I Feel Fine" guitar figure is icing on the cake.
Spot on. I agree the Come on Now opening riff owes a lot to Feel Fine. And listening again to Tired of Waiting for You this morning, I noticed the drums pattern in the “it’s your life” section is pretty close to the one Ringo played a few weeks later in Ticket to Ride. If you look at the timeline, it makes perfect sense : I Feel Fine released in November 64, the Kinks single in January 1965, then the Beatles recording Ticket to Ride just a month later in February 65. It may not be as famous as the Byrds / Beatles transatlantic musical dialogue but it could be indication that the Beatles/Kinks influence was not a one way street.
Interesting, I always considered the "Ticket to Ride" pattern to be kind of influenced on "When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)" by the Beach Boys (released in late summer '64) but now I realize they sound even more like this one. And focusing on it, I really realize how GOOD these drums sound!!! They are really well recorded.
"Tired Of Waiting For You" - Great song. I was about 12 or 13 when I got my first Kinks' LP. It was a cheap comp, don't remember the name or anything but this was the 3rd song on side 1, after the 2 more famous songs we already talked about, so it was the first time I'd ever heard it. I loved it. It was the first Kinks' song I discovered on my own and hadn't heard before on the radio. It made me much more interested in the band. I knew then that I would really like this band. "Come On Now" - Another great early Kinks' rave-up. Ray was moving away from the r&b roots of the band into more melodic pop material which terrific results. Although this is a track I don't often make a concerted effort to listen to it is a song that I'm always glad to hear.
Our first look at the 2nd Kinks album. "Tired of Waiting for You" is another classic, though understandably less exciting then the other music they'd been doing. This one seems more 'for the girls.' A band needs some songs like this in their catalog, so that's fine. Dave's guitar definitely gives it some edge that probably made it more fun to play live and helps with the build up. "Come On Now" is a rather good Dave vocal. It's a catchy tune that's more pop than the mundane blues numbers they'd hand him on the first album. As Lance said, these drums sound real good. This recording is much better in terms of sound quality than what we got before. I don't think anybody has pointed out how both of these sides are pretty much about the same thing. "Tired of Waiting for You" is Ray trying to be patient while he waits. Dave is not being patient. "Come on now, it's getting late and we better go." "I'm not waiting all night long." "Get you coat and fix your face." "Put your coat on and stop your whinin'," haha, wow. Both sides have the Davies brothers waiting. Many other songs could have made a good B-side but these are thematically linked.
I was playing some of these early songs on vinyl yesterday. I noticed that YRGM has rather muffled drums, and that the drum sound on ADAAOTN is fantastic--WHOMP. I'm guessing that once they had a hit single, they started to take a little more time getting everything to sound beefy and good. Shel Talmy talks with some pride about how he recognized that "Tired of Waiting" was too good to be an album track, and hence was deliberately held back. He felt it was a hit single, and he was right. I have a vague recollection of some list Dave Davies made of 5 landmark Kinks songs. One was YRGM, but I think the second one was "Tired of Waiting." It was the song that broke out of the formula that had given them two hits, or at least expanded on it; the first "way out" into a commercially successful creative future. (The article may be "Dave Davies talks about landmarks in Kinks history ..." NME. February 1971, which seems to be off the internet right now.)* That said, it's a third hit that gets mileage out of feeling simple, whether or not its actually simple. Staying on those two chords for so long, while a melody takes it time working up _almost_ to a full octave, feels both bold and satisfying. "Surely they've got to change things up by now?" The Beatles had made their mark by cramming as many different chord changes as possible into a pop song. This isn't that, and it isn't a I-IV-V blues. It goes into a more trancey direction, which they'd come back to for "See My Friends." Maybe I'm making too much out of this being "new," but ... I think maybe it was. The way that rhythm part slides back and forth between the chords still feels like the same band that had the prior hits. They aren't abandoning their trademark sound, but they've found another cool thing to do with it. *I think the 5 landmarks were: 1. YRGM 2. Tired of Waiting 3. See My Friends 4. Well Respected Man 5. Sunny Afternoon
Tired of Waiting for You Totally classic. The rockers prove early on they can dial it back and still be their edgy selves. Come On Now Very much of its time/genre influence.... but very, very good at it.
Tired of Waiting for You One of their best songs IMO, and tied for best single chart position in the U.S. (with Come Dancing)
Tired Of Waiting is a great early classic -a song I never get tired of hearing. Come On Now is a fine raver, but not in the same league as Tired of Waiting.
I was trying to find that "Kinks landmarks" list by Dave and I couldn't. But I stumbled over this great Dave Davies interview (AND Mick Avory further down the page!). Among other things, he says that their first two singles were influenced heavily by the Searchers and the Hollies. SEE? I told you it was the Beatles! "We were so impressed when we signed a contract with Pye, the same label as The Searchers! That’s why we wrote the songs "You Do Something To Me" and "You Still Want Me" – our first singles. They sound very Searchers-like. [And they were recorded] in the same studio. How about that!" Well respected men - Record Collector Magazine January 1964 hit. This was also a massive influence on the first Byrds singles and 1965-6 American folk-rock-garage in general:
Dave also mentions: "The Shadows were good. The American records, The Ventures and The Champs – Tequila by The Champs was always being played in our house as a kid, growing up." Is it too much of a stretch to say that Tequila's two-chord vamp could have influenced "Tired of Waiting"?
Tired of Waiting I’ve got nothing to add to the fine insights already posted without simply becoming repetitive. I can’t imagine a clear-headed Kinks fan in the world who would find anything negative about this track. I’ll just offer a personal anecdote. After becoming a passionate fan and living the Kinks in my head for three years, I finally got to see them live in the summer of 1980. They were appearing twice, three weeks apart, within a reasonable driving distance from me. I snapped up tickets for both shows. This was during the “One For the Road” tour where they were modifying their older hits in a heavier arena-rock style calculated to “fit in” with fist-pumping, BIC lighter waving fans’ expectations. It was the beginning of my least favorite iteration of my beloved band. I was much more in love with their 60’s pop charts feel and wistfully regretted I had discovered the band too late to experience that. That first concert was more or less a rote, recreation of “One For the Road.” I was a bit let down that there were no surprises, but was hopeful the next show wouldn’t disappoint. After 4 songs during that second show it had all the appearances of being nothing more than a repeat of the first, right down to the between songs banter. Then, for their fifth number, they launched into “Tired of Waiting’s” familiar two chords, back and forth. And they were doing it exactly as they did it in the 60’s. I was so happy I actually felt a sudden lump in my heart and was hoping my friend would not turn my way to see that I was fighting back tears of joy in my eyes. I savored every precious second of the two minutes it took for them to do that song, and it felt like I had traveled back in time. It is among my most pleasant in-concert memories, and permanently solidified “Tired of Waiting” among my all-time favorites. Come On Now It’s not a significant song, but it’s a fine performance. I like the energy. It’s a bit regressive to what they were doing 6 months earlier, but an improvement (it would have fit in stylistically on the debut LP.) That’s the thing that will start happening with the band over the course of 1965: on one hand they are looking forward, on the other they have no problem looking backward if it’s an opportunity to do something the old way even better.
OK then! But less of a stretch, maybe: The Beatles' "I Feel Fine" came out in November 1964, and "Come On Now" was recorded in December. I see a possible influence of the busy Beatles' riff on "Come On Now." "I Feel Fine's" riff is actually an expansion of Bobby Parker's 1961 hit "Watch Your Step." Which is clearly influenced by Ray Charles (maybe "What'd I Say" in particular). and on it goes.
In fairness, that riff is actually more of a blues cover rip-off than an original. The riff's melody is all over many Chicago and Delta blues songs.
I was just checking out their Billboard chart action. Like The Who they really didn't do that well with their singles. The first three did alright. but ' Lola ' just scraped into the Top 10. 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion ' bombed and stalled at #34. Too English , I suppose. As mentioned, 'Tired Of Waiting..' tied 'Come Dancing' at #6 but the latter was in the Top 40 slightly longer and is The Kinks biggest American hit.
I'm pretty sure I have something by Lightning Hopkins (I think?) in my collection, though I would have to dig to find it.
I thought the above signed Kinks notepaper would be of interest as it is quite early in their career coming from Denmark Street (Tin Pan Alley) Maybe the offices of Larry Page?
I actually think that the two chord slide comes from modifying YRGM into something else. Just speculation on my part, but particularly when you're young, you start playing with how to differently voice and play familiar chords, in order to gain ground.
