Sunny Afternoon I had hoped to write more—I have many thoughts on this one—but I’ve only got about 10 minutes to spare. Then again, nearly everyone has covered everything pretty well so what is left? The music: As Arthur would put it, I got nothing to say. The lyrics: My overriding sense is to not let the narrative details obscure that this is ultimately a song about optimism. To use sunshine as a writers devise is to convey optimism. Ray does it frequently (I look forward to discussing the complexities of “Lazy Old Sun”) That’s what Sunny Afternoon is about: not so much the fact the protagonist has lost all, but that he is making lemons out of lemonade, so to speak, by just appreciating the sun—and that in itself means he won’t be defeated despite losing everything. No small wonder that his stage play based on this song uses the fairly obscure Everybody’s in Showbiz “Look a Little On the Sunnyside” as a coda to reinforce the them.e Anyway..wanted to write more, but I’ve got to run.
That's certainly how I think of it. All the fluff in my life is being, or is strpped away, but nobody can take this moment in the sun away from me.... and I'm going to enjoy it all I can... Another thing I guess that really puts the emphasis on this line of thought... this is an Englishman in England, famous for drizzle, overcast skies and graveyard humour.
Nice post, but Look a Little on the Sunny Side is one of the most sarcastic songs Ray ever wrote, a response to the record company asking him to write about more cheery stuff than how miserable life on the road can be.
Sunny Afternoon/I'm Not Like Everybody Else The Kinks 1966 Dutch Picture Sleeve Single On Pye Really time poor but hoping to post some words later on.
Isn't the character in Sunny Afternoon the same as those in House In The Country and Most Exclusive Residence For Sale? I thought Sunny Afternoon was the third song in the trilogy. The owner of the stately home fallen on hard times? The owner of the house in the country is not a very pleasant character by all accounts - at work he is unpleasant and unkind. He's also oh so smug! As well as having a house in the country he also owns a sports car but something happens to his finances - spent all his money on girls and fancy jewellery - and he has to sell up because he couldn't pay off his debts so the judge ordered him to put his house on the market or settle his accounts. The Sunny Afternoon character is also complaining that the tax man will also be demanding his cut. His missus has also scarpered with his car (the sports car?) and spilled the beans about just how cruel this character really is. Wife beating? Despite all his troubles he can still enjoy an afternoon of sunshine cruising on his yacht. He really doesn't give a damn.
"Sunny Afternoon" Definitely an all time klassic Kinks' song. One of their most well known and great mid 60s Kknks' tunes. A terrific and near perfect song. The lyrics fit so well with the music. A wonderful tune. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" One of my favorites and another near perfect mid 60s Kinks' song. I discovered this one young but it didn't hit with me until I was older and understood it better. Used to perfection in the TV The Sopranos which is when I started to rediscover The Kinks. All time great Kinks' tune.
Today in Kinks History On this day in 1970 Ray Davies is famously forced to cancel a free concert at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and fly half way around the world back to London to re-record the lyrics to Lola. The BBC refuse to broadcast the words 'Coca-Cola' forcing Ray to adapt them to "Cherry Cola" and re-record them on the BBC radio session and Top Of The Pops performances already recorded.
What a terrific thread. Here's my take on this classic. Sunny Afternoon The descending riff and harmonies help paint a picture of this man's past, present, and future. The high harmonies representing his former life (luxury and relationship) and the insistent, descending riff representing a cellar of oblivion he's headed into but hasn't quite reached yet. He still has his sunny afternoon and the summertime . . . but he knows neither will last, he's feeling the squeeze, and he calls out for help. The replacement of the "sunny" harmonies by a spare guitar riff at the end of the song is clever and telling.
Not to be picky.... All right, for the sake of being picky. London is about 4000 miles from Minneapolis, or 1/6 of the way around the world.
Well, if you're really going to be picky, then you'd know it's actually more than 1/6 of the way around traveling latitudinally because the earth is only 24K miles around at the equator. It is significantly less at as far north of the equator as Minneapolis and London lie.
Sunny Afternoon I can't remember when I didn't know this song. Was a favorite from the moment I heard it, I believe. It left an impression. The "big fat mama" line always stood out to me (as a kid probably thought it was funny) - mostly because it sounds like it's recorded differently - almost like a recording of old timey radio broadcast...or seems the voice is further away from the mic. But as Mark pointed out, he had a cold at the time so maybe it's that? Anyone else hear the difference in the sound quality? I haven't read many people's take on this as I wanted to not be influenced, but I hope others mention Rasa's lovely backing vocals. Makes it extra beautiful. Still peeved that she was given proper credit back in the day. Absolute klassic Kinks rekording...and stellar song in general. I bow down to its awesomeness I'm Not Like Everybody Else I've long known this song but not this B-side. I guess I knew it from To the Bone so always think of it being a faster song. This version is new to my ears still. It's a superior song, of course, but I do like the faster song with Ray singing. But I suspect I may change my mind down the line.
I've been away for a while, so I've had to spend some time reading through all the comments ... DEDICATED FOLLOWER OF FASHION Excellent song both musically and lyrically. A lot of people have pointed out the music hall/pantomime connection. Here are a couple of other things that I don't think anyone has mentioned. "They seek him here ..." is a reference to the Scarlet Pimpernel. This is appropriate to this song for at least two reasons. The pimpernel is a flower (a flower to be looked at). The character signs his achievements with this flower. He is a wealthy Englishman who is taken by his wife to be a fop mainly interested in being well-dressed (though he turns out to be something of a hero saving aristocrats from the French revolution). "And when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight". Now these are something even the Scarlet Pimpernel wouldn't wear. If you google "frilly nylon panties" you'll see what I mean. The suggestion to me is that Ray's fashion follower is gay or transvestite which in the sixties would mean an outsider and a figure of fun. In 1966 homosexuality was still a crime in Britain. Funnily enough, to get back to the pantomime connection, the grotesque over-dressed character called the 'pantomime dame' was traditionally a man dressed up as a woman for comic effect. SITTING ON MY SOFA A bit of a nothing song about someone who's life is the complete opposite to the guy on the A-side.
SUNNY AFTERNOON Harold Wilson (the Mister Wilson mentioned in the Beatles' Taxman) was a British left-wing Prime Minister famous for putting a tax-squeeze on the rich. And so we have Ray's 1966 aristocrat sipping his beer in his version of a deserted Downton Abbey complaining about the government depriving him of his yacht, his car and even his girlfriend. And yet, for some strange reason, this rich man asking us for help seems perfectly OK. It's almost as if getting rid of all those wordly distractions has meant he's able to really appreciate his sunny afternnoon. And the sunny afternoon is something we can all appreciate too which creates a great deal of empathy. I bet even the guy sitting on his sofa can get up and have alook outside and realise things aren't really that bad. Again, musically and lyrically superb. I'M NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE "Oh yes you are!" I can hear the audience shout. A nice B-side which is slightly repetitive.
"Sunny Afternoon" has it all. What a great song. The only Kinks song I remember hearing my aunt sing along with as this chorus is perfect for that. I always took "All I've got's this sunny afternoon" to mean that's the one thing he doesn't want. A beautiful day to chill that many desire, and he'd rather have his money, car, and yacht. He still has his stately home, so he's not totally SOL. @zipp said Ray here is appreciating the afternoon, which he might. But if so I think he would have worded it differently. Instead of "all I've got's this," maybe he would sing "(at) least I've got this." I don't know. I took it more sarcastic. I've never been into the meaning of lyrics myself, but these perfectly fit this wonderful production and make a classic for the ages. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" - I'm not as high on this one as others. I think it's way too long and repetitive. They fit "everybody else" into the song 39 times. It's just too much. Live it's probably fine, but a crunchy lo-fi 60s mono recording can really tire me out.
Included I presume cos it features them with UK Prime Minister 1964-70 (and 1974 - 76!) Harold Wilson, as mentioned in Zipp’s text with reference to his taxation of the rich which was likely an inspiration for the lyric of ‘Sunny Afternoon’.
Except that there were no direct flights from Minneapolis to London. I think Ray went via Chicago, but it could have been New York. The return trip would have been to Chicago as that was were the next concert was. The importance of this is that London is considerably north of those cities and the route would have been based on a great circle route. All great circles are ~ 24 kmiles. The trip to London might have veered south of the great circle if a strong jet stream made that advantageous but there is no way of knowing. At the link below we have a route from LHR to ORD that veered north to avoid strong jet streams. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW297/history/20210526/1500Z/EGLL/. In fact, the above discussion of latitudes wasn’t even necessary. Great circle routes apply even when there is no difference in latitude. Here’s NYC to Rome. AA236 (AAL236) American Airlines Flight Tracking and History 22-May-2021 (KJFK-FCO / LIRF) - FlightAware
Nope, the great circle route is always the shortest, that’s why it is the basis for routing. For Chicago to London it’s 3953 miles. Your interpretation of a straight line on a sphere is called a rhumb line. Linked is an in depth mathematical analysis of why rhumb lines are longer than great circles, even though they look shorter on most maps. https://www.whitman.edu/documents/Academics/Mathematics/2016/Vezie.pdf
