The Top Of The Pops performance for this song (presumably from the one week it was actually going up in the charts) also miraculously exists.
One of the few covers this song ever attracted was from Fairground Attraction singer Eddi Reader, who commented that the song was the perfect track already pre written to describe her own baby son. I’ve always liked the live performance of it she did with the Kast Off Kinks (including Dalton and Avory in this iteration) for the Meltdown festival that Ray curated in 2011. Good job!
Maybe so. Especially since it was not 1966 or 1967 anymore. Suddenly, it was 1968, certainly not the best year to release their first (mostly) guitar-free single… But these are two very different discussions. The genius of Wonderboy as a song is one, and I’ll stand by my love for it. Its flop as a single is another. I'd say its failure has something to do with the lyrics. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, I think they’re fabulous, poetic and deep, as Ray seems to (briefly) enter a more personal/philosophical phase in his writing (the next single would be Days). But I think they’re not British or topical or satirical or pointed enough (not at all) and in that context, it’s possible Ray’s music-hall delivery didn’t work its charm in the same way with his audience. It sounds like he was aiming at a kind of itinerant/troubadour style, fantasizing himself as a street singer with a barrel organ and a monkey, a street entertainer who could also dabble in serious philosophical ideas or personal considerations if he wanted to. Here, he sings to his child to be and about himself. The record buying crowds didn’t embrace it, because they probably wanted him to sing to (and about) them…
"Wonderboy" Did this one break Ray's run of golden singles? The public seemed to think so. Me, I'm not sure. Oddly, this is one of those Kinks tracks that I have no strong opinion about, and no particular hot takes on. I don't dislike it, but neither does it jump out at me as a great record. As one of those standalone singles that comes into my orbit much less often than the albums, it's not a quandary I have to think about too often. I'd say that it's maybe too baroque and - dare I say "camp" - to stand a chance of being a hit single in 1968. I'll be interested in reading others' opinions on this track, but this is about all I have got on "Wonderboy"!
Reference guide Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 1967 Apr 1967 Mr Pleasant - Alt version - Beat Club - live - beat club - instr (whistling) This Is Where I Belong - Ray live - Ray with Francis Black May 1967 Mr Pleasant EP Mr Pleasant This Is Where I Belong Two Sisters - Ray live (with chat) Village Green - Instrumental - Ray My 1967 Waterloo Sunset - instr. - live 73 - Ray live 78 - live 94 - Ray and Damon Albarn - doco excerpt - Ray and Bowie - Ray live (Peter dedication) Art Nice and Gentle May 1967 Waterloo Sunset EP Documentary Jul 1967 Death Of A Clown - Dave Live - Dave live 2002 Sept 1967 Something Else By David Watts - Live 84 - Dave live 97 - Ray live 2010 - Alt mono - alt version Death Of A Clown Two Sisters No Return Harry Rag - BBC - Ray 2010 - alt version Tin Soldier Man - Sand On My Shoes (original) - Alt backing track Situation Vacant - mono Love Me Till The Sun Shines - BBC - live 69 - Dave 97 - stereo Lazy Old Sun - alt version Afternoon Tea - German Stereo - Alt stereo - Canadian Mono Funny Face End Of The Season Waterloo Sunset Little Women backing track Dave And Ray interview sixties Echoes Of The World - The Making Of Village Green Preservation Society Oct 1967 Autumn Almanac - stereo - Top Of The Pops - live fan jam - Ray - breakdown Nov 1967 Sunny Afternoon LP Nov 1967 Susannah's Still Alive - stereo - video 1967 BBC sessions - Sunny Afternoon Autumn Almanac Mr Pleasant Susannah's Still Alive David Watts Death Of A Clown Good Luck Charm Jan 1968 Live at Kelvin Hall Part 1 Part 2 Jan 1968 Wonderboy - video - Top Of The Pops
It seems to me that the sentimentality factor probably doesn't gel with the we are the future, psychedelia fashion of the day. As you say, from a fan perspective, a fan that had gotten used to Ray singing about good old England and the social situations, this was probably not something they were ready for.... or even more sadly, even wanted.
Wonderboy As far as the song goes, another great. very catchy song. Oasis must have thought so, since they ripped it off for "She's Electric". The arrangement and performance almost sound deliberately challenging though. The incessant "la-la-la-la"-ing and the slow, woozy stoned-sounding delivery. It staggers from side to side. It almost sounds like a parody of a flower-power record. I can imagine people, both then and now, who would have liked the song if sung in a straighter style, getting put off either by the nursery rhyme/playpen feel or the stench of marijuana. However you play it, I think this song would always have those childhood/druggy elements, but they really emphasize them to the nth degree so you can't possibly miss them. Now, I wasn't there in early 1968. Maybe at that time these elements were hip, up to the minute, and commercial. Maybe I'm speaking too much with the benefit of hindsight given that it wasn't a big hit. Anyway, something must have gone awry somewhere for this only to get to #30. Enough negativity. What a beautiful song with beautiful lyrics. Another classic.
By 1968, psychedelia was being morphed into "heavy" blues type songs & attitude, the prime example being Fleetwood Mac. As I earlier pointed out, the other extreme in the pop charts in the era was for songs like "Honey". The Kinks were seen as being a bit long in the tooth, just like the Who, whose "Dogs" single was also a bit of a flop around the same time.
Wonderboy I'm a little surprised by how much negativity this song seems to attract, though I do think it's below the high standard of other singles they had around this time. I find Wonderboy as a song to be innocent and charming - all the more for the fact it was released at a time when popular music was moving in a very different direction. It could be better regarded if Ray had put it on VGPS rather than a stand-alone single. Whether that would have made VGPS a better album is another question.
I'm not surprised John Lennon liked it - 13 years' later he wrote the far more sentimental Beautiful Boy. Here are some book excerpts I've picked up about the song, which Ray wrote in a period of stress (for example, in the midst of a long court case about publishing rights and a doomed extramarital affair): "One night out of sheer desperation i took a large bottle of vodka - finished it all - while I wrote the lyrics to Wonderboy ...It felt the people who bought the record had not understood my own little subtext. They were buying a Kinks record. To me it was a cry for help." (Ray, X-Ray) "The alcohol may explain its uniquely tongue-tied and inarticulate optimism....But his strangely squeezed, thin voice on record doesn't sound quite serious, and half the harmonies too verge on parodic." Nick Hasted (The Story of the Kinks) "It should never have been released." Ray, August 1967 "It did well...it reached the peak of what I expected it to. A creative person should be allowed to fail. It was a comparative failure." Ray, much later by the sound of it.
While I don't agree with Peter Quaife's negativity on this song, his situation reminds me a bit of John Lennon's views on being forced to do endless takes of Maxwell's Silver Hammer. But I have to say Quaife did a scathing review like few others: "It sounded like Herman's Hermits wa-nk-ing...I hated it. I remember recording it and doing the la la las and just thinking "what kind of prissy sissy nonsense are we doing? We're the guys that made You Really Got Me for Chrissakes."
It seems like Pete overall wasn’t especially excited by the musical direction the band took in 1967-68 as compared to the earlier, guitar power chord stuff. Purportedly he mocked "Days"as well. I’m not sure what the man’s natural proclivities were with music but I wonder if he would have remained more engaged if The Kinks had not strayed down the music hall/observational vignette/baroque path and instead evolved from the early power chords toward a heavy metal or electric blues, ala Cream. These are just guesses, of course…and there are other reasons why post-Wonderboy he was not long with the band.
It certainly seems possible, he preferred heavier/more aggressive music ... the other possibility is that he was a Dedicated Follower of Fashion.... and to some degree The Kinks couldn't have been more unfashionable if they tried at this point in time..... and I think that is just another thing that makes me like them so much.
This is why John Mendelssohn, in his liner notes for The Kinks Kronikles, referred to Wonderboy as a “popcorn” song. That is implicatively dismissive, but I find Wonderboy Wonder-ful. Like Autumn Almanac, it has a lot of moving parts all coming together in a satisfying whole. I find the song criminally under-appreciated based on it’s comparative commercial failure in the singles market. But consider this: its “failure” was nothing more than there being 29 other fantastic songs the record buying public was lining up for that week. (I write that with the knowledge someone will google the weekly charts and post them here to prove I don’t know what I’m talking about. Thank you in advance.)
Wonderboy No wonder Lennon liked it... those are some very Beatle-esque backing vocals. In fact, i hear the fabs in many elements of the song. Personally, I like it but not nearly as much as Lennon or most here on this thread. I see Quaife's point although I don't agree with his underlying premise. As we discussed at the time, while You Really Got Me was their first big hit, it doesn't define the Kinks the way '66 - '70 do, and this song is more in line with the definitive Kinks. But definitely second or third tier for me as it's a bit of a plodded and yes, the la lad are a bit much.
I don’t think Quaife was into much heavier music than the rest of the group. I’ve read some of his influences in the later 60s included Simon and Garfunkel and Tim Hardin, so I’m thinking if anything he may have leant folkier. He did still like a lot of Ray’s songs and spoke highly of VGPS. It mainly seem to be the camper more music hally stuff he couldn’t stick, or the stuff that appeared that way to him anyway. And VGPS, despite its rep as the acme of the Kinks quintessentially English phase, is actually a pretty musically diverse album, so I can hear how it was more in Quaifes wheelhouse.
Well, this goes to show how addicted I am to this discussion! My brain semi-consciously anticipated that we were at this point in the thread, by giving me an on-topic funny/strange dream this morning. I had received a bootleg of the Kinks's "Wonderboy Sessions." The song appeared in other iterations, most memorably a overpowering orchestral one -- it wasn't necessarily better, just louder, schmaltzier, and more expensive sounding. "Ray labored for months on the recording, and financially it wiped out the band and almost destroyed them." This was all just a dream, you understand. It was nonetheless a little uncanny to turn on my computer and see Mark's opening "Wonderboy" post. I love the song. I even love the arrangement, though I agree that if doesn't come together in a way that might lead to a hit single. The parallel to the Who's "Dogs" is appropriate (another oddball flop that I love), as is the mention of "Lady Madonna" and "Jumping Jack Flash." Interesting... The beginning of 1968 was marked by each of these bands trying to redefine themselves for a new year with non-album singles that set themselves apart from their prior work, with varying degrees of success. Compare to "Waterloo Sunset." That song is basically a ballad. But it has some hard elements in it: the Sun Records slapback on the guitar, the hard strumming of the tinny acoustic, the general hardness of the section starting "sha la la, Every day I look at the world from my window...". It's an exercise in musical cognitive dissonance which matches the words. Surely this pretty song isn't going to pummel us, is it? "Wonderboy" is mostly cotton candy softness in comparison, beyond some of the darkness of the singing, and the closing lyrics. "Wonderboy" has the single worst vintage stereo mix of any 60's Kinks track, as found on a "Golden Hour" comp ... and rarely anywhere else. (Mono version is standard.) I have a hunch the stereo might have been created for Ray to sing over on live TV, as the lead vocal is ducked SO far back. Or, by some shmoe later on, in a rush, for that comp?
Certainly not to prove you wrong, just out of interest.... and your comment made me interested in what the chart looked like..... It is rather odd to me.... The Official UK Chart says that the song maxed out at 36, on 17th April 1968, in its first week, and it was at 40 the next week. To me the chart looks like a typical pop chart ... not much to get excited about, a few good songs, but more songs that I wouldn't really want to hear again Official Singles Chart Top 50 | Official Charts Company 1 1 CONGRATULATIONS CLIFF RICHARD COLUMBIA 2 3 WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD/CABARET LOUIS ARMSTRONG HMV 3 5 IF I ONLY HAD TIME JOHN ROWLES MCA 4 2 DELILAH TOM JONES DECCA 5 7 SIMON SAYS 1910 FRUITGUM COMPANY PYE INTERNATIONAL 6 4 LADY MADONNA THE BEATLES PARLOPHONE 7 10 JENNIFER ECCLES THE HOLLIES PARLOPHONE 8 6 (SITTIN' ON) THE DOCK OF THE BAY OTIS REDDING STAX 9 8 STEP INSIDE LOVE CILLA BLACK PARLOPHONE 10 17 CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU ANDY WILLIAMS CBS 11 9 IF I WERE A CARPENTER THE FOUR TOPS TAMLA MOTOWN 12 12 VALLERI THE MONKEES RCA 13 14 I CAN'T LET MAGGIE GO HONEYBUS DERAM 14 16 AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A HOUSEPARTY SHOWSTOPPERS BEACON 15 13 CAPTAIN OF YOUR SHIP REPARATA AND THE DELRONS BELL 16 11 CINDERELLA ROCKEFELLA ESTHER AND ABI OFARIM PHILIPS 17 23 CRY LIKE A BABY THE BOX TOPS BELL 18 22 SOMETHING HERE IN MY HEART (KEEPS A-TELLIN' ME NO) PAPER DOLLS PYE 19 19 LOVE IS BLUE (L'AMOUR EST BLEU) PAUL MAURIAT PHILIPS 20 15 ROSIE DON PARTRIDGE COLUMBIA 21 18 LEGEND OF XANADU DAVE DEE, DOZY, BEAKY, MICK AND TICH FONTANA 22 42 WHITE HORSES JACKY PHILIPS 23 28 LITTLE GREEN APPLES ROGER MILLER MERCURY 23 4 ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK {1968} BILL HALEY AND HIS COMETS MCA 20 3 SOMEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY GENE PITNEY STATESIDE 26 35 HELLO, HOW ARE YOU EASYBEATS UNITED ARTISTS 27 43 I DON'T WANT OUR LOVING TO DIE HERD FONTANA 28 21 ME THE PEACEFUL HEART LULU COLUMBIA 29 25 JUMBO/THE SINGER SANG HIS SONG THE BEE GEES POLYDOR 30 27 SHE WEARS MY RING SOLOMON KING COLUMBIA 31 New LAZY SUNDAY THE SMALL FACES IMMEDIATE 32 26 FIRE BRIGADE THE MOVE REGAL ZONOPHONE 33 24 JENNIFER JUNIPER DONOVAN PYE 34 34 DO YOU REMEMBER? THE SCAFFOLD PARLOPHONE 35 32 PEGGY SUE/RAVE ON BUDDY HOLLY MCA 36 New WONDER BOY THE KINKS PYE 36 1
I only had to go as far as #5--"Simon Says" by 1910 Fruitgum Company--to verify, yeah, I was wrong. Wonderboy was a failure. I can see why it left a bad taste in Rays mouth.
and Rock Around The Clock ... There are a few surprises to me really there. It's nice to see Cliff Richard up the top though. The King of English pop music, and all round nice guy (to the best of my knowledge)... although not one of his songs I am particularly big on.
LOL "Put your hands in the air" Pop charts have always been dodgy. I have always found it odd that in hindsight folks often go on about how hip and cool specific periods in time are, and if you ever look at the singles chart, you generally see a bunch of ..... urrm, less than musically satisfactory songs
There was a kind of mini 50s rock and roll revival in the UK in early 1968, hence the reissued oldies on that chart.
Given the failure of "Wonderboy," it's surprising that someone (Ray? Pye?) picked "Starstruck" as the single off VGPS. To me they are similarly "cute" and quiet songs with soft backing vocals. Not interchangeable, but one could have predicted the failure of the latter from the failure of the former. "Days," inbetween, is also a ballad, but has hard elements... Again, the strategy or tendency that seemed to work on the Kinks' commercially successful ballads of the time.
And possibly why the Fats Domino-esque "Lady Madonna" was the right Beatles song for the time, and "Wonderboy" was so off target. Pop charts. It's all about the timing.
