The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Apr 4, 2021.

  1. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    "Have A Cuppa Tea"

    I did think Rosie Lea was a reference to a family member. I like that I just found out that it's Cockney slang! I made the mistake of having a cuppa tea late last night and it didn't cure my insomnia. According to Ray though it pretty much cures whatever ails ya. I rolled around all night with this song playing in my head. I love a cuppa tea and the health benefits that supposedly go along with it. If granny is 90 and claims it's good for you, I am going to believe her! I recently became quite obsessive about Japanese Green Tea. Not really the British cuppa which I assume is usually a black tea like a Yorkshire Gold? I like that as well, but not near as much as all the tea from Japan. I have around 4 small tea pots a day and I look forward to it every day. I imagine loving tea would only add to your enjoyment of the song.

    For those worried that Ray was losing this quirky music hall style, here we have a song that could really belong on any Kinks album. I love @donstemple description as Muswell Hall. The blend of the piano with the country fried guitar works brilliantly. A country sounding ditty about tea could only come from Muswell Hill. A fun little sing a long that will now live in your head for the next week at the very least.
     
  2. LX200GPS

    LX200GPS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Somewhere Else
    Which tea? China, Kenya or India to name the big three? Or do you mean PG Tips? :tsk:
     
  3. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Green tea is the ‘cause’, not the cure, for insomnia!
     
  4. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Tea's full of caffeine so it's certainly not going to help you sleep!
     
  5. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    True. It all depends on the type of green tea though. I usually never have any past 5 or 6 pm, but last night I had a cup around 10! It was a small quantity, but not exactly a low caffeine leaf. I’m usually not very affected by caffeine. However, I think I will refrain from a late night cuppa from now on.
     
  6. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    There are many Japanese styles lower in caffeine such as Kukicha. They are also high in theanine which is calming. British style black teas are quite a bit higher in caffeine than all green tea, but you are correct. It doesn’t really help you sleep!

    This tea obsession has me reading tea forums. Who knows how long until I am partaking in a three year thread discussing every single tea leaf in existence. :D
     
  7. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Or, for your last cuppa of the day, “chamomile is commonly regarded as a mild tranquilizer or sleep inducer. Its calming effects may be attributed to an antioxidant called apigenin, which is found in abundance in chamomile tea.”
     
  8. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Yes. I love chamomile. I also drink a bit of herbal teas. I’m having a Greek Mountain Tea at the moment. I highly recommend it. It’s also caffeine free.
     
  9. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    My daughter is a big consumer of exotic and herbal teas. When she went overseas I looked at the teas she had left behind and noticed many of them didn't actually contain tea - or even the warning "this product may contain traces of real tea leaves". So enjoy your herbal teas by all means but please don't confuse them with actual tea. :D
     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Mug all the way here.... pointless making a cup, may as well just have a sip of someone else's lol
     
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    You probably p'd all night lol.
    3pm cut off for me :)
     
  12. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire
    Oh, PG Tips, or Tetley. I'm not posh.
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Lipton.... I'm not posh either, in fact I'm a bit of a scrubber lol... but two bags per cup is a necessity :)
     
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  14. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    OK, everybody's talking about tea, so I will go on with my list of anachronistic comments.

    I will start with the vaguest and most uninteresting.

    Percy
    I'm discovering this album. Not so bad, really. I really like The Way Love Used to Be, Moments and Just Friends. On many songs, though, and most notably on The Way Love Used to Be, the orchestra is 1) too loud and 2) out of sync with the music. I think the orchestral overdubs were recorded too quickly. It really spoils it for me. The arrangements are due to a very respectable British film music composer, Stanley Myers, who according to wikipedia composed the guitar theme for the Deer Hunter, worked with Stephen Frears, mentored Hans Zimmer, and also, apparently, scored the brass for Pink Floyd's Corporal Clegg !

    I like the Dalton-sung song, also. Funny words, funny rendition.

    Arthur or the decline and fall...

    I love every song on this album except for the last one (I said that already). Just 2 more comments :

    - Barry Ryan, who just passed away, had an international hit with his brother's nearly-6-minute epic, Eloise, in late 1968. I don't think the problem with Shangri-La was the complex structure. I believe the sound quality on this song was really sub-par for 1969, especially on the chorus. Anyway, I'm not sure there is any one logical reason for which songs become hits or not.

    - Some Mother's Son is really great, as everybody said. Nothing to add about the track itself, but the theme and treatment remind me of Ringo Starr's Silent Homecoming, the final song on Beaucoup of Blues, released one year after.

     
  15. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Ok, I get on with my list, there's not much more left anyway.

    Lola Vs. Powerman...

    Just 4 random points I didn't see mentioned in the thread :

    - Get Back in the Line : I always assumed this was about the young broke musician looking for a day job, and not a metaphor for the same musician looking for gigs. Could this be right ?

    - Someone mentioned the blending of Dave and Ray's voices, with Dave singing an octave higher. Someone else, I think, also mentioned the band Squeeze as being influenced by the Kinks. Squeeze's trademark sound relies a lot on Tilbrook and Difford singing the same melody an octave apart. So I wondered if they got the idea from the Kinks. (I thought I would find some witty way of putting this but now it sounds... late).

    - Rats : There's a song with the same title on Syd Barrett's second album, released 2 weeks earlier. Not my favorite Barrett track, to say the least.

    - Finally (and I'm through with my catch-up remarks), Denmark Street and The Moneygoround brought to my mind this Frank Zappa interview, which I think is rather famous :

     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2021
  16. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I was actually listening to "Lola vs. Powerman" earlier and Ray doing that comedy Jewish voice at the end of "Top of the Pops" was not one of his brighter ideas.
     
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  17. zipp

    zipp Forum Resident

    In his song Ray is not referring to a cup of camomile or a cup of exotic green tea or a cup of lapsang souchong or a cup of Earl Grey.

    In England everyone knows what a cup of tea is.

    And so does Paul McCartney :

    “I was abroad and I'd asked for a cup of tea. Now, if you're in England, you say, 'Cup of tea' — and they know what you mean. But, if you're abroad, they say, 'What kind of tea?' But, you have to say, 'English breakfast tea' — and then you'll get a cup of tea. And, I've got quite a few friends, and I'm thinking of a particular, sort of, older lady, who's posh. And I noticed that when she talked, she just had other phrases. So whereas I might say, 'Would you like a cup of tea?' — she'd say, 'Would you care to take a cup of tea.'”
     
  18. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    I’ve never heard the idea of it being a metaphor for a musician hustling for gigs before today! I’ve never seen it interpreted as anything but day job/‘regular’ work, including on this thread, so I’d say there’s no doubt that’s what it’s referring to. In the context/storyline of the album, I’d venture that the implication is that the musician still has a regular day job (or more likely is making the attempt to find one) while plotting his stardom after hours.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2021
  19. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Ok, thank you ajsmith, I clearly misread the thread.
     
  20. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    But people write such bad French here!
     
  21. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Well, there isn't any coherent storyline to that album, that particular song is supposedly inspired by Ray and Dave's dad but with a smidgeon of "On the Waterfront" added.
     
  22. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    It certainly could be, and it being similar to day laborers looking for work was mentioned (as I recall), but the entire album revolves around the music business so I suspect most associated the song with a music agent/musicians. But…ya gotta eat, so your idea is equally plausible, I think.
     
  23. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I did, too! (See my response that I was writing as this was posted)
     
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  24. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Now I’m starting to wonder if I overlooked a discussion on this thread of GBIL as metaphor for the music business! I could well have done: apologies if so. I always thought it was contrasting the reality of looking for regular work with the dream of escaping it, but it could well be I was so single minded in this reading from the off that I didn’t fully consider others interpretation of it as a metaphor.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2021
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Yea, black tea is tea :)....
    I don't mind the occasional Green tea, but Ray was definitely singing about traditional black tea
     
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