The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Lavender Lane

    One of the best 2 tracks on my imaginary MH album (neither of which is on the original tracklist). But I will unveil this sinister project when all the songs involved are treated.
     
  2. side3

    side3 Younger Than Yesterday

    Location:
    Tulsa, OK
    Lavender Lane

    A nice track. I think it's obvious debt to Waterloo Sunset is what kept it on the shelf for so long. But hey, if you are going to left a melody, why not lift the best!
     
  3. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    "Lavender Lane"-Just like the rest of the Avids, I picked up the "Waterloo Sunset" vibe from this song, which probably prevented it from being considered for Muswell Hillbillies. However, it does have a bit of a bounce to it that the other songs kinda lacked & I also loved the line on how the toffs pronounce "of" & "yes". Maybe it should have been included in the 1976 Greatest compilation because it should have been heard sooner than when it eventually came out.
     
  4. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Can’t wait for the unveiling. (My wife looked at me when I burst out laughing as I read “sinister.”)
     
  5. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
  6. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    He gets more and more Cockney as the song goes on
     
  7. markelis

    markelis Forum Resident

    Location:
    Miami Beach FL
    Lavender Hill: I don’t hear the Waterloo sunset similarities but perhaps I’m tone deaf ! I do know that I liked this song immensely the moment I heard it and I do think it would have been a good fit on Muswell Hillbillies. Maybe the album would have been too long at the time of its release, but were it the mid to late 80s, when CDs allowed for 60+ minutes of music, I would definitely have slotted this song in, as well as tomorrow’s song, and I think their inclusion would have done nothing but maintain the very high caliber of the album. It’s amazing to me the number of quality outtakes the band left on the table.
     
  8. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Go back and listen to the beginning through just this one line:
    “Daisy and Teddy had two Cockney boys”

    Basically, verse is Waterloo Sunset tune, then chorus is original.

    Of course, don’t go back and listen if it’ll ruin the song for you! (I’m glad they didn’t, I hope, play this and Waterloo Sunset in the same live setting. The guys in the band might get confused.)
     
  9. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Muswell Hillbilly

    Getting way behind and don't know what to say.
    Used to live versions from "Showbiz" & "Bone so the studio cut came as a surprise to me.

    Firstly there's a cool riff that got stuck in the tenements and didn't become one for the road!

    The tempo is slower and I prefer it to the live hoedown!

    Of course it is great theatre that like Oaklahoma USA, Ray put our protagonists heads in an unreal (& assumed) reality of the States much like I'd expect English Invasion band's of the 60's were prior to crossing the Atlantic?

    Good song, preferred in it's studio guise.
    I await playing my LP in full when the snail mail arrives.
     
  10. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    That’s because the song is “Lavender Lane”. “Lavender Hill” is a different song that was on The Great Lost Kinks Album.

    While looking up this song last night there was also a review that claimed “Lavender Lane” first appeared on The Great Lost Kinks Album. I think all this lavender is foggin’ up some minds.

    Ray does a few rewrites in his career. I can’t say I am a fan of any of them. This one is no different. I can’t get into it because it’s too close to a song that is far superior. Otherwise, it’s a decent song, but not one I will be revisiting often.
     
  11. Funny, I suppose, that what could be heard as the album's mission statement was deleted.
    It's like editing a topic sentence out of a paragraph.
    Not usually a fan of Ray's rewrites, either, but I like this one. It is jaunty, and definitely not dreary.
     
    DISKOJOE, ajsmith, Fortuleo and 4 others like this.
  12. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Ah ha! You caught what went right over my head when I responded to @markelis (even though I had automatically made the same mistake myself). I clicked on Mark’s link and that’s when it became clear about it being a different song.
     
  13. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    Ray is very adept at taking snatches of other melodies and appropriating them...even when the original melody is his own!

    I haven't been following the thread as closely as I used to, but during the "Alcohol" discussion did any one mention how the melody for the verse was taken from this old 1920's French cabaret song, and altered slightly to make it a Ray original? He does that kind of thing a lot.

     
    TeddyB, DISKOJOE, Paul Mazz and 5 others like this.
  14. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Cab Calloway was mentioned but I don’t think this song was. Spot on!
     
  15. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Nice! Even Charlie Chaplin gave it a go. I never picked up on it before. I love this movie. It's also the first time we hear Chaplin's voice on film.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jhxbo5I8q4
     
  16. Pawnmower

    Pawnmower Senior Member

    Location:
    Dearborn, MI
    "Lavender Lane" is fine.. nothing really bad about it. It has a mix of that "Waterloo Sunset" melody and some VGPS sentimentality. I thought the last line was "God save Lavender Lane," but it's apparently "they gutted Lavender Lane." I prefer it to a few songs on the album but I can see why they may have decided not to include it. "Oh Lord, such a pity that the world's gotta change" is how I feel too, man.
     
  17. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    I always heard "God save" instead of "gutted". Now it sounds to me he's saying "gutted" then "God save" in the second verse. "God save" makes a lot of sense given how self-referential Ray is.
     
  18. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    I was just thinking the exact thing after listening to it again, easily my favorite. I love everything about this song. Maybe being a foreigner increases it's appeal, it's deliciously exotic: the slang, the accents, the history - and it clarifies the sentiment of the album it was excluded from. And as Fortuleo points out, there is so much warmth to it, it lives and breaths, it sways, it pumps warm blood. It also has one of those mid-song moments to look forward to, when Dave adds that brief, stunning harmonization.
     
  19. Toad of the Short Forest

    Toad of the Short Forest Forum Resident

    Location:
    90220 Compton
    Muswell Hillbilly

    Perfect closing track! In many ways I think it recalls the song Arthur from 1969... both serve as the title track, are ~5 minute jams and have a great jangly guitar part and a great chorus. I imagine this is what an evening in Muswell Hill would sound like.

    Lavender Hill

    I remember hearing this a few years ago and expecting Lavender Hill and being so disappointed to hear a pale imitation of Waterloo Sunset. I've since grown to enjoy it and think it would have been a great addition to the album.
     
    ajsmith, DISKOJOE, Zeki and 5 others like this.
  20. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    Lavender Lane

    I honestly can't get past the Waterloo Sunset re-write. It just hits me like a cudgel. It doesn't help that it starts the melody with "Daisy and Teddy" as like an inverse "Terry and Julie". It's like bizarro world, and that overshadows what is otherwise the kind of instrumentation we heard elsewhere on Muswell Hillbillies, and actually I guess going back to Till Death Us Do Part. Lyrically, it very firmly plants itself in the story of Here Come the People in Gray and Muswell Hillbilly. But something about the light-heartedness delivery does not fit in with the rest of Muswell Hillbillies, so I can see maybe why he left it off, as he already established the story enough in the other songs.

    I guess I should be happy he didn't turn also turn "La di dah" into the Waterloo Sunset "LA DI DAH, every day I look at the world from my window" bridge.

    "Instead of 'off' they say 'orf', instead of 'yeah' they say 'ya'" is delivered so well though, wow... incredible.

    Maybe I can get past the Waterloo Sunset thing, but for now, when it comes to Lavender songs, it's Lavender Hill for me....
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2021
  21. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Yes, I just listened again and it’s gutted/God save/gutted and gutted. So just the second time around is the God Save (as you say).
     
  22. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    I always assumed the Waterloo Sunset ripoff was open and conscious. That's how I hear it.
     
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I had about three listens on a row, then the listen about 18 hours later it was less distracting.
     
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    It may well have been.
    I don't think it is bad at all, it's a good song....
    There's half a chance Ray was attempting to musically connect with the idea of the system tearing apart out little Waterloo Sunset daydream, or something along those lines....
     
  25. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    In case anyone is interested, years ago I asked about some of the words and phrases used in Lavender Lane, and member @steviebee responded:

    Navvies: navigators, old term from the 19thC for road/canal building crews (possibly rail too). Usually Irish. Skilled labourers in the art of straight lines!

    Nobs and toffs : our betters; la-di-dahs - our betters with foppish airs and graces.
    'Orf' - as in "orf with his jolly old head!"

    Old school tie: your tie denotes your education. Private/posh. Think Eton, Harrow. In US, I'd guess Yale/Harvard.
    From here:

    https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thre...-to-you-non-brits.774888/page-8#post-19509437
     

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