Shepherds Of The Nation. Lyrically and musically great fun. You'll be pleased to know that in Louisiana, and probably elsewhere in the world, Mr. Black's " Anti-Public Corruption" program exists. "We are actively seeking information about public employees, elected officials, and private citizens engaging in: Corruption, Fraud, Bribery, Extortion, Theft, Cronyism, Waste, and Ethical or Administrative Misconduct." The clincher here, of course, is "ethical misconduct" which obviously can include drugs and sex as in Ray's song. In the UK, governments are often elected on an anti-corruption platform. They then usually come unstuck when some corruption scandal arrives. It is known as sleaze. Funnily enough, the current Johnson goverment was not elected on an anti-sleaze stance. It was elected on one issue (Get Brexit Done). But it's now coming unstuck on sleaze allegations. For example, last June Johnson's health secretary had to resign. Not because he was being ineffective on Covid, but because he was caught on camera having an extra-marital affair with his secretary!
The irony being that the current Prime Minister is an inveterate philanderer who won't even admit to how many children he's fathered or women he's impregnated. As well as being a compulsive liar. He's worse than Flash!
Couldn't have said it better myself. It's the VGPS folks taken to their extreme. I even hear Dave playing a warped version of VGPS on the electric guitar passages. I think both Monty Python and Freddie Mercury gathered some inspirations from this track. The Holy Grail music reminds of the baroque Elizabethan passages and those type of stacked operatic choral vocals was a foundation for Bohemian Rhapsody and other operatic Queen songs.
First, notice how the Announcements are starting to subtly change. The first one was "nothing's going wrong", now the second one acknowledges Mr. Black's existence & at a rally no less. As for "Shepherds of the Nation", well another Avid said earlier that Ray invented Jello Biafra, here's the proof. I also hear like the other Avids, Mary Whitehouse & the Moral Majority, the absurdity turned up to 11, especially w/the pseudo medevial musical background. Avid Zeki said that he could imagine the women in the audience wearing buns 'n black listening to this song. That's exactly how the women were dressed during the song at the Boston Rock Opera production of Preservation.
Shepherds of the Nation By the way, which one's Pink ? (Or Black ?) I love that song, by itself as well as in the context of the album. When I heard it the first time, in the early 90s, I thought it was a bit over the top, easy caricature. At the time, making fun of sex conservatism sounded like outdated leftist posturing. Lol. Hearing it today, and re-reading the lyrics, this is great. Great music, great words. To me, Ray was aiming at the puritanism of leftist dictatorships, a long-forgotten phenomenon that was still very alive at the time. The Eastern bloc, as it was called at the time, was very conservative on sex issues - though enforcing equal rights between genders, unlike rightist dictatorships. Mr Black wants to control the means of production, but he also wants to control the bodies and souls of the citizens. The "I'm your Man" reminiscence is very meaningful in this respect. In the Act 1 song, Black seems to be selling actual freedom. In the reprise, you realise it's a mock freedom, the freedom from freedom, really. You'll be free not to indulge in immoral practices. This is great totalitarian propaganda. When you look back at the I'm your Man lyrics, you realise - but it's too late - that the freedom in question had more to do with equality ("no class distinction") and material comfort ("every home will have a stereo and TV"). All this can be fine, equality's fine (in my book at least), material prosperity's fine (up to a certain point), even moral and physical restraint can be fine. But there is no sign of freedom in all this program. Someone said, or quoted someone who said, that Preservation is like The Wall, but funny. I guess whoever said that had this song in mind ! It's "In The Flesh" 5 years earlier, comedy style.
Shepherds of the Nation Agreed completely with @ajsmith and @Fortuleo here, as one of the first things I recognized was the bastardization of the Village Green Preservation Society title track. I think the real missing link of VGPS through Preservation Act 1 & 2 is Arthur. I mean, in Victoria there were these lines: Long ago, life was clean Sex was bad, called obscene And the rich were so mean Stately homes for the Lords Croquet lawns, village greens Victoria was my queen Arthur was longing for the days of Queen Victoria. Here, again, this understandable sentiment of "the good old days" has been put to the extreme, with kids these days losing their morals. Instead of going back to the days of Queen Victoria, here we going back to the middle ages. The royal/fugal arrangement and instrumentation and repeated haughty "and debauchery", "keep it clean" and "let righteousness prevail" vocals. The reprise of I am Your Man is a thing of beauty. It's actually I think more beautiful here than in Act 1. And then, forgive me, back to the bastardized "Make the Village Green Great Again" mantra... This is pure satirical rock opera. But I absolutely would not add this to my Kinks playlist. This is purely an album track that must be heard in context. It's nowhere near my list of favorite tracks, but it is enjoyable to listen to, and I don't skip this track.
'Victoria" is a highly satirical song, the whole album is in fact, it's by no means nostalgic for the Victorian age! Also we could debate how puritanical Eastern Bloc states were in comparison to their Western neighbours - it's worth comparing when homosexality was decriminalised on various countries, in Scotland it was 1981! - but the language in "Shepherds" is very recognisably the language of the religious right in the UK in the 70s, the mention of the birch is a dead giveaway.
Shepherds Of The Nation Raymond surely couldn't have kept a straight face writing those lyrics! It's hilarious and ludicrous. The Mary Whitehouse link has been mentioned of course. Clearly satirical, as with many other songs throughout the catalogue, such that surely no one can equate Ray's songs to conservative values. I was thinking of voting for this Black fella, after being lied to and let down by Flash, but not now.
Money Talks: I read with interest the back-and-forth regarding some people not liking it when the kinks revert to good old rock ‘n’ roll. As a huge fan of the upcoming Arista era, I definitely like when the kinks rock. Unfortunately, I just don’t think this is a particularly strong song for them, rock or otherwise. Even if I give it a few free points because it rocks, it’s just a little too messy for my taste. Shepherds of the Nation: the first time I listen to the song, it came on in the background as I was playing Act 2 for the first time, and I had a real WTF Mate moment. Oddly, once I actually sat and listened to it, I was sucked right in. Great dynamics, funny lyrics, great use of many different styles of the delivery of the vocals.… And Dave plays some nice guitar lines throughout! This one should’ve been a candidate for my least favorite, what with all the show tune elements, yet it oddly turns out to be one of my favorites thus far on the album.
I'm not sure of that, some terrible things are piled into Flash as well. There is a logic in the piling.
I went thru the index twice trying to find what I think I saw like a couple months ago. It was a video, perhaps an hour long, seemed to be a rehearsal or perhaps a small studio audience. It was in color, I think mostly Muswell Hillibillies songs. Sorry for interrupting the thread again, last try.
"Shepherds Of The Nation" "We are the new centurians, shepherds of the nation" that is a little hook that has been playing in my head the last few mornings. I think there is some classic Kinks in this song. It's just dialed up very high on the humor and the delivery. If it was toned down, it wouldn't be out of place on many earlier albums. "Down with nudity, breast that are bare, and pubic hair." "Keep it clean." The lyrics are hilarious and the backing vocals only make it funnier. It's like some deranged Queen tune or a song that isn't far off from Sparks sense of humor. Ah don't you love self righteous maniacs telling us all what they deem to be moral and good for society? Sadly, there are still far too many Mr. Blacks running wild in the world. Another great song that sees The Kinks forging their own path.
Was it this by @Wondergirl? Here's the link if the one above doesn't work: The Kinks - Live on Beat Club 1972！
I think it's important not to confuse extremism with extremism. We as humans have a tendency towards knee-jerk reactions, and they are the real problem. The issue regarding sexual morality here is a knee-jerk reaction to absolute hedonism at its extreme. Think of Times Square in the seventies... Initially a few adult book stores.... that moved on to adult cinema... that escalated to live peep shows ... that escalated again to live sex shows ..... that escalated again.... The place was probably fine for young men.... with guns, but by the time it got to its most extreme, the crime and murder rate was enormous. The use and abuse of young women absolutely atrocious.... it gets glorified as a bit of an inplace to have been, or so it seems.... but I guess that depends on where you were standing. The knee-jerk reaction is to say that anything to do with sexuality is bad, and we should all be clean and pure, but there is a middle ground, but humans tend to be extreme, and a middle ground is rarely looked at.
