In light of the interest, I'll try and put things together as I think about it. There are a lot of tracks we haven't got to yet here, and two are spoken word things that come with a title that could be seen to be included... I assume they are from Storyteller, but I don't know yet. and just for fun some Son and Boy variations at the bottom. "Man", "Mr" tracks. Apeman Artificial Man Do You Wish to Be A Man? Elevator Man Imaginary Man Little Man In A Little Box The Man Upstairs Mr Big Man Mr Churchill says Mr Moon Mr Pleasant Mr Reporter Mr Shoemaker's Daughter Mr Songbird Mr Wonderful Plastic Man Powerman Session Man Superman This Man He Weeps Tonight Tin Soldier Man 20th Century Man Well Respected Man Well Bred Englishman (When Big Bill Speaks/ A Man Who Knew A Man) Wildman on the edge The Big Guy Brother (Dad and the Green Amp) The Healing Boy Some Mother's Son Uncle Son Wonderboy Yes Sir, No Sir
No but I did abstain from adding to your commentary on being flagellated by two Frenchmans members as it didn't drive me ooh la la Crazy Horse!
Now there’s a challenge. There are definitely a handful dating back to “This Strange Effect” that are open to interpretation that allow certain Kinks songs for a gay person to embrace as “one of ours.” (I. Am. Guessing. And… * cue Seinfeld impersonation* …not that there’s anything wrong with that.) I wrote much earlier in the thread of living in San Francisco in the 80’s and used to regularly read a widely distributed free arts guide that skewed to the Gay community. (For film and record reviews! Honest! Scouts Honor!) I remember an article that cited numerous Kinks songs that highlighted Ray’s insight and understanding of LGBT issues (although in those days no one referred to the the wider community by the initials LGBT to my knowledge.) I remember the Sleepwalker LP being cited specifically as being chocked full o’ tracks…and I’m pretty sure in those day no one yet was aware of “On the Outside.” If you listen to enough 70’s Kinks concert bootlegs there are many examples of Ray teasing his audience, referring to himself as “queer,” and playing up the camp, that sort of thing. I suspect he was playing to the theatrical-oriented audiences drawn to the 70’s Kinks, but it did spill over into a number of his compositions. But the 80’s arena rock version of the band drew a different crowd and after Misfit’s “Out of the Wardrobe” things began to trail off significantly. Other than name checking Lola in “Destroyer” I’m hard pressed to think of any LGBT related songs post 1977/78 off the top of my head. Maybe there are some. I’ve often wondered if Phobia’s “The Informer’s” line: I’ll be the one who’s gonna take you home tonight is some kind of hint. When one goes back and reads that cryptic songs lyrics from that perspective—and allowing euphemisms such as across the border and different sides and knowing your past the way that I do—it might be about a man confronting an ex-lover who “outed" him years earlier.
Well Ray stated on that Sleepwalker anniversary radio show with Redbeard that every time he visited RCA there was a different person in charge!
Elevator Man A pretty good funk pastiche! I think it’s a hard rule in songwriting that if your chorus includes “goes up” and “goes down” that “up” needs to be a higher note than “down”, and Ray here does not disappoint or break that rule. It’s a good chorus for what it is meant to be — a funk song at a dance club. I agree with Mark that this probably very tongue-in-cheek way of writing a song about “doing a little dance, making a little love, and getting down tonight”, or a song to “get down on it” (kool & the gang). A fun writing exercise, and as a bonus/buried track it’s a nice find. I also found that Oingo Boingo had a song called Elevator Man, too, but alas, it’s a completely different song.
Very true analogy as all rock stars found out, in the case of the Rolling Stones upon seeing this they bought the elevator and entire building!
I have to listen to Elevator Man again to check if it can be edited down to fit my Sleepwalker/Poseur alternate tracklist. Maybe Bell Boy had a promotion ?
"Father Christmas" Single by the Kinks B-side "Prince of the Punks" Released 25 November 1977 Recorded Begun 1976, completed October 1977 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London Genre Punk rock, Christmas, power pop Length 3:45 Label Arista 153 (UK) Arista AS 0296 (US) Songwriter(s) Ray Davies Producer(s) Ray Davies stereo mix (3:39), recorded Dec 1976 or Oct 1977 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London When I was small I believed in Santa Claus Though I knew it was my dad And I would hang up my stocking at Christmas Open my presents and I'd be glad But the last time I played Father Christmas I stood outside a department store A gang of kids came over and mugged me And knocked my reindeer to the floor They said: Father Christmas, give us some money Don't mess around with those silly toys. We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over We want your bread so don't make us annoyed Give all the toys to the little rich boys Don't give my brother a Steve Austin outfit Don't give my sister a cuddly toy We don't want a jigsaw or monopoly money We only want the real McCoy Father Christmas, give us some money We'll beat you up if you make us annoyed Father Christmas, give us some money Don't mess around with those silly toys But give my daddy a job 'cause he needs one He's got lots of mouths to feed But if you've got one, I'll have a machine gun So I can scare all the kids down the street Father Christmas, give us some money We got no time for your silly toys We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over We want your bread so don't make us annoyed Give all the toys to the little rich boys Have yourself a merry merry Christmas Have yourself a good time But remember the kids who got nothin' While you're drinkin' down your wine Father Christmas, give us some money We got no time for your silly toys Father Christmas, please hand it over We'll beat you up, so don't make us annoyed Father Christmas, give us some money Don't mess around with those silly toys We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over We want your bread, so don't make us annoyed Give all the toys to the little rich boys Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Davray Music, Ltd. This track is a bit of a lark.... I read folks referring to this as a punk track, but I don't really hear it that way.... It actually kind of reminds me of The Knack's power pop type stuff, which is a good thing, but not really punk to my mind. This is quite a clever lyric though.... We open up with the idea of Ray telling us as a kid he believed in Santa, even though he knew it was his dad, which is a little odd ... I think the Santa thing was out of the picture when I was very young (6 or7). Frankly I have never understood the whole Santa thing ... teaching your kids that some guy is going to sneak into the house, in a weird suit, with "goodies" for you if you give him a "treat", and if you're a good kid ... it all sounds like some pedo dream to me, and is completely in opposition to the stranger danger thing we teach kids .... and then we wonder why kids are so confused.... If I had kids, I'd tell them if some strange guy comes into your room uninvited, and you can't get away from them, attempt to kill them in any way possible.... so perhaps it's a good thing I didn't have kids.... Anyhow.... We then move on to Ray playing Santa over the Christmas period out the front of the department store, ringing those damn bells, and I guess also do the come and sit on Santa's lap thing, where kids come and dictate what they want for Christmas.... What a weird bunch of creatures we are.... Anyway... So what ends up happening is some kids come to see Santa and threaten to kick his ass if he doesn't give them cash, Right Now! I have never really understood the whole idea of buying kids these plastic pieces of crap that will be broken in a few weeks.... and I even less understand why adults feel the need to get into this whole deal either ... I'm not trying to be the grinch here, but the whole gift giving to celebrate the birth of Jesus has never made any sense to me whatsoever.... it isn't our damn birthday.... and don't get me started on chocolate, eggs and rabbits for Easter .... which is actually Ishtar, the Mesopotamian fertility goddess .... but I digress.... I'm getting sidetracked today, this brings up so many things I can't talk about lol BUT The lyric here is hilarious, and it is a kind of clean version of the later song by Kevin Bloody Wilson - Hey Santa Claus ... which is of course extremely offensive to most people, but I find it hilarious, because I am essentially a very bad person. We have these kids telling Santa to cough up the dough and give all the plastic crap to the little rich boys in their parents castles, because frankly none of that stuff is useful to a kid on the skids, and frankly "it's an insult to even offer it to us Santa" I'm kind of going off the rails today, aren't I.... oh well. This is another addition to Ray's songs about class and wealth, and where people place their priorities. I think the line that really gets to the heart of the matter here is "But give my daddy a job 'cause he needs one He's got lots of mouths to feed" and it is contrasted with the beautifully placed "But if you've got one, I'll have a machine gun So I can scare all the kids down the street" Ray manages here to make a poignant statement, and also give us a laugh, and that is a real gift to be able to do this. We have the hilarious scenario that Ray has set up, and these violent youths annoyed about getting things they don't need, and demanding the cash instead, because that seems to be what they are missing in life ... though of course we should all be grateful for anything someone gives us, from the heart, even if it is rubbish, it was given with good intent. But before the final chorus play out we get this "Have yourself a merry merry Christmas Have yourself a good time But remember the kids who got nothin' While you're drinkin' down your wine" and that is really the whole point of this song..... I see Christmas these days, and it makes my head spin.... I know, I know, old fart about to dribble some old fart thoughts.... When we were kids (oh dear, I see the four Lancashire Men sketch getting posted any minute) we were happy to get anything our parents could afford to treat us with, and it often wasn't that much, as my folks were certainly not well off, but it was generally something thoughtful that we could use, or they thought we would like.... My music obsession was born from getting a record for Christmas in 1979. My folks bought us two records, and my sister and I shared them (Kiss Dynasty and Get The Knack - I took the Kiss record, and she took the Knack record, but years later I ended up with both, because she wasn't that interested by then .... in fact being a pre-teen Kiss fan is part of what drew me to the Kinks, because when I was looking through record stores, the Kinks were always there, just in front of the Kiss records in the racks) I see so many people, and people I know, I'm not generalising here, spending thousands of dollars on absolute junk in order to fulfill some wishlist created by a kid who gets toys and crud every week of the years, to pile up in the corner of their bedroom and never be appreciated ... and often hardly even looked at...... The topic of this song is really sending me on lots of rabbit trails today.... apologies ..... This is an excellent lyric that obviously triggers a lot of thoughts for me, but I'm not sure how focused I was there, just about every sentence moved me to some little thing that annoys me somewhat lol Musically we open with the keys sounding somewhat like a music box, and it sets the scene nicely. Then we punch in with the guitar, and the snare cops a pounding roll from Mick. The chords may be straightforward I, IV, V, but the rhythmic set up is excellent, and actually quite different. We hit the first verse, and the melodic structure is excellent, and the vocal has this sweet, almost dancing kind of feel to it. The guitar and drums chug along nicely, and then we roll into the chorus, where the music box keys come back in the background. The arrangement here is spot on. After the verse and chorus set it all up, we get a nice Dave lead as a link, and it all smoothly rolls together into this propulsive pop/rock, power-pop? track. We get another verse and chorus, and then we get a somewhat reflective bridge which is where we learn that Dad need a job, and Ray writes it back into the verse ending and we rock back into the chorus. Some more nice lead from Dave, while Mick assaults that snare. Then we get a really well placed tacet, and Ray sings the most poignant lines of the song over the guitar fading into a gentle feedback.... it's beautifully arranged there. We get this pulsing as if we're about to punch back in, but we get the music box keyboard and a gentle chorus over that. Then we burst into the rawkus last chorus, and Dave rolls us out on that lead guitar as Mick assaults his snare again. This is an excellent track, and I know some folks have put it on their album version, and I understand that, but this kind of feels like the epitome of the stand alone single to me. I reckon Ray and the band pull this little class commentary, dressed up as a Christmas song really well.... It actually comes on the Misfits extended cd, but the single came out after Sleepwalker but before Misfits ... It also appears they aren't sure when it was recorded, as we have Dec 76 or Oct 77 as the possible recording dates, so that confuses matters even more... Anyway, in spite of all my babble, this is an excellent track, and it would be on any extended Kinks compile that I put together
As I have said I really like this album, but it could be expanded quite easily ... for me at least... I guess I would have something like this side one Life On The Road 5:02 The Poseur 2:53 Mr Big Man 3:49 Sleepwalker 4:04 On The Outside 5:07 Stormy Sky 3:58 24:53 side two Juke Box Music 5:32 Sleepless Night 3:18 Artificial Light 3:27 Brother 5:28 Full Moon 3:52 Life Goes On 5:03 26:40 I like Prince Of The Punks, but I think the live version is so much better that the studio version sounds a little undercooked, so a good b-side.... So what I would actually do, would be release Elevator Man with Prince Of The Punks On The b-side of Father Christmas.... in fact, around this time in the seventies early eighties there were a few albums that came with a bonus single in the album, so that's possibly how I would go about it. I like the album as it is, but I reckon that could have been even better, though I would need to test listen for flow and such......
I heard this first at a concert at Brooklyn College around Thanksgiving, 1977. The band played it as an encore. Ray came out in a Santa suit, as one might have expected. The lyrics weren't precisely clear, but the whole presentation jumped out of the muddy p.a., and we sat up and took notice. The song's plot was obscure. We caught only snatches of the lyrics. My friend reported hearing "Father Christmas / give us some money." We puzzled over and speculated about that. I bought the single at Sam Goody's, perhaps the next afternoon, and indeed "Father Christmas" turned out to be all that we had hoped. A triumph! The stuff from Sleepwalker had seemed, in truth, a bit dull and forced; here was the click of Kinks-rightness, that perfect mix of the profound and the half-baked, the sublime and the off-key. No other band could have recorded it. Soon, though, "Father Christmas" kind of disappeared. The song seemed to me a typical failed Kinks endeavor in the way it gained no traction as a holiday favorite. Such a waste of effort. I never heard it on the radio. Perry Como, Mac Davis, The Carpenters--none of them performed it on their holiday specials. Typical Kinks. But in recent years, that all changed. The market for Christmas music expanded wildly, and now every song with a Christmas theme gets played to death. The Kinks are as omnipresent as the Waitresses and the Pogues and, yes, Bing Crosby. I hear "Father Christmas" (the original and the covers, with updated and/or expurgated lyrics) everywhere I go: in Wal-Mart and Shop-Rite, in Macy's and Saks. I never thought I'd say this, but I hear it too much. By the ides of December, I'm more than sated.
Live in Santa Monica Feb 1977 Setlist: 00:00 - Intro (You Really Got Me) 01:40 - One Of the Survivors 07:09 - Sleepwalker 11:55 - Rush Hour Blues 17:40 - You Make It All Worthwhile 19:55 - Ordinary People 22:53 - Everybody's A Star (Starmaker) 23:54 - Waterloo Sunset 27:40 - A Well Respected Man 29:15 - Sunny Afternoon 30:54 - Celluloid Heroes 36:31 - Schooldays 40:17 - Education 47:53 - Brother 54:20 - Stormy Sky 58:35 - Life Goes On 1:04:13 - Full Moon 1:08:44 - Lola 1:14:16 - Alcohol 1:20:25 - You Really Got Me/All Day and All Of the Night 1:25:25 - Life on the Road Personnel: Ray Davies - vocals, guitar Dave Davies - guitar, vocals Andy Pyle - bass John Gosling - piano Mick Avory - drums Shirley Roden & Debbie Doss - backing vocals Mike Cotton Sound - horn section
"Father Christmas" - first of all I know my local rock radio station FM96 in London, Ontario played this song in 2021 leading up to the holidays. The Kinks probably had not been played on that station in years and so I give them credit for choosing an obscure Kinks song for the holiday season. It reminds me of the great line from Annie Hall - "I did Shakespeare in the park, Max. I got mugged". Of course, the song is hilarious. Ray's holiday song casts him as the victim of youths seeking his money through harassment! I don't think Ray could write a straight up tribute to Christmas if he tried - he always finds an ironic twist. Musically it is punchy and more in the vein of "The Hard Way" which is my favourite type of Kinks song.
Re-promoting it on TV (for some reason I think this is German TV but I’m not sure why?) a year later in 1978, with Rodford and Edwards now present. I think the single may have been re released the following Christmas?
Dave playing it out of season outside the World Trade Center again in summer 2001. The Kinks I think only rarely played the song at Xmas after the late 70s, but Dave had it in his regular solo set for a while in the 90s/00s.
Wonderful ! It’s one of those Ray Davies songs where every single line rolls off the tongue beautifully, like it’s written itself. It’s good on the page and it’s good on the ear. And it’s good on the eye too, since the klip is fun as hell, with their wonderful who gives a **** attitude. The music is relentless drive and infectious carefreeness. This is the kind of song both the punk and power pop movements were striving for at the time, only better written and better executed (by the way, I seem to remember Mick is not on the track, replaced by some session player). I agree with @Mark, I wouldn’t call it punk per se, but it does triangulate the whole punk/power pop spectrum of 1977 and beyond, in effect inventing the 90’s/00’s tongue in cheek sound of cool bands like Weezer, Nada Surf and the great Fountains of Wayne, whose I Want an Alien for Christmas is another must-listen for all holiday songs freaks. Should the song stop at the 2’30’’ mark and just be a straight-ahead no nonsense verse/chorus/verse/chorus/verse/chorus assault? Sometimes I think it’d be better that way. But ultimately, I like the third part of the song just as much as the rest, the dynamics of the arrangement is indeed flawless and the last chorus is pure joy and fist pumping release. That chorus, by the way… I’m waiting for @The late man and @Jasper Dailey to make amends!! I expect they’ll acknowledge the fact that if their theory about Ray coming up with underwritten choruses is anything to go by… at least he started doing so after Father Christmas !! In the long list of Christmas rock songs, this one is right up there for me, it has the holiday feel, the catchiness, the eternity factor, but adding a lot of meaning and attitude to the proceedings. For that alone, I nominate it as the best Kristmas rock song ever written.
A great song and an important track in any Christmas playlist to cut through the treacle. Ray could still be funny! With Prince of the Punks as the b-side, this was a great single.
A fun track for sure, better than most of Ray's later, more self-conscious and strained, attempts at punking it up. Not any kind of classic though
