The direct follow up to the previous tune and even its flip side on a thematic single, I believe ? Pressure, than medication to alleviate the pressure. Musically, this must be the weirdest song the Kinks did since… let’s see, Second Hand Spiv perhaps ? With the crazy synths sounding like marimbas straight out of Nilsson’s Coconut, its atonal melody and unusual chord sequence, it's really something else, once more. It doesn’t strike me as a sublime Ray Davies melody but there’s a newness to it, like some Talking Heads thrown into the mix, which I find intriguing and exciting. Lyrically ? Well, you remember the Matthew McConaughey scene in Wolf of Wall Street? I tend to think this song is exactly that… about this very specific sort of self-medication, the one you learn by yourself when you’re a teenager (("even Freud recommends it !"). Well maybe not only that, but that too. It's Ray Davies, we're talking about, the great (in)famous master of double entendre. So it can easily be both a song about pleasuring oneself and a social commentary about a medicated society. There are a lot of songs about masturbation, but I think it’s the only one to equate it with the medication/health craze that started in those years and make it a societal issue. I bet not many people start listening to a song called National Health thinking it’s gonna be about that subject, even on a metaphorical level… I certainly didn’t, when I put it on this morning!
From the title, I would be expecting a song about socialized medicine as practiced by England (and virtually all industrialized democracies with one notable exception) but what we get is a song with an exercise segment! I have to agree that the opening lines are pretty amazing and get the song off to a great start. Some comments yesterday about the length of "Falling" but with today's song, I really would have suggested an edit or two. Ray Davies has written a number of songs that examine the underside of modern life and this is another one of those. Valium was popular in the 1970s for people who wanted to slow things down; cocaine for those who wanted to rev things up. In the lyric, I am confused by the line "even Freud recommends it". Exercise? Or cocaine because Freud's use of cocaine was well documented. It's an interesting song (most Kinks songs are) but not one of my favourites on the album.
"National Health" Yes it's a weird one - the closest thing to "new wave" (however you may wish to define that) on this album. No hint of shoutiness, nor "Comedy Cockney" (wonder if this one will catch on??), just a great unmistakable Ray Davies vocal full of character and charisma. I've never read the meanings into the lyrics that others have, but on reflection I suppose it makes sense. Structurally it refuses to settle down into a standard verse/chorus format, rather just casually switching between various sections whilst barely changing the musical backing. I like the instrumentation, including the percussive synth sound. It's a very enjoyable track, and I can't really think of any Kinks track on subsequent albums that sounds anything like this.
National Health Fitting that after a song about Pressure, the first words that come out of the next track are "nervous tension". This song is about releasing that bottled-up stress, with a few side warnings about moderation in taking the medications involved. It's the poppiest number on Low Budget -- it would have been a snug fit on the previous album, but it's kind of a misfit here. No matter -- this is a delightful tune, from its Cars-like intro through the closing, gloriously messy noisefest along the lines of "Princess Marina". Ray's impishly jaded vocal, some of Dave's most creative guitar work, Mick's driving beat, and those odd bongos (or something) turn this into a memorable cut. One of my favorites on this album, it keeps me from going round the bend.
Similar to @stewedandkeefed , I always without giving the lyric it's due attention assumed this song must contain some kind of commentary on the UK's health system (the National Health Service or NHS as it's commonly abbreviated as) and it would be interesting if not necessarily illuminating to get Ray's take on it given his antipathy to the UK welfare state as laid out in keystone Kinks manifesto '20th Century Man': healthcare being a major issue that idealised libertarian small government solutions tend to stumble on in practise: but the only lines in the song that could relate to this angle are 'blame it on/state of the National Health' which more seems like a newspaper headline that the germ of the song came from before Ray took it in a different direction.
National Health: And this is where I realized that Ray, and The Kinks by extension, weren't going too deep on this album. I liked this song at the time, but it sounds silly now. The intro is great, but then it veers into strange territory, with that irritating percussion sound (like a synthetic bongo?). I don't think writing a lightweight song is bad - very often, songs like this become hits, based on a good, repetitive chorus that stays in people's heads. Ray can be great at this. Think about "Lola." Before a new generation latched onto it for its potentially LGBTQ message, it was pretty much a fun pop song with wonderfully intelligent and ambiguous lyrics. Before that, "You Really Got Me" isn't exactly Socratic in its intent: it's a great pop song with guitar riff that helped change the course of the 60s. I had to realize that not everything they were going to do would be "Shangri La," or "Days" or "Waterloo Sunset." I guess the twist with Low Budget is he skewed his lyric writing to be more topical along with that hit-and-run wit he was capable of employing in his songs. And for me it feels very hit or miss now! In general, it was a good change of pace lyric wise, but a song like this feels very surface/face value to me, and my favorite Kinks moments will always be when you can't take a Ray Davies song at face value.
National Health There is a sort of modernistic edge to that song that indicates that the Kinks have arrived in the now and are not about to look back. At the same time they seem to be having lots of fun. There's a lot going on as the song progresses, but it still retains a kind of sparseness. Another good use of the synthesizer which reminds me of Sparks' "Whippings and Apologies". The octave fuzz guitar at the end places it firmly in 1979, it seems guitarists were really happy to finally use new toys like that and the Roland guitar synth. The melody isn't too impressive, but Ray's aloof, almost spoken delivery works greatly.
National Health: The first playlister from the album (and the song that caused my wife to remark that she didn’t like it). I played a trial run of my Phase III playlist yesterday in the car, on shuffle, with National Health in the mix and it blended in nicely. There is that one (I guess it’s synthesizers?) part that sounds like the bass is placed underwater that I don’t like…but I decided to accept it anyway. My first thought upon hearing this track was Gary Numan, maybe due to quirkiness.
National Health I agree with @mark winstanley that this is a great Kinks song despite - or perhaps because of - being unusual in several respects. The lyrics are wry and amusing. I had thought for some time that it was about personal health and exercise - a new wave Skin and Bone. But both Mark and @Fortuleo have made a good case that the exercise Ray is alluding to is of a sexual nature - either doubles or singles. That ambiguity makes me like the song even more - plus it's another to add to the hypothetical list of songs about masturbation (an April Fools Day SHF thread title perhaps...). Ray's vocals are excellent throughout and the music is what I'd describe as spiky - it has a new wave punch. I like the subtle use of synths here as well as the different percussion effects. And the way-o-way-o part of the chorus is the sing-along icing on the cake. This song is a winner for me.
“National Health” Now we are talking! Easily my favorite song on the album. I wish they did more music like this. Ray is back in eccentric mode with the lyrics and the vocal. Maybe if this was a hit they would have pursued this new (wave) direction on upcoming albums. I welcome this style over all the guitar jamming and Ray shouting. This is The Kinks at their Koolest, Kwirkiest, and Kinkiest best. I always felt it was unknown and under appreciated compared to the other songs on the album. I’m happy it got such a positive review this morning by @mark winstanley
“nervous tension man’s invention….” It just struck me after reading Mark’s write up that the staccato vocal consistently tapping out the eighth notes sounds like the pulse of a rapidly beating heart.
National Health Well, here we are. We come to what I alluded to here on the Low Budget overall discussion: And, I am glad to say, I am not quite alone on this: Ding ding ding! Congrats to Avid @Ex-Fed for hearing what I heard when I first listened to this song a few weeks ago. Like Shattered, there is a rather repetitive feel and atmosphere to this song. I'm not sure if the chords are similar or not (I'm not an expert), but the fact that pretty the whole song seems to revolve around the same sound/vibe, with pretty much free-form non-standard verses/sections/bridges/choruses... It seems almost improvised over the feel of the song. I realize it's not improved much at all, but the sparseness and looseness of the overall vibe makes me feel like it is. The "some people say..." and "nervous tension, nervous tension, nervous tension" the the closest to the feel of the "Ain't you hungry for success, success, success, success" of Shattered. And that's where the comparison really slapped me in the face (and I didn't tell a joke about it's wife!). Ok enough about that now... as to National Health, I immediately knew it was kwirky and different, but it took me several listens to really get into the song. I do enjoy it, and think its the best non-rocker on the album. The intro is great, as everyone has said. Reading the lyrics, it does seem like a sister-song to Skin and Bone. And these lyrics are great. Right from the start, "Nervous tension, man's invention" recalls that we are all God's Children and we need to get back to the way the lord made us. All this stress, and tension... while we may not do it to ourselves individually, humanity and society has done it and makes us all feel the pressures and stresses of life. I also love the rhyme of "around today" and "down some day". This is absolutely a unique sounding song in their katalogue, and it shows they can have some fun and experiment with newer sounds and different styles, while retaining what makes them the Kinks.
National Health This song didn't leave much impression on me when I first listened to it, 30 years ago. And then I started loving it after I gave another try to the album 2 years ago... while jogging. So Mark's exposé was very much to the point as far as I'm concerned. It's very catchy, and the synth sounds are great. I'm not a good judge of hipness, but I have a feeling that these sounds are hip again, at least in France. Maybe it's already over, I don't know, fashions run too fast for me. I need a little bit of exercise. Is it a muted guitar in the intro ? Am I the only one to hear a synth instead ? In the verse, I rather hear a I ii IV V upward thing, and then back to I. I hear subliminal calls for an edit, but I'm not sure I'll have the time, and the song never struck me as too long. I'll think about it. I'm not certain that nervous tension is totally man's invention. I read some evolutionary science piece some time ago that said that we are kind of programmed to worry, owing to the hostile environments in which we have lived for most of our presence on earth. Mr Caveman had quite a stressful and hyperevigilant way of life, some say. That would be the reason behind restlessness : when threats disappear, we feel restless and end up creating new threats to have something to worry about. So nervous tension is, in a way, man's perpetual re-invention, but it was there at the start. I don't know if I explain it well and maybe it's a load of crap anyway but the idea struck me. Most depressing thing I've read this year. Fortunately Mark's depiction of medical drugs' side effect made me laugh out loud, and brought relief. I remember a shrink who prescribed me an anti-depressant that had "sudden death" listed among its side-effects. Went to see the Divine Comedy the other night in Paris. They played all their hits, and among them the one that contains this famous National Health Service line: "Everybody knows that no means yes, Just like glasses come free on the NHS".
Nice. When @Ex-Fed posted the Shattered comparison, it confused me, which is why I asked which song. But this makes it make sense. I would never have tied them together to be honest.
