The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    "Living on a Thin Line"

    [​IMG]
    Single by The Kinks
    from the album Word of Mouth
    B-side
    "Sold Me Out"
    Released January 1985
    Recorded June 1983 – September 1984 at Konk Studios, London
    Length 4:16
    Label Arista
    Songwriter(s) Dave Davies
    Producer(s) Ray Davies

    stereo mix (4:12), recorded Aug-Sep 1984 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London

    All the stories have been told
    Of kings and days of old,
    But there's no England now.
    All the wars that were won and lost
    Somehow don't seem to matter very much anymore.
    All the lies we were told,
    All the lies of the people running round,
    Their castles have burned.
    Now I see change,
    But inside we're the same as we ever were.

    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Living this way, each day is a dream.
    What am I, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?

    Now another century nearly gone,
    What are we gonna leave for the young?
    What we couldn't do, what we wouldn't do,
    It's a crime, but does it matter?
    Does it matter much, does it matter much to you?
    Does it ever really matter?
    Yes, it really, really matters.

    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?

    Then another leader says
    Break their hearts and break some heads.
    Is there nothing we can say or do?
    Blame the future on the past,
    Always lost in blood n guts.
    And when they're gone, it's me and you.

    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line.

    Written by: Dave Davies
    Published by: Dabe Music, 1984

    I really like this song, but perhaps not as much as some other folks here.
    This is a solid Dave song, and it has a coherent lyric, for the most part.
    I think the arrangement does this song a lot of favours, it is well put together and I don't know if Dave or Ray were responsible for the finished product but if it was Dave, he did a good job, and if it was Ray he did well by his brother.

    One of the interesting things about this song to me is that in recent times we have had a couple of Ray tracks where we speculated that he had gone a little Dave, in some ways.
    Here we have the exact opposite to my ears. Dave tackles a very Ray subject, and in a few little ways, it is almost like Dave is doing Ray here... but only in little ways.

    The subject is very well handled, for the most part, and may be one of the more mature and focused Dave lyrics.

    We open with Dave looking back at the history of England. Certainly even to this day, the English Monarchy has had many famed stories of its Kings and Queens, and that is the connection point Dave sets up for us.
    Remember The Kings and Queens of England? ... Now it seems all people do is look back to the days of old.... but there's no England anymore.
    I suppose this could be seen in many different ways, but I think it is based around a sense of identity.
    It's actually a similar kind of idea to the Arthur album opening with Victoria... keep that in mind.
    We have lost our identity and all the wars that were fought don't seem to matter anymore.
    Which sort of brings to mind Yes Sir, No Sir and Some Mother's Son.

    All the lies... this is an interesting one. I wonder if he means in terms of fighting and dying for the country to keep it strong ... yet the country fell away post World War II.
    The people running around telling those lies, their castles have burned ... Dramatic poetic license there I guess, but we could also take it that this means that "The Empire" is now spelled with a small e ....
    Dave sees things changing, but deep down inside they are the same people as they ever were.

    In the first verse Dave seems to speak directly to the underlying theme of the Arthur album.
    The Empire had her Queen, and on the surface it was all beer and skittles... or beer and pork pies...
    Then we had our King and we fought and died in the wars, and we started to feel like we were "only a pawn in their game".

    I think it is also telling that Dave sings this in a reserved, sort of, working class British accent.
    The people at the bottom of the pile are still the same people, even if the game around them has changed.

    Living On A Thin Line.... this is somewhat an ode to an England that no longer exists, although some could probably justifiably argue that it never really did exist..... but for such a small country (and I do not mean that in a put down sense at all) Britain was once a great Empire, and controlled a very large portion of the world. This peaked in the 19th century, and after two world wars in the twentieth century, the torch was passed on, and the new Empire took over, and the face of Empires had changed somewhat by that stage.
    Anyway, this may be murky territory and would require a huge amount of research and a thousand pages to do the idea being put forward here justice.

    The second verse looks at what are we leaving for the young, the future of our nation, and Dave starts addressing the shortsightedness of modern politics, where whatever the party ( because conceptually it doesn't matter which) they only see as far as the next election... maintain power, keep our wheels greased and our snouts in the trough to quote another favourite tv show "Yes Minister"
    I love the way Dave brings this verse to a conclusion... does it matter, does it really matter, and we crescendo into this Yes it really really matters. What is our legacy? It isn't a bad idea for us all to think about that, individuals and businesses and nations.... with wide open eyes, and no self interest....

    Dave keeps asking, What are we supposed to do?
    and as we look around the world today, it seems the majority of us just aren't that sure anymore.

    I'm not really sure about the Break their Hearts and Break some Heads line, perhaps he is meaning that in order to get their job done, these leaders are not particularly concerned about the effects on their constituents ... then again he could be directly referencing Margaret Thatcher and the coal miners.... and in that instance it seems it would make sense.

    We get the idea that they blame the future on the past, and this is also very true, every government I have ever known has tended to blame the previous one for the position we find ourselves in.... also in context with The Fall Of The British Empire, for a long time the devastating toll that World War II took on Britain, economically and .... spiritually? ... was enormous, and for a long time it seemed like the fall of the empire, which was mainly the empire morphing into the commonwealth, is often blamed for the things that happened afterwards...

    The last line is quite poignant too, particularly in the world at the moment "and when they're gone it's me and you" .... In recent years I have been seeing many lifelong friends stop talking to each other because of political nonsense...
    Divide and conquer people.... the game has never changed, just the facade....

    Anyway, although there are possibly a couple of vague references, and perhaps I may not completely follow every word Dave is saying here, this is a solid commentary in many ways, and Dave manages to put together a serious commentary, somewhat following in the footsteps of his big brother for the theme, but managing to maintain his own identity in the process.

    I'm sure some of the folks in the UK can probably tighten up my thoughts, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Falklands come into the picture somewhere.... inspiring Roger Waters writing for Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, it seems like Dave may have been inspired via that source in some way as well, and the timing of the writing would be spot on also.

    We open with a nice bass riff that almost feels like the start of Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion fleetingly. An atmospheric bed of synths come in, we get a swell of sound and then we break into a somewhat militaristic beat. like a steady marching rhythm, that isn't too fast, but fast enough.

    The chord pattern is fairly simple, but it is very effective, and the riff lights it up beautifully. It has a sort of folkish feel and style that works well to reflect the idea of Ye Olde England.

    Probably one of the main hooks here is the chordal riff, and that folkish riff.

    Probably one of the most notable things about this song is Dave's vocal.... This seems like a rare occasion where Dave is singing to us and not at us.
    His tone is great, as mentioned already his accent works perfectly to convey the required feel.

    The way the dynamics are set up in the song work really well also... in fact I think they are a major feature, and part of the reason this doesn't fall into the plodding rocker category.
    We have the verse staying fairly trimmed back, with just the chord and riff accents, with some percussive accents filling in the aural space.

    When the chorus kicks in, we get the opening guitar kick in with some power to drive us to the next level, and then through the chorus we have the guitar following the vocal, or vice versa, but either way it works really well, and lifts the song up really well.

    The second verse may be the highlight of the song. Dave moves to an almost speaking voice, and in the middle it probably is, but the way the dynamic of the verse raises to move into the chorus is pretty much the highlight of the song for me.

    The bridge provides a nice melodic variation and I think the idea that it finishes off with ... no matter what these leaders do, in the end they all pass by and move on, and after they are gone, we are left here to live with each other.... Soon enough they'll be gone, but in the end there is me and you, and no matter what tomfoolery those guys get up to, we need to stand together, not allow them to drive us apart.

    We move into the final chorus and it is a fitting ending to a very good song.

    I suppose in some ways the end of the song may seem slightly anticlimactic, as we just keep marching along, and we end up closing out on an accented riff and fade on the keys with a little guitar feedback.

    Anyway, I think this is a very good song. It does and says exactly what it needs to do. Dave stays focused and doesn't get too distracted by the things that seem to sometimes sabotage some of his songs from the eighties era.
    It isn't my favourite Dave song I don't think, but it is a solid song, and a serious return to form from the young man who showed so much potential in the late sixties, but seemed to lose his confidence and his direction somewhat ...

    I'm sure some folks are going to feel this is the best song on the album, as it seems to have built up a mythical following.... I think it is a very strong song on the album, but I don't think it is quite as good as many do... it is fairly short and to the point, and it stays focused, and they are good traits for a song to have.

     
  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  4. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    "Living On A Thin Line"

    It's good, isn't it. Wish Dave would do a solo album, I bet it would be great!

    What's that...??

    Seriously, this is a really good song, and it actually sounds like one song rather than bits of four songs welded together. It flows easily from intro to verse to chorus to bridge with no sudden melodic shifts. And it has a relatable lyric and a vocal that stays within hearing range of humans. There are at least two Dave songs on each Kinks album from here onwards (if you're a CD buyer) and there is a definite sense that Dave made an effort to tighten up the structure of his songs that were destined for Kinks albums as opposed to the more "out there" stuff on his solo albums.

    What really makes this one for me is Ray backing up his brother vocally on the chorus. Ray didn't sing on "You Don't Know My Name" and probably wasn't involved at all on "Trust Your Heart", so this is probably the first time since the Pye era that the two of them have collaborated to this extent on a Dave song. There's something almost heart-warming about it. Just wait until we get to "Close To The Wire"...
     
  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    A CNN person who had a rather strange Zoom meeting with some folks.... it must have been a very exciting meeting ... and he forgot to turn his camera off..... :confused:
     
  6. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I haven't listened to the song yet but the lyric strikes as being on the vague side - though more coherent than Dave often is.
     
  7. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    When Ray does nostalgia for the old days he tends to give concrete examples or references, whereas this lyric is like most rock lyrics which are trying to "say something", platitudinous (good word for a Friday morning.)
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I prefer platypus's

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    Happy birthday to the guy who baptized us "Avids" in the first place. And on the day of this fantastic track, too. What a sweet attention… @mark winstanley thinks of everything! :-popcorn:

    "Does it ever really matter?
    Yes, it really, really matters"


    On this song, the band doesn’t really sound like the Kinks, Dave doesn’t really sound like Dave… Funny how things are, funny how we are : we’ve been going on and on about if this (theater, Flash’s Confession, Second Hand Car Spiv) or that (arena, Gallon of Gas), or whatever (AOR, Stormy Sky) sounded like the bloody Kinks or not. BIG arguments (in a very friendly way!). And this time the answer's crystal clear: no it doesn’t sound like them and… we couldn't care less! Talk about fandom and rock nerds. We’re a bunch of contradictory creatures, aren't we ? When it’s that good, there’s no genre or style anymore, just a sound, a huge sound, blasting through the speakers. Huge guitar, huge drums and bass, textured synths, fantastic singing, very few chords but tons of atmosphere, a deep insistent groove, a massive chorus. This is stadium rock, who’s got any problem with it now? This screams eighties? Great news!!! Just noticed the riff has something in common with the Big Sky strings, that circular motif maybe… Otherwise, it sounds a bit like what the Moody Blues were trying to do in the eighties, when Tony Visconti was producing them (a song like Deep, from 1986 Sur la Mer) only better. But the song's indeed a moody blues, isn’t it? I can’t believe the quality of this track. Most Dave songs (even the best ones) are so tentative and patchy and convoluted in terms of melody, structure, production, lyrics, but this one is just the opposite : authoritative, assured, straightforward, direct, focused, tight. Unstoppable, really. I propose a change in vocabulary : no "late" masterpieces anymore. This one is not late at all…
     
  10. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night

    "Living On A Thin Line" - I know this from listening to live shows more than this studio version. Listening to it now, I really like it and it just has a quality to it that sets it above most of the other songs on this album. It strikes me as being far more substantial than other Dave songs both musically and lyrically. Yes, Dave is not the writer that his brother is and his songs are not as tightly written with specific details that illustrate the larger theme of the song. But "Living On A Thin Line" has an epic feel to it from the get go and it is probably my favourite Dave song. Great chorus!
     
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Full disclosure, I just happened to see it somewhere lol

    That doesn't mean I don't love you all though.... and a belated Happy Birthday for everyone... I just don't know when anyone's birthday is lol
     
  12. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    Mine is on the 26th of August. For my thread present, I'd like it to be the day we'll be discussing How Are You?. Thanks in advance, Mark !!
     
  13. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    I'm in line with our Leader on this one. A good song, with a very good and powerful arrangement, on the same level as the best songs on the album, though not above. Actually, I'm a lover of "bits of four songs welded together" Dave songs (in the words of Avid @ARL), and I miss those a little bit, though I'll concede the "vocal that stays within hearing range of humans" is welcome indeed.
    It's really weird to hear Dave sounding like a regular English singer. He's got a beautiful voice on this one.

    What drives the song, in my opinion, is the way the riff limps and stumbles a little too far. A writing trick that is very Dave-y.

    I'm shocked to discover that those incredible animals that we call "ornythorinques" in French (go find a French word that rhymes with that! Apart from "zinc") goes by a totally unrelated name in their native land!
     
  14. pyrrhicvictory

    pyrrhicvictory Forum Resident

    Location:
    Manhattan
    Living on a Thin Line

    Dave living on a thin line Davies; maybe that’s what Ray might have chided when introducing his brother, had this song been given its shot in the marketplace. If what Dave has claimed in the past is true, and the first three singles off any Kinks album had to be RD compositions, then perhaps Ray sank his own battleship. Ray sabotaged his own band’s (and brother’s) commercial viability by not allowing Arista to issue this potential hit single. Then, at his most Machiavellian, Ray double dips, handpicking Dave’s ‘Rock and Roll Cities’ as the lead single off of Think Visual, effectively (and, I submit, knowingly) setting Dave up to fail. And where was the ever avuncular Clive Davis and his golden ear, as Eteocles and Polyneices are duking it out? Probably talking up Ms. Whitney Houston; once a Svengali...Well, if Dave was correct, it wouldn’t have mattered, Clive’s hands would be tied.
    The song itself is such a moody, broody concoction, and it heralds the return of Dave Davies, singer-songwriter. Many have said it sounds like a song Ray would write. I would counter that, yes, thematically it’s in Ray’s wheelhouse, but lyrically, it’s a heartfelt Dave missive, whereas his brother would have attacked with his intellect. Ray was offered the song, but I can’t imagine it existing in any other form. Little brother proves to us all, and his sibling, that he can execute a well-constructed pop-rock song.
    I see change, but inside, we’re the same, as we ever were. That’s the keynote for me; a damning thought that seems even more perceptive in today’s climate. I will note though, that many was the time Dave had front-man jitters and stumbled over these lyrics in concert. Then again, so did Ray on some of his wordier numbers. That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!

    Happy (belated) Birthday @DISKOJOE
     
  15. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I'll leave that up to you, Avid Down the Line. I believe I can get Satisfaction from you!
    :laugh:
     
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    A day of learning for me here.

    I had to look that up too.

    Ornithorhynchus anatinus = the scientific name for the platypus
     
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I can guarantee you'll need to remind me :)
     
  18. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    It's the former, Avid The late man, my 60th time around the Sun or something like that. Yes, there will be a party and I wish that all of you could come instead of Paul Brian and Ray. Thank you.
     
  19. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Isn't it funny bordering on significant how the Kinks two biggest sleeper hits (ie songs that weren't that successful at the time but have gone on to be anthems through exposure on TV/ Film) of the 21st century are Dave songs? This one and 'Strangers'. I think it really reframes how people see the band today, and it feels like a long coming justice being served. If by some miracle The Kinks ever perform live again, it's somewhat reperationally satisfying to know that Ray won't be able to wheel out his 'Dave 'Death Of A Clown' Davies' gag anymore, as the implied truth it's based on ('you only have that one song that anyone knows whereas I have many!') just doesn't exist anymore.
     
  20. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    @DISKOJOE is your birthday the 16th June? That's my daughters too! She's 58 years younger though.
     
  21. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    This was the other Kinks song (after the live 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else') used in The Sopranos, a show that to my discredit I've never actually watched. Beware, this clip is not sfw due to ladies dancing stark naked in the artificial light! Are they actually meant to be poledancing to The Kinks song within the fiction of the show here? Seems a leftfield choice for such activities if so!

     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2022
  22. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Not anymore! (And this is if I’m understanding original point of the author. I may be way off base. Again, it’s normal Japanese, just exaggerated to where each syllable comes out as if spoken by a foreigner. I think I first noticed that trend with Southern Allstars but won’t argue with the author if he says (if that’s what he/she is saying?) Happy End started it.)
     
  23. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    First off, as the Scaffold would say, Thank U Very Much Avids Fortuleo and Pyrricvictory for your kind words, which I appreciate very much, as well as everybody else here. Our esteemed Headmaster took advantage of "insider information" :laugh:, but thank you.

    Anyway, "Living On A Thin Line", isn't it something that the most memorable song from this album, nay this period of the Kinks, would be a Dave song? One that is lyrically to the point (mostly) and musically pretty tight? This did get plenty of air play back in the day and Ray did botch things up in refusing to ride the momentum that this song was gathering. At least someone who grew up to work in the Sopranos remembered this song.

    My old iPad is going bezerk while typing this. A new one would make a great gift, just sayin' :laugh:
     
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Wow, it's like I just don't know anything today... safe for work.
    Google is getting a pounding this morning
     
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Well.... I don't know about that. lol
    I actually found myself on a page I had never looked at before, and there you were in your fancy jacket looking out from the page
     
    All Down The Line and DISKOJOE like this.

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