Good Day This is another new one for me, and I really like it. What a great upbeat sounding chorus. Then digging into the lyrics a little more there are all kinds of cynical lines. I mean who can’t remember the name of an old flame. Then there’s the atomic bomb motif, carpe diem if the world’s going to end; let’s hope if we all go up in a mushroom cloud, that it at least be spectacular; and even if a small atomic goes off the return of his lost love would make it all worthwhile. Even small changes in the chorus like alternating between its gonna and it’s got to be a good day, say a lot. One just sounds like the power of positive thinking and the other sounds more like a sign of desperation.
According to a YT comment the harmonica is playing the same notes as the Stones Come On. Anybody hear that as well? I can't pick up on it myself.
So in singing this way and in Japanese are they proudly showing further independence from a more "regular" western pop-rock influence than most of their fellow countrymen?
Good Day Yes @palisantrancho I too love Look a Little on the Sunny Side & see the lyrical affinity. But that song has: You gotta be shrewd, you gotta be strong, you gotta convince yourself that you're not wrong, a great piece of advice for artists of all kinds along the lines of James Joyce's "silence, exile, and cunning." & this song, partially being about a nuclear apocalypse literally blotting out the sun, kind of raises the stakes. As much as I might be inclined to try to look a little on the sunny side after a mediocre review, it's hard to have a good day in the face of Armageddon. And I'm not sure that putting on some makeup, trying to survive, and remembering that it could be my last day on earth will do much to cheer me up. Lots of RD preoccupations here: A guy alone in his room, a weather report, confusion, tattered clothes, dead movie stars. And *friends*.... I call friends and see if any remain Who was that girl who used to be my flame? I'd call her if I could remember her name ... which may be the single most depressing reference to old friends so far. Can't quite make up my mind whether Good Day is a deeply cynical or extraordinarily Panglossian song.
Do It Again What an opening to the album and to the song itself, Ray singing almost accapella over a jangly distorted guitar that percolates beneath like an idling car building tension before that power chord drives it off into the song proper. You almost imagine him writing around the time Chrissie ran off with Thumbelina to become Mrs. Jim Kerr. The only thing to do is get back on the horse and thus Do It Again. One of my many favorite parts of the song is the bridge with the guitars sounding like a rickety wooden roller coaster or dark ride car going along the tracks. The video was played a lot on MTV when i was home for my first Xmas break. Leave it the Kinks to heavily feature their longtime drummer in the video but not having him actually y'know drum. I mean he's already there and so is Dave as the train engineer. That's where Dave comes across as more petty than Ray. Would he have stormed out if Ray put Mick behind the kit one more time? It's another seeming example of Ray placating his little brother's feelings yet again. Ray is funny as the big-nosed clown drummer but still it is silly to have Mick in the video but not having him drum evem though he was no longer in the band. I think a song like tbis making it to 41 is almost a majot triumph. By '84 you didn't hear a lot of crunchy Brit Invasion power-pop in the top 20. It wasn't the novelty song with mass appeal Come Dancing was. A much better song though for my tastes. I think there's a place for this song on most Kinks albums. It's in some ways the Kwintessential Kinks track.
I had to look that one up lol For anyone else who may be too shy to say "characterised by or given to extreme optimism, especially in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity" I actually think that Good Day is someone desperately trying to be optimistic in the face of odds they feel may swallow them whole... Particularly after reading @pyrrhicvictory 's excellent post, and mish mashing it with my own thoughts and others
Hearty And Happy Birthday Wishes To You @DISKOJOE I have no appropriate birthday images i can send you but this may take the cake?
I saw the Zombies back around 2003 or so at a reunion show at Antone's in Austin. Great band and concert.
Your review more than any other gives me context for the single or 12" sleeve Ray went with. Naturally dreadful in a commerdial sense (not to mention not immediately relatable to the title in any sense) but probably apt in the mind of the writer who earns credits as Davray!
The only time I have ever seen them live was also around this time. I remember it was before I had much of a computer, and internet was fairly new in my world. I had no idea what The Zombies looked like or what their stage presence would be. I liked that world where you only knew the records, and had no idea about them outside of the songs. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I remember it being like someone pulled the veil off of this band that I only knew by sound. It was a great show and Colin still had the voice, but I almost preferred that I never went and The Zombies remained a mystery. I also felt the same way when I went to see Alex Chilton. I thought I was at the wrong concert. This is the Box Tops singer? He sounds much different on those albums than his appearance would lead you to believe. It was also a great concert, but it changed my viewpoint on him. Before I went to see him, I only had my imagination and the songs. These type of concert experiences are now long gone, because you can now easily look anyone up. Suddenly, you know way too much about an artist you admire. I prefer my rock n roll shrouded in a bit of mystery.
Ahh, very good point! I should've prefaced it with latter day as Waterloo among many others from the first decade would triumph over it and there's really no debate.
Is it the day your were born to the world, or born to the thread ? In any case, a - logically - late happy birthday to you, @DISKOJOE. Will you be throwing a party with Paul, Brian and Ray ?
