The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

I think you found your 60pence mistake on internet which is where most inaccuracies can easily be found. I came across it myself whle checking.

You have now created an internet factoid of your own which will be repeated ad infinitum and be substituted for the truth.

I still think there's no indication in the song that this crown could in any way be a coin, but people will believe what they want to believe whatever I say.

 

Spun this album on the way to work. I have to say that Harry Rag might be the greatest goofy song ever written. I want the epitaph on my tombstone to read:

He cursed himself for the life he led
And rolled himself a Harry Rag
And put himself to bed

 

Sure thing!

 

Something Else by is my favourite Kinks album by some distance, but even so there are still two or three songs I don't care for. That just shows how great the songs I do like are, that the album can afford to carry some dead weight. It's hard to say more without pre-empting the discussion of individual tracks.

I'm already seeing some of my favourites be slighted and dismissed, that will give me a taste of my own medicine for doing likewise to most of the Face to Face tracks. I totally appreciate that we all hear things differently and that all musical opinions are valid, but to me Something Else knocks spots off its predecessor.

As for the cover- it wasn't what I expected at all for a 1967 cover, but I came to love it eventually.

I love that the title is a tribute to the Eddie Cochran song- that song is a favourite of mine too, and I'm always reminded of it by the Kinks title.

 

A Crown was 5s (five shillings)
A Shilling was 12d (twelve 0ld pence)

12x5 = 60d (sixty old pence)

 

David Watts.

The real David Watts was a concert promoter from Rutland in the English Midlands. The Kinks band members were invited back to his house for a drink one night after a concert. Ray Davies recalled to Q magazine in a 2016 interview:
"My brother, Dave, was in a flamboyant mood and I could see David Watts had a crush on him. So I tried to do a deal and persuade Dave to marry David Watts cos he was connected with Rutland brewery. See, that's how stupid my brain was. (Chuckles silently) I thought if I can get Dave fixed up with this Watts guy I'll be set up for life and get all the ale I want."
But the song's about complete envy," Davies added. "It was based on the head boy at my school. He was captain of the team, all those things, but I can't tell you his real name as I only spoke to him a few months ago."

stereo mix (2:37), recorded probably May-Jun 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa

I am a dull and simple lad
Can not tell water from champagne
And I have never met the queen
And I wish I could have all that he has got
I wish I could be like David Watts

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa

And when I lie on my pillow at night
I dream I could fight like David Watts
Lead the school team to victory
And take my exams and pass the lot

(Wish I could be)
Wish I could be like David Watts
(Wish I could be)
Wish I could be like David Watts
(Wish I could be)
Conduct my life like David Watts
(Wish I could be)
I wish I could be like David Watts

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa

He is the head boy at the school
He is the captain of the team
He is so gay and fancy free
And I wish all his money belonged to me
I wish I could be like David Watts

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa

And all the girls in the neighborhood
Try to go out with David Watts
They try their best but can't succeed
For he is of pure and noble breed

Wish I could be like
Wish I could be like
Wish I could be like

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa

Written by: Ray Davies
Published by: Noma Music, Inc./Hi-Count Music, Inc. BMI

This song paints the picture of the kid at school who just breezes through. Everything he does works, and he is the envy of all the guys who struggle..... He's the head boy, the captain of the team, passes all his exams, all the girls want him .... This is someone I think at least most of us would know .... I was captain of my football team, and passed all my exams, but I certainly didn't have the attention of all the girls ... in fact none at all LOL, and I certainly wasn't cool .... but I certainly envied the guys that did get all the attention of the girls.... I was extremely hyperactive so I probably frightened and annoyed most of the girls .... anyway

I guess we will get interpretations saying this is somewhat a song that is about a romantic crush, or has homosexual overtones, but personally I don't think it really presents that way on a literal read. That certainly doesn't mean there weren't, or aren't overtones that people could interpret that way.

The first time I heard this was on One For The Road, and I found the song instantly appealing, it is energetic and melodic and it is just such a fun song.

The song opens with some straight forward statements from the narrator.... He is dull, and not successful, and has never really done anything of note, and David Watts has everything, and is the bright light in the school, and he wants everything David Watts has.... this seems like a pretty normal situation. At school there were always the cool kids and the smart kids and the tough kids .... and occasionally you would find a kid who had all these traits, but really only occasionally. Normally kids fit into one but not all of those brackets.
I think it is telling that we get the line "And I wish all his money belonged to me" .... this somewhat leaves us with the impression that this kid is a toff .... One can't help feeling a bit of a Tom Brown's Schooldays feeling from this also ... or if Ripping Yarns crossed your path Tomkinson's School Days

Musically this is a wonderful song.
We open with some studio banter, and some reverse reverb effects and then storm into the Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa .... this works like a hook instantly .... I am sure we could have a several interpretations of what this actually means, but I have generally just looked at it as a variation on the la la la's that we have had in music since before I can remember.
The fa fa fa's are doubled with the piano, and we burst into this sort of double time racing drum set.

This brings forward the thing that really makes this song a huge winner for me. this song is rhythmically like falling down the stairs with a rhythmic precision.... It pushes you along whether you want to go or not.

In the background we have this stuttering guitar, and it creates this somewhat bizarre offbeat rhythm, with the bass bouncing back and forth, the drums just slamming away, and the piano banging out that melody .... this is a rhythmic sensation that engages the listener .... it is full of anxiety and energy and hyperactivity, and adventure nd all that kid of stuff.... Just like most schoolboys ... It is a fairly remarkable piece of music to me.

The whole verse structure is like some kind of erratic reggae nightmare or something.

We get a sort of bridge I guess (And when I lay on my pillow at night ....) that moves us into a more straight rhythm, which gives us a slight relief from the lurching rhythmic wall ...

This is a pretty wonderful production debut from Ray. It is, to my ears at least, such a unique sounding song. There are elements I could stretch and relate to other songs, but as a whole this is, or at least seems to me, to be something of its own altogether.

We race through these sections of the song and then get to a wonderful breakdown ... here we get the bass punching out it back and forth bounce. Ray urgently announcing that he wishes he could be like several times, and each time a little more urgency. Raising up the pitch of the vocal with each urgent call .....
I am sure most of the guys here would understand this feeling to some degree, when you are on the outs and not a popular kid at school it seems like everything hinges on you being in that exclusive club ... because you seem to constantly be in fights to ward off the school overlords, the bullies and the cool crew, who from your perspective just seem to want to destroy you, and it really feels like a fight for your life ...
I honestly don't know what the experience of school is like for girls, because obviously I am not one, but it always seemed from the outside to be a different type of warfare .... I left school at 15 and started working in the bank ( really bad decision lol) basically because I was sick and tired of being at war with students and teachers..... So there is a lot of this song that speaks to me, and perhaps in different ways to others.
Anyway after this raising pitch of urgency reaching a crescendo, we get these little "wisha wisha whisha" vocals just in the background and it is another little masterstroke that just adds a little more flavour, and we roll into a fade.

This is a magnificent opening to the album. For me this is just such a driven, anxiety riddled, and remarkably catchy pop/rock song..... I'm not sure where it sits in my favourite Kinks songs, but man it is a great song ... a really great song.

Of course this is one of the Kinks songs that re-emerged in the seventies. I know the Jam did a cover and it was released as a double A-side .... but I can't help feeling there were more versions than just that one... and it is not surprising that it got covered, because it is a great song, but also a perennial theme that is easily related to for many folks.

 

"David Watts"

What a way to open an album! "Nice and smooth" indeed. A brilliant, original song that owes nothing musically to what The Kinks, or anyone else, had done before. Dave's galloping staccato guitar, Pete's superb pulsing bassline, Mick's double-time drumming and Nicky's piano combine to make an irresistible driving force over which Ray delivers another fantastic lyric and vocal. Add in a spacious stereo mix and you have a real winner.

It's worth pointing out that unlike "Stop Your Sobbing", here it was the Kinks version I heard first, in the 80s - the first time I was aware of The Jam was "Tube Station", and I quite possibly didn't hear their version until I bought their Greatest Hits in the 90s. It's clearly tailor made for The Jam to cover, and although they do a good job with it, it doesn't match the original for me.

Sixteen years later Ray would call back to this song in "Young Conservatives" - "it's got to stop before it goes too fa-fa-fa-fa-far"

 

Before we dig in let's think about what an incredibly strong effort this album is from the younger Davies. Apart from his great guitar playing, Dave was clearly peaking as an artist in his own right and on the precipice of a solo career, from which this record certainly benefits. The sleeper here is Funny Face, which you really need to listen closely to. I'll comment on later, but taken together with Death of a Clown and Love Me Till the Sun shines, wow what a trio from Young Dave!

I'm also a big fan of the fairly obscure Lincoln County from this era. (Shoot some bear, drink some beer. Hell yea)

 

As I say apologies... it was an unconsidered reply, and out of line.

 

A brilliant opening track. I'm also very fond of the cover by The Jam.

 

David Watts

With "Dandy", this is one of the two most obvious Kinks "hits that never were". So I'm glad they were both at least hits for other people.

I love the intro, that almost sounds like a mini-sound collage.
The tune is just so infectious! It risks being over-repetitive, but is well done enough that they get away with it.
I love the way the lyrics can be taken in more than one way- is it just envy, or is it a schoolboy crush?
I like the way that the things he wants are so over-the-top. It makes the point that most of us are never happy- even if we are doing fine, we still look enviously over at our neighbour who knows the queen or has some other meaningless distinction that we don't.
The story reminds me of Dickens's "David Copperfield" whose hero feels just this way about his classmate Steerforth. His blind adoration leads to no good.

 

This is so full of energy and drive. With the studio chatter, backwards noises and “fafafafa” hook, it doesn’t even need to be a top 20 Kinks song (at least for me) to be one of their all-time best openers. I agree with the statement that as a pop production, it's on its own little planet. But I also hear an unmissable melodic similarity to some of Let’s Spend the Night Together (maybe because of the character’s last name ?) only the Kinks’ tune has some Eastern Europe flavor to it, akin to a Russian or Yiddish dance (Hey!), something a lot of their “character studies” from that period hint at. Ray’s singing/phrasing is now supremely confident, he knows exactly what he’s doing and clearly relishes in it.
The lyrics are typically very clever, because they work as a depiction of a group and a reverse portrait of the narrator even more so than as a portrait of this Watts character. It’s not about what he has, it’s about what others see in him and what the narrator lacks. Not so much an ode to free spirit and personality but an implied criticism of kid's conformism and subservience, and an acknowledgement of the singer's genuine frustration and jealousy. The repetitive melody and sped up march-like rhythm give it an appropriate sense of uniformity/conformity, a bit like in A Well Respected Man, but more sophisticated, because of that indirect more oblique concept.

Funnily enough (and I'm not saying Ray was aware of that – or was he ?), in french, "La" is the A note and "Fa" is the F note, so it could also be a secret little joke.

 

Not sure if The Kinks ever played 'David Watts' live at the time, other than the BBC session version which we'll get to. Like 'Stop Your Sobbing' , it got revived as a live regular in the late 70s when a newave/punk act had a hit with it, and then The Kinks live version followed that arrangement. Here's a newly Avoryless group bashing it out in Frankfurt in 1984:

 

David Watts

I remember being aware of this song's title , but not familiar with it, before I first heard the album, so I had expectations. Of course, these were met immediately. Up there with some of the greatest album opener's of all time, this track has it all. A slightly whacky 'ambience' intro (which doesn't sound right in stereo IMO), an instant and perfect hook, and a drive that never lets up, even in the bass and vocal only bridge (that bass line utterly pulses away). Ray, as mentioned, sounds extremely confident in his delivery, and it's hard to know if he's truly jealous of the titular character. And then there's the well executed fade, with the echo delay on the very sibilant "IwishIwishIwish...", leading perfectly into the re-introduction of that thumping rhythm. All done in just a couple of minutes!

With that pounding rhythm, I can definitely get that, though amazingly it hadn't occurred to me before. But pop masterpieces IMO.

 

“

Was?

 

Lol. Yea, I'm almost comatose these days compared to my youth

 

I saw a duo perform "Harry Rag" back in the 70s or 80s, along with another obscure Kinks song that comes up later in the katalog.
I remember they made a lyric change. Instead of "and her skin might sag" they sang,"and her t**s might sag".

 

I always assumed that was why the girls couldn’t succeed, making the pure and noble breed line quite a hoot. This is as compared to the well respected man who was held back by his mother’s concern for the matrimonial stakes.

 

Certainly possible... but often folks from wealth are defensive due to fear folks just want their cash.... also people who are driven, in the way David is, often avoid relationships, as they are a distraction...

But there are certainly many options this lyric puts forward

 

Bashing indeed.☹️

 

I could picture a straight David Watts having those concerns and avoiding entering into relationships but being an active participant in the love em and leave em sweepstakes.

 

I agree with @ARL ’s point that ‘David Watts’ owes little to what The Kinks had done before, while also acknowledging its debt to ‘Lets Spend The Night Together’. But going back to that first point, I’ve always thought DW was the classic 60s Kinks song that sounds least typically Kinks. I think it’s the fact it’s
driven by taut rhythmic lead guitar and bass lines rather than riffs, it gives it this almost proto new wave feel, which of course made it translate easily into a Jam song.

 

Very cool and honest write up Mark. I note a lot of people in the thread identifying with these songs, regardless of background or country of origin. I do think Ray has a rare gift as a lyricist (or storyteller?) to really cut to the bone, but in a disarmingly light way. That he was blessed with a genius for melody too.. I hate him.

It's downright eccentric this song, rather unique. But it just works. It takes my breath away how the best 60s pop writers managed to create these extraordinary, out of nowhere 3 minute songs/recordings that absolutely stand up over 50 years later. Without getting involved, I am convinced it marks the start of what will in centuries to come be seen as a 'classical'-esque peak for pop music. Like the 30 years from Bach to Beethoven, it could be categorised as Berry to.. (Beyonce? I dunno..) not to dismiss the before and after, but you know what I mean.

There was certainly no head boy at my school, or cricket team.. it was more like a war zone. Keep your head down, don't dare be clever. I'm not sure Ray's school was any less rough. But the song is written/ reads rather like a public school experience, that makes me think of the film "If...". Anyhow, this David Watts is clearly a class above in all respects.

It's a good shout for Ray's best character/story song of all. I can taste the chalkdust and smell the changing rooms. And here we are, amidst the ecstatic cries from the rugger field as David Watts leads the team to victory, shrugging off any congratulations with a self effacing, roguish grin. He's impossible to dislike. I hate him.

I love the earlier shouts about the "Yiddish" influence, also "Let's Spend the Night.." great, interesting stuff. I'll leave the deeper thinking to others, it's easier

It really is a minor masterpiece this song. More!

 

Not a fan of the later live version? I agree it loses a lot of what makes the 1967 studio take special. That said if I’d been in that audience back then I’d be pogoing along.

 

LOL a beautiful irony mate