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

    Perhaps this is Johnny in a drunken stupor after Suzy went to stay with her mama?
     
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  2. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident


    Is this the big sister of Powerman ? This fuzz drone sound is tremendous and the repetitive structure is super powerful, illustrating the manic state of mind of a relentless sleepless desperate sexaholic. He's probably lost his girl and now sings to another he took for the night – just anyone really – as a substitute. Each time he gets to the “’till the suuuuun-shiiiines” bit, it seems he’s on the verge of exhaustion but still refuses to stop, sleep or even catch a breath.

    As the opening of Side 2, and part 1 of a « sun trilogy » of sorts, this song works wonders. As the B-side to Death of a Clown, yes, it definitely made for another winning thematic pair, the guy on this song being even sadder than the clown. And on the CD, the drone sound seems to be born out of Situation Vacant – so why not the lyrics ? There's a good chance we won't favor the same interpretation depending on the context in which the song is heard. But the conviction in Dave's singing makes me think the accurate one is the depressed sexaholic aiming to lose himself in the night, because he's so desperately alone after his girl left him. Note that unlike Ray, Dave doesn't name any of his characters. In a daze, he just won't connect…
    I think the BBC version above is a lot tighter and even more devastating than the studio one, whose production is a little awkward (but all the more charming for it).
     
  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Dandy after his boyish charm is gone, and the girls don't flock to him anymore. Fonzie, when he realises he is now just old and alone, and the charm or cool has drifted off to sea.
    Yea, nice one.... I can see that.
     
  4. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I agree the lyric of this song is interesting and mysterious, like "I Just Want to Make Love To You" without even the "making love".

    I often compare Dave's vocals unfavourably to Ray's but they're really welcome here, widening the albums palette vocally in the same way the relatively straightforward music widens the album's music palette (even further!), and the first-person lyrics make a break from all the third-person character studies.

    One of my favourite Dave songs, this halts the slight decline of the album and gets it back on an even keel.
     
  5. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Yeah, LMTTSS is an example where the BBC take (got to make sure it’s the 1968 version though, there’s an earlier 1967 BBC recording that ain’t as good) is so definitive that it supersedes the studio recording. Such an awesomely powerful performance!
     
  6. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
  7. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Dave live 97:

     
  8. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    From the live versions it becomes clear that the correct lyric is
    “There is nothing I won’t lend”
     
  9. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    "Love Me Til The Sun Shines"

    A strange start if you're listening to the stereo mix in headphones. The guitars and drums are panned hard left. Then Dave comes in and he's even further left! I feel like shouting at this point "Oi Dave, I'm over here!" as 90% of my headspace remains unused. But eventually second Dave and the organ come in to take up the right channel. This track is sloppy as heck, especially some of the double-tracking, but it rocks and it grooves, and the organ in particular makes it a great slice of garage pop.
     
  10. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Love Me Till the Sun Shines: lyrically, I’m in the “hooker” camp. “Walk the streets,” “take my money,” everything about the lyrics is transactional.

    I oughta love this song as it’s shambolic and slots nicely into my idea of alt-country...but, so far, I don’t. As of now, it remains in the so-so category. I can’t quite put my finger on it but somehow it feels a bit like a throwback to an earlier album. Not sure.

    I’ll see where it ends up.
     
  11. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    Early rock stereo releases were notorious for their exaggerated effects. When you add that headphone listening wasn’t factored in back then, bad results are not unexpected.
     
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  12. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    Love Me Till the Sun Shines
    Once again, Mark has done an excellent introduction to the song. I agree with Mark's sentiments about the music being a bit 'dirty and disheveled' yet somehow finding a rightful place among Ray's more refined work.
    On the lyrics though...Spoiler Alert... Dave tells us exactly what they are about in his 1996 bio Kink. In August 1962, when Dave was 15 Sue, his girlfriend of two years, told him she was pregnant. He told her they should get married and promptly bought a six quid engagement ring. But things quickly changed: after they told their parents they never saw each other again. Dave's mum told him Sue didn't love him anymore. Dave much later found out Sue's mum told her the same about Dave - she also did have the baby (named Tracey) in an Unmarried Mothers Home (!). Fast forward five years and multiple one-night stands and casual relationships later, Dave says he wrote Funny Face and Love Me Till the Sun Shines about Sue: 'Many times during my life thoughts and feelings about her would rise to the surface to plague or torment me. Unresolved emotions about a love that was never meant to be' (Funny Face) ..... 'I was still so angry inside because I thought she never really loved me. I could never understand how she could so suddenly not love me.' (Love me Till the Sun Shines)

    Notably, at the time Dave wrote these songs he was married and his wife was pregnant. Any interpretation of a possible link between that and his relationship with Sue is way beyond my cod psychology skills.

    Sorry for the lyrical spoilers, but on this occasion I thought it would be helpful.
     
  13. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Thank you very much. So it’s sung with bitterness. I get it now. (Out goes my ‘hooker’ theory!)
     
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  14. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Almost all of Daves 60s songs are about Sue (and Tracey) in some way!
     
  15. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    You could be right. He certainly was scarred by the experience. In the same book he says Suzanah's Still Alive is 'yet another song about Sue' and Lincoln County was about a present he'd bought for Sue. I'd speculate that Mindless Child of Motherhood and This Man He Weeps Tonight could also be related - I don't think he says in the book. On the plus side he did eventually meet his daughter Tracey when she was an adult.
     
  16. tables_turning

    tables_turning In The Groove

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic, USA
    "Nagasaki": where the men all chew tobacky, and the women wicky wacky woo...
     
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  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Excellent info, cheers mate.
    That gives a better context for the confused styling of the lyrics.... it also gives me a heads up for Funny Face :righton:
     
  18. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    And a whole upcoming album when we get to '75!
     
  19. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    Love Me Till the Sun Shines
    Musically, it seems like a throwback, but knowing that it's Dave, it's a solid progression in his songwriting and vocal delivery from his earlier efforts. I think Dave's on his own timeline, just delayed maybe 1-2 years compared to Ray's songwriting development. Not quite sure exactly what to make of the song itself. It's dirty, a bit sloppy, garage-y, grungy, and very repetitive, and I do enjoy it. I feel like the song is incomplete though and could use a little more variety? The breakdown sections are interesting. Some of the manic feeling of the breakdowns and the guitar-tone seem like it could have been on Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" It just goes to show the variety that we are seeing on this amazing album. The fade-in is a great effect and a perfect way to open up Side 2 of the vinyl. The organ fills in some gaps and adds another layer here and there, and seems most notable right at the end.

    One thing that I think Dave has picked up from Ray's garage-rock writing is that the vocals pair up extremely well with the guitar riff. The underlying guitar tones whenever Dave accents the "You don't have to..." is such a great hook into the song. It seems extra accentuated in the last verse (or is that the chorus?).
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2021
  20. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Love Me Till The Sun Shines

    Great, informative discussion here. Previously, I just took this as a simple but effective rocker and one of those songs good for Dave's voice. It's still all that to me, but now a little more as well.
     
  21. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Ray is 77 today.
     
  22. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Yes the BBC cut is vibrant and even more epic with that churning and percolating guitar!
     
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Happy Birthday Ray. Thanks for the music!

    Hey @Scottsol, you're not Ray incognito, keeping us all in line are you? :)
     
  24. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Mark....get back in the line!
     
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  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Yes sir...... no sir .... I'm a reprobate sir :)
     

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