The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

"No Return" is a song I had previously paid little attention to, but since revisiting SE lately it is the song that has most...ahem...returned to pop into my head. It is such an atypical style for The Kinks that it seems it might have been an experimental songwriting exercise on Ray's part, but I too think it's beautiful.

 

Why don’t you just remix the episode?

 

Love and prayers brother. Get yourself well, and then you can fill in the blanks later

 

Happy Birthday Ray!

 

Nice to have it confirmed in that thread that my Arthur CD has the left and right channels the wrong way round - only noticed this a couple of weeks ago!

 

Enjoyed your post as I also talked up No Return as it is a favourite of mine from the LP!

 

Have you posted it here Frederick?

 

Which edition is this?

 

I really hope so Brook, I wish you the best of luck with your health!

 

Love Me Till the Sun Shines
I only read a few folks' thoughts on this one. Sounds like the lyrics leave some people a little confused which is understandable. I was just reading Dave's autobiography over the weekend and he claims this song is about his old girlfriend Sue who got pregnant with his baby. Each set of parents told their kid that their lover was no longer interested in them. Many of Dave's songs around this time are about losing Sue(Funny Face is one, as well as later on, Susannah's Still Alive).
quote from the book:
"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' was also also about those feelings"
putting the lyrics aside(which I can easily do if the music is compelling enough), I really love this song. I like the down and dirty feel to it which is lightened by the organ.
I get the groovy 60s feeling with:
Baby, baby I don't know what I'm doing
Everything I do it turns to ruin
I can feel Dave's head swirling about what went down with this girl. I think he simply just wants her back...and get some answers. Desperation.
oh, also love the drum break in there. Very cool.

 

This recording sounds like they recorded this in a mechanical room.

 

Well shoot, you beat me to this. sorry for being repetitive, everyone.

 

Happy Birthday, Sir Ray!
hope it's a healthy and happy one. xo

 

Love Me Til The Sun Shines is one of my least favorite Kinks songs. The lyrics are not very Kinks like and the music utterly forgettable.

 

i heard celluloid heroes today. love that song.

although for some(?) reason. it reminds me musically of "puff the magic dragon" ha

 

Get better soon. Anyone who has Frank Drebin as a avatar is a good person w/taste!

 

The Kinks really cook on this BBC version. I still think Mick did his best playing on Dave's songs 68-69 (this recording is from '68).

 

Please note that this video was linked up thread by @Fortuleo.

 

1989 Castle release, CLACD 162

 

Some here have accused me of being Sir RDD himself hiding behind an alias. There seems no point in arguing either way so I will simply submit the lyrics to a song I wrote when I was thirteen and let you draw the obvious conclusion.

This is a Calypso with a standard verse/chorus pattern and a single, simple bridge. The title is obvious.


I had a taco yesterday
Then I went outside to play
But I couldn’t remain, it’s such a sin
Cause what I ate would not stay in

Oh taco, oh taco
Don’t eat a taco, when you dine

Oh taco new or taco old
To eat one you must be quite bold
It may taste good but don’t forget
You will end up with much regret

Oh taco, oh taco
Don’t eat a taco, when you dine

Eat it up or wolf it down
You will end up with frown
After you finish going to town
It will come out green not brown

Oh taco, oh taco
Don’t eat a taco, when you dine

Taco, Taco
Just what can it be
Taco, Taco
Why do you so hate me

Tacos are not good for you
The reasons to eat them are far and few
Cook one up but put it down
Before you ruin your pretty gown

Oh taco, oh taco
Don’t eat a taco, when you dine

I could go on til the cows come home
But I think it’s time to end this poem
The porcelain object waits for me
I’ve been rejected by society

Oh taco, oh taco
Don’t eat a taco, when you dine

Oh taco, oh taco
Don’t eat a taco, when you dine

Oh taco, oh taco
Don’t eat a taco, when you dine

 

lol nice one mate

 

Lazy Old Sun.

mono mix (2:46), recorded Jun 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London

Lazy old sun
What have you done to summertime?
Hiding away
Behind all those misty thunder clouds
I don't mind
To spend my time
Looking for you
For you are my one reality
When I'm dead and gone
Your light will shine eternally
Sunny ray, shine my way
Kiss me with one ray of light from your lazy old sun

You make the rainbows and you make the night disappear
You melt the frost so I won't criticize my sun

When I was young
My world was three foot, seven inch tall
When you were young
There was no world at all
Sunny ray, shine my way
Kiss me with one ray of light from your lazy old sun

Lazy old sun
Lazy old sun
Lazy old sun

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

Lyrics for "Lazy Old Sun" kindakinks.net

The is such an unusual song, but is it all it may seem ...
Musically we get this descending chord pattern that drops a half step each time. We do get a change up, but initially we get this descending pattern and the way it is constructed it is like we are descending into a deep depression, and in that light it is terribly effective.

Lyrically this almost sounds like Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is actually a real illness. Depression is one of the most common disorders that folks in the world have to deal with, and it isn't just having the blues, or having a bad day, it is actually a mental condition that doesn't always make sense, and for those that suffer from it, it can have a tremendous effect on their ability to function. The seasonal variation of this condition is generally connected to winter... it is believed that in some people a lack of vitamin D has a strong connection to depression, and particularly Seasonal depression.... Anyway this isn't a medical class, but the lyrics here seem to point in this direction.

One thing that folks in England have to deal with is the famous/infamous weather, that can often be along the dreary side of things.
In the first verse we get Ray singing about the sun hiding behind the thunderclouds, and he can get by with that, but he'll spend his time looking for the sun to shine through.
This moves into the idea that the sunshine is the one thing in life that bears a resemblance to reality for him, and this sun was here before him, and will be here after him.
One could go with the idea that the sun is being used as a metaphor for the good times, but it seems like there are too many direct references to the sun as an object rather than a feeling.

"Kiss me with one ray of light from your lazy old sun" is such a beautiful line, particularly in the context of this track..... I don't know, but each time I hear it in the song, it is like sweet relief from the darkness surrounding. It is almost like the singer is begging for the sun to shine in his life.

The change/bridge is like a joyous celebration of how the sun takes away the darkness and the cold, and it again works beautifully.

The second verse is somewhat even more profound.... When I was young I was little, when you were young there wasn't even a world, what an extreme contrast.... being able to accept that in the big scheme of things we are so small.

This is such an excellent lyric, and the way it is framed by the music is even better.

It is extremely interesting to me that this is probably the closest thing to really psychedelic on this album, even though I am not really sure I would classify it as psychedelic in the general sense of the word...... but here we have a song about deep depression, likely in the form of Seasonal Affective Disorder, and not tripping in the sunshine with cartoonlike realities .... we actually have an assessment of reality, in the I am just this small insignificant creature in this huge world that is bigger and older than my tiny mind is able to comprehend..... it almost makes a mockery of the whole mind expanding narrative of the psychedelic Timothy Leary movement.

Sorry if I'm rambling, but this is a really interesting track, and it has much more going on than a "trippy" sound and feel.

As I say, musically, the verses work as driving us into the feeling of depression. It has this unreal, and overwhelming heavy drone vibe, that drags us down with it.
The relentless shaker, the pulsating and aggressive drums, the ever lowering hum, the guitar moaning in pain as it slides into this abyss......
Then we get a slight relief as the music rests, and Ray sings Kiss me with one ray of light from your lazy old sun....
Then that chirpy reflection in the bridge, that soon falls back into the depression that the sun is still lost and we need it to return.

The use of horns to accent these feelings and musical statement is excellent.

Although on an initial listen this track may just seem really anti-social, or just plain weird, I reckon it is one of Ray's most direct and successful songs, in what it seems to be trying to share.

The outro with the horn accents, and the ghostly backing vocals, that seem like they were an inspiration for the sound that Neutral Milk Hotel were going for on the Aeroplane Over The Sea album..... is superb

To me this is a song that sounds somewhat psychedelic in its delivery, but it is essentially really grounded, and addresses a lot of serious issues, even if not in a completely direct way.

In some ways this is one of the highlights on the album .....

and guess what?
It is a song that yet again, sounds completely different to everything that came before it....
This album is kicking goals with both feet and knocking the ball out of the park .... however you would prefer to describe it......

 

"Lazy Old Sun" is mindblowing. So much to enjoy in this. The wooziness created by the crazy modulations in the verse, the trumpet in the lead-up to the climax, the way Ray delivers the "kiss me with one ray of light..." line, the drumming, the outro - is that Rasa's vocals again in the background? And the lyrics are fantastic - is Ray talking to himself with the "sunny ray, shine my way" line? Also love how it leaves us hanging - "when I'm dead and gone / your light will shine eternally" - you're waiting for the word "on" to complete the rhyme but it never comes. A wonderful track that sounds like nothing else on the planet.

 

I always wondered if it was ‘you melt the frost so I won’t criticise my- ‘sun’ or ‘son’. The former wouldn’t seem to make much sense as the song is already addressed to the sun. But the latter seems a bit too prosaic: Ray as an older Dad moaning that his son hasn’t cleared the snow out of the drive? Hmm, not sure.

 

On to side 2 and it's another winner. Arguably the best song on the album. One of many great UK songs of the 60s dealing with the weather!