The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    It oughta be Funny Face tomorrow, by the way.
     
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  2. Steve E.

    Steve E. Doc Wurly and Chief Lathe Troll

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    "He is so gay and fancy free." Not a stretch. Ray was winking. Has anyone mentioned the story of the real David Watts that Ray based this on? I was asleep at the wheel that day.
     
  3. Steve E.

    Steve E. Doc Wurly and Chief Lathe Troll

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    David Watts (song) - Wikipedia

    Background
    The song is about the singer's great admiration of fellow schoolboy David Watts, who appears to have a "charmed life". There is an undercurrent of either deep envy or, as AllMusic put it, "a schoolboy crush". It is also, as Jon Savage has written, one of Ray Davies' "sharpest homoerotic songs". As Ray Davies confirmed in The Kinks: The Official Biography by Savage, "David Watts is a real person. He was a concert promoter in Rutland." Ray goes on to relate how the real Watts was gay and demonstrated an obvious romantic interest in brother Dave. In this light, lines such as "he is so gay and fancy free" and "all the girls in the neighbourhood try to go out with David Watts... but can't succeed" provide a second level of interpretation based on this ironic in-joke.[2]

    Not to mention "And when I lie on my pillow at night..."
     
  4. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    W
    What is left out here is that while the character’s name is that of a real person that Ray knew, the character itself is based on a different person with whom Ray went to school, whose name Ray will not divulge and who’s sexuality is unknown to the public. In any event, the sexuality of Watts need not have any affect on the narrator’s feelings about him.

    “Lie on my pillow” could easily be a version of “Lie my head on my pillow.” that was shortened so it would scan properly.
     
  5. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Mark mentioned the full story in his initial post on the track but no one referred back to it until your post. There's no doubt to me that that element is there in the song, especially since Ray and Dave were so candid about the inspiration for the name of the character in their respective books.

    Yes, it was an injoke and the real David Watts was nothing like the 'abominable golden child' (C) John Mendelsohn 1972) character of the song, but Ray knew what he was doing, and the allusions in lines like 'he is so gay' are there if anyone wants to follow them.

    Now I want to also emphasise that that doesn't mean that a homosexual crush is what the song is 'really about' or anything so prosaic, only that that connotation is part of the colour of the track. I think the much camper voice Ray uses in the earlier take below is another piece of evidence that he was being playful with this undercurrent.

    'Harry Rag' being about dope is a complete non starter though imo, do not pass go, throw it out of court! Not having that. Part of the reason I love The Kinks so much is they would never write a song like that, and, even if they had done, they especially wouldn't have done it in 1967!

     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2021
  6. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Welcome to the thread.

    Try not to race ahead of us ...

    Cheers
     
  7. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I think the gay link to this song is very tenuous lyrically, in spite of Ray trying to hook Dave up with David Watts for free beer... Yes I posted about the real David Watts in the OP.
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Funny Face.

    mono mix (2:17), recorded May-Jun 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London

    You're walking 'round in my memory
    That only gets stronger and stronger
    Smudged mascara and pill-shaped eyes
    Everything you want was bought with lies.

    But what can I do about it
    The say you won't last any longer
    All the gates of love you won't walk through
    The only gates you see are colored blue.

    I see you peering through frosted windows
    Eyes don't smile, all they do is cry
    Funny Face, she's all right
    Funny Face, she's all right
    Funny Face, she's all right

    Oh how can I live without her
    The doctors won't let me see her
    But I can catch a glimpse through the doorway
    Of the girl that I love and care for

    I see you peering through frosted windows
    Eyes don't smile, all they do is cry
    Funny Face, she's all right
    Funny Face, she's all right
    Funny Face, she's all right

    Written by: Dave Davies
    Published by: Noma Music, Inc. BMI

    So we had a context given to us for this song earlier. This is another song about Dave's love Sue, who essentially was taken from him by interfering parents, after she got pregnant..... and for anyone that missed it Dave finally met his daughter years later.

    With that context these lyrics take a sharp focus.... The memory of Sue won't go away, it is permanently walking around in his memory, and the false premise for her being taken away only makes the feeling stronger and stronger.

    Smudged mascara suggests she is crying, and it took a big lie for this to happen. Of course that is due to Dave and Sue each being told that the other doesn't love them, and it was all just fake and false and they need to get over it.
    We get further logic about the smudged mascara when we get to the chorus "I see you through frosted windows, eyes don't smile all they do is cry" .... This paints a picture of Dave being driven away from Sue on a cold winters day.... The windows frosted from the hot breath in the car, and the crying due to being told this love they had was a lie... To me this paints a picture almost as well as Ray's songs have been doing.

    The second verse implies that Dave has been told that she is going to die.... "They Say You Won't Last Any Longer" " The Only Gates You See Are Coloured Blue". In the third verse this is taken to the next level "How Can I live Without Her, The Doctors Won't Let Me See Her" .... This could just be written into the song, but it would be interesting to know if this - "she is sick and going to die" story was used on the kids when they were separated - so all you folks that have read the guy's books, give us the info please.

    The illness context gives us a context for the chorus also..... "Funny Face She's All Right" could be seen as either a realisation that he has been lied to, or it could be his refusal to believe what he has been told is true.

    In light of the context being given, this track makes an awful lot of sense, and it also gives this song a certain power ..... Without the context, the lyrics still make sense .... there is nothing remotely about the band the Faces in here, but that's cool, without looking at the lyrics our imaginations can often create narratives that appeal to us.

    Musically this song is really quite intense.
    We open with this mystery movie type guitar riff, and then get this punchy descending sounding chord pattern. At the end of the first verse we get the insistent drums, and yea I guess we could draw comparisons to several songs with that.... Actually the Yardbirds Shapes Of Things is the first thing that comes to mind for me ....

    After the second verse we move into the pre-chorus, and following those insistent drums, it creates a wonderful contrast. We have the bass and the almost ghostly organ creating a great atmosphere for Dave to be crying in the car as he "see's you through frosted windows" as he is driven away for the girl he loves who is reportedly dying.... or at least extremely ill.
    This is followed by another slightly shorter drum crescendo and punches into the chorus proper.
    The chorus in context with what we have learned about where the meaning of this song lays, is excellent. We get this almost manic punching of the guitar chords .... and I can picture someone locked in a room, or in this instance a car, and struggling to get out, and an anger and a frenzy .... The chorus almost has a kind of punk feel. It is really very aggressive, and when we take it with the lyrics, it gives me the impression of an angry reaction to this false news that Funny Face is dying or incredibly ill. It is like that angry at the world feeling when something tragic happens that makes us want to rebel against the information. Again I see someone, in this instance Dave lashing out yelling "No, She's Alright!" she isn't dying She's All Right.
    Then at the end of the phrase it has this winding down feel, as the last note is held and bent upward a few notes .... drifting away ... almost like a reluctant acceptance of the situation.

    At the end that final note in the chorus doesn't do the held bending .... it drifts off and we get this angry, punching and thrashing ....

    This is just another excellent song, and again for me, particularly with a direct context for the story being told, we have the music and the lyrics just matching perfectly.
    This may be one of Dave's finest songs up to this point. Lyrically it tells a quite powerful story and the music is just spot on. The sort of mysterious feel of the riff, reflects the mystery of why are they being split up, even if she is dying.... how cruel to separate two people when one is dying, or incredibly ill ... and I experienced that last year with my wife's mother dying in hospital, and nobody being allowed to go and see her ... and I still want to punch someone's face in about that ...
    Then we get that reflective beautiful pre-chorus as Dave stares out the window as he is driven away. Then we get the angry chorus .....

    This song really captures all of the elements in here perfectly ..... and as I say, particularly with the context being so clear, this ends up being a wonderful piece of writing from Dave, and proves once more that writing from the heart is always the most effective writing.




     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2021
  9. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    I hear the Who in the opening riff, something off Sell Out or some Townshend demo. Then the suspended drum fill is straight out of Donovan’s Mellow Yellow (the Yardbirds song fits as well), the psychedelic break in an aural daze is part Dr Robert, part Itchycoo Park, part another song that I can’t put my finger on (probably produced by Gary Usher ?). This could lead to think that it’s not the most original song on Something Else. But at the same time, if it does indeed evoke such classics, it must be pretty good, right? And extremely diverse! I count four distinct parts, four moods in fast succession. Dave must’ve really studied the Itchycoo Park/Dead End Street cubist school of songwriting.
    Anyway, the music screams 1966-7 in a most agreeable way. So agreeable I’d never bothered looking into the lyrics before listening more closely this morning. They’re pretty cryptic but really devastating once you put it all together with the autobiographical clue in mind. I’ll admit I have a tendency to dismiss Dave’s songs a bit. Well maybe dismiss is not the right word, but they don’t have the same “auteur” aura as Ray’s in my mind. But this thread's methodical scrutiny is fast changing that, especially in the face of his remarkable set of songs on Something Else. And Funny Face may very well be the best of the three…
     
  10. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Great write up Mark. This is yet another fantastic song on this album that I'm still sore about being dismissed as 'filler' in early internet reviews I read. It's bloody fantastic, and definitely imo Dave's greatest composition up to this point. So much going on here melodically and musically, so many great shifts in mood inside just over 2 minutes.

    Your point about the chorus being a cry of exhaltation/exasperation that the subject of the song is, despite all the worries and rumours, doing ok is well made and makes it the perfect compliment to the track it eventually became the B-side to, 'Susannahs Still Alive', whose title seems to make a similar declaration. Original/not immediately intuitable subject matter to be sure. The Sue situation may have been very tragic for Dave personally but it has to be said it grounded his work in a significant degree of emotional depth from an early age.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2021
  11. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    Another great Dave Davies song!
     
  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I have to say, I am guilty of this too.
    At the very least on this album he has really moved on from being a novel change of feel, to having something quite powerful to say....
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Another extremely thematic single then... with Funny Face working like a prequel....
    I wasn't aware of this yet. Cheers mate

    Has any other band ever had so many singles that work this way?
     
  14. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Just ordered Something Else (my first non-compilation Kinks album :D) thanks to this discussion :agree:

    I completely agree about the Kinks being accessible to kids. In my mind that's an entirely positive thing as it indicates there is something in the music and words that really plays into the imagination. Most adults don't have half the imagination of the average kid, more's the pity, but if we can hold onto the feeling the songs we loved gave us, we can be transported straightback to childhood.

    I certainly found huge appeal in the Kinks music as a kid, and as I've grown up I've come to see some of the songs differently and get more from them in different ways. As a child I loved the upbeat sounds of Autumn Almanac and Dedicated Follower..., but also the less upbeat Waterloo Sunset. Other favourites that take me right back include Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles (the face in the jar by the door really interested me!), Waters Of March covered by Art Garfunkel, Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer, and Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harem. Interestingly, these are all fairly melancholy.

    What my childhood favourites have in common is that they tell a story, and the musical setting is integral in conjuring up imagery and moving the story along. I think the Kinks do this really really well, and I just wish I'd heard Tin Soldier Man and Afternoon Tea as a child!

    I agree that Tin Soldier Man does have a rhythm in common with various kids songs; Two Little Boys or the Court of King Caractacus by Rolf Harris come to mind.

    On the perceived lack of sophistication in kids music, I don't think kids automatically like simplistic music at all - I think that's an assumption made by adults and imposed on kids. In my mind, if my 3 year old wants to hear a piece of music again it is doing its job well. His favourites are, unexpectedly, not all massively upbeat or 'unsophisticated' either (we've mainly played him our own 'adult' music, not specific kids stuff).
    I haven't tried the Kinks in a while but a lot of their music fulfills most of the points above, and I'm sure he'd love the crawly caterpillar now! :D
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2021
  15. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Funny Face
    Nice bass part. I like the little falsetto section about the window. Until that point it seemed to be more about the bass and drum than the vocal line or melody, so I was pleasantly surprised at the change into that section but didn't get a lot else from it in a first listen.

    I will listen again in light of the story that @mark winstanley explained in the post above as the context definitely helps, thank you, especially as I'm not really a 'rock' music lover which is probably why it didn't appeal much to me at first. However I am a great lover of storytelling in song so will probably get more from that side of it :)
     
  16. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    "Funny Face"

    A nice bouncy track that opens with an infectious guitar riff. Must admit I couldn't understand a few of the words until reading the lyrics in Mark's post. The best part is the unusual, dreamy pre-chorus section. I have tended to overlook this track somewhat over the years, but reading the story behind it suggests that it has more depth than I've given it credit for. Anyway, it is one of Dave's best songs and is certainly worthy of its place on this album alongside some of his brother's greatest works.
     
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    My nephew loved Deep Purple's Child In Time when he was about five :)
     
  18. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Agreed. The Who and the Small Faces is what I thought of initially. In the opening (and then at the very end a touch of The Who again).

    After reading Mark’s introduction (and the upthread material) on the background of the lyrics...it’s almost startling to find the song come and gone so quickly. I pretty much dismissed this one but will pay more attention now that I’m aware of it’s origins.
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Oh, and yes, another song that brings something else different to the table
     
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  20. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Funny Face

    Another one who heard the Who here. Dave's vocal is solid, but I can't help thinking Roger belongs here.

    In any case, an excellent song that proves the other Davies was also capable of penning a multi layered lyric with some depth.
     
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  21. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    Funny Face
    I used to find this song grating but I’ve really warmed to it of late. That’s partly due to knowing the demons that were driving Dave’s lyrics. But it’s also due to the sophistication of the tune. Dave doesn’t seek the easiest way out and the result is a surprisingly engaging song that doesn’t overstay its welcome. While not in the same style it reminds me of something that could be found on the White Album: the Happiness is a Warm Gun of Something Else.
     
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  22. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    I’ve heard many a five year old in supermarkets with lungs like Ian Gillan :eek:
     
  23. Steve E.

    Steve E. Doc Wurly and Chief Lathe Troll

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Note that this song was released a few months before "The Who Sell Out." Of course there could have been an earlier Who influence.

    I like listening to "Funny Face." It works as a piece of music with words, as a performance, as a recording.

    That said, it is cryptic as all heck. I tend to feel that for a song to meet some criteria of written "greatness," it has to function without the benefit of whatever backstory might have inspired it. But I may place too much value on understanding things. In any event, I don't want to be confused ( =distracted) by a personal explanation of a song by its artist when I'm listening to it. (He says, after relating Ray's personal backstory of David Watts in a post a few hours ago.)

    Without Dave's backstory, I would tend to assume this song is about being kept from the delivery room while one's partner is in labor. In that context "won't last any longer" would mean giving birth. Then, perhaps he's seeing the baby having been successfully delivered. In that case, Funny Face is the baby.

    But the earlier verses don't line up with that. What's that bit about "Everything you want was bought with lies"? What are these gates, which aren't the gates of love, and why are they painted blue?

    Another possibility is that the girl is in a psychiatric hospital, and it is _she_ that Dave is seeing through the windows. In that case, "Funny Face she's all right" could mean "there is nothing wrong with her, but you are acting like she's crazy."

    The choruses sounds almost psychotic, especially the final lines which rise into a falsetto. It moves into a rough, clattering 7/4 time for a few measures just before that. The song shares a little moment with "Afternoon Tea," where the band kicks into frantic triplet strumming right before the choruses.

    The stereo mix goes on longer--it fades out at the end of the 5th riff, instead of the middle of the 3rd. That makes quite a difference.

    This song is even weirder than "Lazy Old Sun." That's a good thing.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2021
  24. Steve E.

    Steve E. Doc Wurly and Chief Lathe Troll

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Here's another possibility. Drug overdose? Is that what "pill shaped eyes" refers to? And the doctors are afraid she won't survive, but she does. In that case, "She's all right" indicates a happy, relieved outcome to the story.
     
  25. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Without knowing, in advance, the background of the song lyrics, this is what I would have thought: drug overdose. But I wouldn’t go so far as a happy ending. The “she’s all right” could mean that the narrator is saying she’ll be all right now that she’s hospitalized (and getting professional care) of the narrator could be saying that just to reassure himself...or even just saying he cared about her.

    But I guess we all know that isn’t what the lyrics mean!
     
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