As usual, everyone has better articulated thoughts on this song than I could, and this is as good a sum-up as any! It's this kind of insight and writing that keep me hooked to this thread! On the lines Just open your ears and follow your nose/'Cos the street is shakin' from the tapping of toes, I do find the "follow your nose" phrase a little odd when followed by "street is shakin'." Is it just a convenient rhyme for "toes," or is there some odor there that is noticeable but not yet identified by the singer? Perhaps smelly business dealings, "something rotten in Denmark," as it were? I have the same dilemma! While it would never make my Kinks Top 50, and it feels more like a throwaway to serve the libretto than a standalone composition, it's almost too fun to exclude! P.S. I found the "Preview" button. Yay!
I always thought the ‘follow your nose’ but referred to publishers ‘sniffing’ out a hit song, but I have to admit I love the ‘something rotten in the st(reet) of Denmark’ interpretation!
Apart from the song cycle thing, I think you may be missing the point. The satire is in the contrast between the hopes/dreams of the idealistic (naive ?) musicians and the mater-of-fact attitude of the publishers, and how this attitude, in itself, is discouraging and soul-crushing for the musicians, not career-wise but humanity-wise. I mean, if you see yourself as an artist, you want people to love whatever you do and embrace it, not see it as retail sausages that they can put a price on and take profit from. But reversely, Ray doesn't forget to make fun of the ego driven naivety of the artists, being put off by the game they want to play. The song works because you can actually see the characters and the different attitudes towards life and towards the very idea of trying to make it in the music business. The young kids, having just bonded on the road of rock'n roll life in Strangers, and imagining themselves as pure hearts and romantic artists, just start to understand their place in the world they chose for themselves. By the way, happy 400, guys !
"Denmark Street" My brief thoughts on this song accidentally got deleted twice while I was trying to post some photos. @Fortuleo has already summed up my opinions on this song better than I could have anyway! A fun tune that is in a tough position being sandwiched in-between two of the best tunes on the album. I visited Denmark Street on a trip to London. It was fascinating being there! So mush music history on that street. I tried to upload a few photos but it wasn't working. I need to shrink down the photos. One was a photo of a plaque that had these lyrics on it. I believe it was hanging in Regent Sound Studios.
(I’m pretty certain it means to follow your gut/instincts) but rotten kinda ...no, I don’t think it works!)
"Denmark Street": the dense music (and styling thereof) during the verses reminds me a lot of some Bob Dylan tracks circa Highway 61 Revisited through Blonde on Blonde. Which I like, but the verse melody is too repetitive for me despite my liking the lyrics. The middle section is the bit I enjoyed best. Not a bad song but obviously no one was going to call it a single. It serves its purpose in the plot. Again, though, I think I need to listen to the entire LP in sequence as nature intended to really appreciate this track. I bet the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I guess if we're rating these I'd give it 3/5. Listenable, by no means drek, but not something I'd put on to impress someone unfamiliar with the Kinks.
As for "follow your nose," probably a play on Hamlet (Act I, Scene 4) as well as a reference to fishy business, "something stinks about this," and so on. (I'm surprised nobody mentioned back when "The Village Green Preservation Society" lyrics were discussed and someone wondered about why Ray Davies seemed to swap out "preserving" and "protecting": I always assumed he was punning on the previous line about "strawberry jam," which of course would be a type of preserve. Could be I'm wrong but his lyrics often seem playful in that way.)
Hello, sorry to deride the thread slightly, but was The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society double album tracklist ever disclosed?
Yea, I'm not sure they even got to that stage. The 12 track releases came out, and then Ray threw what we have now together....
And that is the scourge of concept albums created in the 60’s and 70’s when experienced in the age of digital music, where an artist’s deliberate sequencing—often necessary to justify a song’s purpose—comes undone with “random play” options and user controlled playlists. Oh, would that Shakespeare suffer the same fate and have Romeo commit suicide in Act 5, before the playgoer sees him meet Juliet in Act 1!
This is exactly why I keep telling folks I prefer to play a vinyl LP (assuming it's an album from the "vinyl era") all the day through in the order sequenced by the artist. I'm only doing this LP track by track without context because I don't have a copy anymore. I'll probably buy it when I have the discretionary cash. (This thread will surely cost me a lot of money. ) I should also note that when I say a track is "3/5," that's by Kinks standards; for most other acts that's probably a 4/5 or higher. This thread is only making me appreciate the Kinks more than I did before.
I'm counting 7 or 8 studio albums I don't have up through Phobia, which I actually bought on CD when it was released but which has since vanished. Kids, a mortgage, and a preference for vinyl records...I tell ya.
Strangers: The first couple of times I listen to the song, I was a little disappointed. I had pretty high expectations as I had seen elsewhere that people were raving about this particular song. I might’ve gone into it with the wrong assumptions, knowing it was a Dave song, I kind of thought he would be bringing the rock ‘n’ roll. Once I sat down with a pair of headphones and listened to it undisturbed though, everything about it fell right into place and I would now rate it very highly. I’m not sure I would select it as my favorite Dave song ever, but it’s definitely among the top four or five without a doubt. I find myself walking around singing it quite regularly, so that tells me something! Denmark Street: Others have said it well, I see this song as one of the lesser songs on the album, but honestly I think I rate pretty much every song on this album as five stars (out of a possible 5, to be clear) so I must like this one too. It’s a fun, fast paced little ditty that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Despite not having a chorus, it manages to be quite catchy once you know the words. I like it enough that I would certainly put it onto a mixed playlist comprised are various songs from various kinks albums, but above and beyond that, it clearly is quite instrumental and necessary in telling the story this album intends to tell.
Denmark Street Obviously if you're trying to convince someone that the Kinks are the best, you maybe wouldn't start with this song. But I find it most enjoyable. And funny. Ray always gets my heart with the funny. I mean "Just open your ears and follow your nose" Hysterical. Short and fun! It's not meant to be be Waterloo Sunset after all and that's fine with me. The vocals on this remind me of maybe punk...or the Specials(Terry Hall). The talky-singing kind of thing. Someone mentioned the Stones, so maybe that too. Something about the vocals sounds so familiar but I can't nail down how.
The key was that Loog knew what he saw and that he had to sign the Stones fast and worry about career details and promotion later along the way! Edit: Andrew aided and abetted the Stones natural style which was brilliant exploitation but i would argue the point that it was solely his creation. Don Arden....boy I feel sorry for Steve Marriott!
The thing is, this song wasn’t meant to be listened to as a stand alone song. It’s strictly part of an album and is intended to be heard between the longer, more sophisticated and more serious Strangers and Get Back in Line. As such, I think it should be evaluated based on its intended purpose, just as a palate cleanser in a multi course meal would never be judged by the same standards as the primary courses.