Moments stereo mix (2:55), recorded 11, 12 Oct 1970 at Morgan Studios (2), Willesden, London Come on love Let's forget about all the things that we've done wrong Just remember all of the things that we've done right I'm in no mood to argue and I'm in no mood to fight So let the tears pass you by Don't you cry, don't you cry, don't you cry And I ain't gonna let this big world get me down I've gotta learn to keep a hold of my head and keep my feet on the ground Moments of ecstatic happiness And the moments of stress that we had better forget But love, I got a feeling that I've said it all before I said it before I say I'll never do you wrong but then I go and do the same again I don't know why, don't know why Don't know why, don't know why, don't know why We gotta learn to share these moments in our lives And never let it get us down, we gotta put up a fight Moments to remember all our lives From the first brief hello to the last good-bye I say I'll never do you wrong but then I go and do the same again I don't know why, don't know why Don't know why, don't know why, don't know why We gotta learn to share these moments in our lives And never let it get us down, we gotta put up a fight Moments to remember all our lives From the first brief hello to the last good-bye Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Coronado Music This track starts off sounding a little like a demo or something, with a fade up on a guitar, and then we move into an organ driven moderate tempo track…. It sort of gives me the feeling that this was recorded earlier than it says. It seems to look back a little to a somewhat Something Else/Village Green time, when Ray was playing with a lot of tracks that used a lot of chord progressions to construct the vocal melody around. We have this listed as being recorded with all the other tracks mainly seeming to be recorded over three or four days in October 1970. Lyrically we could almost be following straight on from The Way Love Used To Be. This looks more at making the most of our time together. At first it seems like they are having an argument, and the message is to let failures pass us by and focus on the things that have gone right. Focus on the good things, and let the bad things slide away. In the second section we have Ray singing “I say I'll never do you wrong but then I go and do the same again” … Is this about cheating, and wanting to be forgiven, because we didn’t mean anything by it? … oh dear… This kind of seems a little more like a Dave lyric, because although there are some straight forward statements, there are a few sort of obtuse references. It sort of makes me feel like this is a song Ray hadn’t quite knocked into shape in some ways. I like the song, it has a plaintive, yearning kind of sound and feel that is appealing, and the melody is quite engaging. We get strings embellishing the song again here, and they work pretty well, but not as well as in The Way Love Used To Be. It’s really interesting to me that these two songs are somewhat less Kinksy and seem a little more personal. Even more interesting is the songs don’t seem to be connected to the movie theme. It almost seems like Ray had a couple, or a few songs that didn’t completely fit the way the Kinks do things, and then slotted them into this soundtrack so that they didn’t just disappear. I like this song, but not as much as the other two songs we have looked at so far. It is quite pretty and heartfelt, but it seems slightly unfinished, or not quite tightened up in the writing stage. Or perhaps it is just the sort of loose way it is arranged. There is no denying that the melodic movement is really good and Ray has us sliding through a few different keys that give it a rotational kind of feel. It sort of reminds me of something stylistically, but it isn’t coming to mind what. We get a nice lead break that has a kind of George Harrison type feel about it. I like the unresolved finish, because I think that’s always a nice way to end a song, it makes it feel like you need to hear it again…. Almost like you missed something. This track is very new to me, and I like it. There are actually some things that I love about it, but it doesn’t feel like it is quite finished off.
“Moments” are a bit like “days”, only much shorter. They are fragments and impressions, flashes of memories, glimpses of emotions, while days express the idea of slices of life, a more lasting feeling. That’s why Moments is a bit like Days, but so much sadder. The 1968 single was a bittersweet self-effacing celebration and its Percy little cousin song is a devastating plea, full of regrets and suffering, a "love will tear us apart" kind of thing. One was about a blissful affair, something light enough to be thankful for, the other is about the inescapable fading of a relationship, something serious enough to be sorry for. Much, much heavier. We’ve all experienced moments like that (and this is one of the beauty of those extraordinary lyrics: the song itself becomes one of the “moments” it’s talking about). Moments where we still try to comfort and mend and make sense of things, while being confusedly aware that it’s already too late. The singer’s trying to reach out to his loved one, but there’s a sense of incommunicability, of things already being beyond repair. Don’t you cry, don’t you cry, don’t you cry. Well, she’s definitely crying, mate, nothing you can do about it now… As @Mark remarks, the chord sequence is beautiful and clever, it starts as a conventional chromatic descent, then it takes weird detours, reaching surprising plateaus and unexpected rebounds, while Ray’s singing becomes either comforting (so let the tears pass you by…), anxiously insistent (don’t you cry…) or ruminative and conversational, lost in his own contradictions and questioning (I gotta learn to keep a hold of my head and keep my feet on the ground…). The arrangement is superb, I think the longing strings are fabulous, and the treatment of the guitar is really something else: just a little singer-songwriter demo-ish intro, then it’s taken out of the mix, discreetly coming back mid-song before a sensational economical solo (I agree about the Harrison comparison, because of its chromatic quality, like on Something or Learning How to Love You). After God’s Children and The Way Love Used to Be, this is the third definitive masterstroke of this soundtrack in my opinion. To be fair with @Mark's little reservations, though, my passion for it was less immediate than for the two others. Now, it's up there with them and I just hope they never do a “weakest link” Percy game on the forum. If there was one, I’d refuse to take part to the last three rounds.
"Moments" This is another very nice song - I wouldn't put it up with my very favourite Kinks songs, as my attention tends to drift away a bit by the end of it. What it does have about it is a feeling of finality - of something coming to an end. In this instance it's Ray's marriage, but also the coming end of the Pye contract. And that brief guitar solo sounds to me like it's come in from Abbey Road, which of course has its own atmosphere of finality which seeps into "Moments". But as well as the feeling of something coming to an end, the unresolved ending suggests a new beginning is not far away - and we'll be discussing that in a week or so...
This was another Percy song that Ray seemed to rediscover live in his later years. For his 2010 collaborations album, there was a Europe-only track not included on the English speaking editions where he dueted on it with the Belgian singer Arno, a live TV performance of which can be seen below. I don’t know anything about Arno or what his regular music or rep is like so apologies for my ignorance here, but I have to admit I’m not convinced by how well this song works as a duet or with Arnos added exhortations. Definitely a different take though!
Great point about the finality re: the Pye era. I never thought of it quite like that. There are several songs on this LP that still have that kind of intimate little pop miniatures atmosphere that was common to a lot of the 67-68 Pye stuff but which they'd never recapture thereafter. They’d already largely left that sound behind anyway on the last 2 albums, but some of Percy seems like a final throwback/salute to that sound to me.
Worth pointing out that I first heard these Percy tracks on the long-titled Golden Hour Vol 3 set, where they were mixed in with 67/68 era tracks. While these tracks all sounded good together to me, there were some that sounded "closer to the end", even before I checked the dates on the label and saw that those tracks were marked as 1971.
Moments A very nice song. Ray does not have a technically strong voice but he always seems to find a way to use it to very good effect, perfectly in sync with and enhancing his lyrics. Alas, that is not the case here. I'm sure I would like this song a lot more without the warbling vocal affect, which in this case I find a distraction from rather than enhancement to the lyrics and accompanying music.
I wrote this up yesterday so am posting as-is: Moments: The song starts out in a promising manner with Ray singing in a fragile-sounding, quasi-quavering George Harrison-ish voice: “Come on love Let's forget about all the things that we've done wrong Just remember all of the things that we've done right I'm in no mood to argue and I'm in no mood to fight” But then: “So let the tears pass you by Don't you cry, don't you cry, don't you cry” I don’t like this segment. An overreaction, perhaps, but this little snippet throws the track out of playlist contention. Nope, it just grates on me. Initially, as a matter of fact, I had this on my playlist fast track and had left off The Way Love Used To Be. If my mindset remains the same, (and the odds are high that it will), I suspect this will be how it shakes out; with Moments cast aside and The Way Love Used To Be taking its place.
Interesting lukewarmness so far towards a song that I came to love immensely. As I said in a previous post, it was not instant for me either. Even though I don't publicize them like @Zeki (which I enjoy immensely), I do a lot of playlists myself, not by artists, but by my own life periods. Every three months or so for the last thirty some years, I've done a "mix tape" with my favorite songs of that particular time. I have them all filed, so it gives me a kind of "autobiographical" overview of when and how I first "clicked" with artists, albums and songs. I just checked and I have The Way Love Used To Be on an early 92 tape (when I first got hold of the Great Lost Kinks Album), then God's Children in early 94 (as soon as I got the Percy soundtrack on CD). And Moments only gets its spot on a tape in mid-96, more than two years later (the time it took for me to warm up to it). Since then (25 years), it's been an undisputed favorite of mine. I was at the 2010 Paris show @ajsmith posted, it was a fantastic surprise to hear it then and a highlight of that night for all present.
Moments: I like this one a lot. Very melancholy. I see this as a love affair suffering under the weight of many small, thoughtless hurts that have occurred over the life of the relationship, perhaps on the edge of failing altogether, and our narrator is saying he understands the hurts, but says please consider the happy times and the loving times too. I think it’s beautiful. A moment in a relationship buckling under the weight of the wrongs but trying to prevail based on the balance of the rights.
That is what I was trying to say in my review of "The Way Love Used To Be" basically. As for the song "Moments" itself, I like the guitar intro a lot, but at first I didn't care for the song itself, although it has grown on me. It seems to me a bit light musically compared to the other two "real" songs that we have discussed. Ray did state in X Ray that he wrote "Moments" about his failing marriage w/Rasa, which makes its appearance in Percy somewhat perplexing. I wonder how she felt having a song like that appear in a movie like that?
Moments The dominance of the strings make this feel less of a Kinks song to me. It's not solo Ray with a nice guitar break but it could be. I agree with Mark that it sounds a bit unfinished - which wouldn't necessarily be an issue for its use in a movie. Those reservations aside, I think Ray's quavering vocal works well with these lyrics and the chord changes keep it interesting. It's a very good song to stumble on for the first time, but not one of my enduring favourites.
The lyric distantly reminds me of ‘You Still Believe In Me’ by The Beach Boys, in that it’s a guy acknowledging all his failures and betrayals but still pledging his commitment anew. The difference is in the Beach Boys song, the other party is still very much in love and the guys almost stunned that she’s able to forgive him: it’s a revelatory chance for him to mature if he’s able to take it. In ‘Moments’ the other partners commitment is very much in doubt and there’s more quiet desperation in the lyric and delivery. There’s a suggestion that both parties have made mistakes and things could be beyond repair. It’s a sadder less hopeful (though not entirely hopeless) song.
It's surprising to me how many Kinks songs and albums seem to slowly creep under your skin, and then suddenly it seems like "how did I not always love this?" Six months or so ago Arthur wouldn't have made my top ten, but it is easily top three now.
Moments A new song to me, having first listened to it just a couple weeks ago, and it again has this aching beauty in it that we see on the proper songs on this album so far. I like the fade-in guitar, almost sounds a bit like Radiohead to me. It's very clean to me, and I don't sense a "demo" sounding intro to me... I like the organ in the mix, the simple hi-hat by Mick, a bit of light electric guitar chords by Dave mixed in. I think the strings are a bit heavy (to my ears). That little guitar solo is yes, very Harrison-like, and I also think another bit here that sounds a little Badfinger-ish too. I'm a bit indifferent about Ray's vocal take of "And I ain't gonna let this big world get me down. I've gotta learn to keep a hold of my head and keep my feet on the ground." Ray's voice cracks on "down", and I understand that could convey the emotion of the lyric, but it doesn't completely work for me. Maybe it will grow on me. Until I read the lyrics, I thought the line was "Moments of expected happiness" but honestly I can hear either "ecstatic" or "expected" depending on what my brain is saying when I listen to Ray. I think I prefer "expected" myself, as it leaves the listener ambiguous as to if that happiness ever came, or was it just expected? And enjoying the feeling of hope? I also see this as a bit of a mini-me companion of "Days", as @Fortuleo mentioned upthread. We need to remember the days, the moments, the good and bad. Everything we've experienced shapes who we are today. And the moments of today will shape who we are tomorrow.
Love this thread but only occasionally post on it. So I just wanted to say that 'The Way That Love Used To Be', 'God's Children' and 'Moments' are for me some of the greatest Kinks songs ever. For me, they all pack an emotional punch. I first heard these (along with 'Dreams') on that double album compilation with the ridiculously long title - so didn't associate them with a soundtrack album. They always sounded right up there with 'Two Sisters', 'Phenomenal Cat', 'Big Sky' etc. to me and had that same touching and fragile quality. As someone else said, they seem to represent the end of an era somehow. I must admit I'm not familiar with many of the later albums but, from what I've heard, Ray's writing seemed to grow hard somehow. Was he ever as unguarded again?
Moments A rare moment when i listen to a Kinks song and feel both the Ray lyric and vocal unconvincing. The music and especially the guitar solo are fine but whomever Ray is singing/pleading to they are best advised to walk away given this evidence!
I think there are some later songs that are comparably unguarded and ‘here is my heart’… not least ‘Sweet Lady Genevieve’ 3 albums hence which is if anything even more personal and sad despite attempting to offset this in a courtly medieval disguise… I know what you mean about Ray’s writing hardening later on, esp in the stadium years, but even all the 80s albums have their softer and more direct moments… and at least in my opinion, on a record like ‘Give The People What They Want’, the contrast between the louder crasser crowd pleasing tracks and the softer moments makes the latter shine even more. I know a lot of peoples mileage varies though!
Another lyrical....Moment from Ray "I say I'll never do you wrong but then I go and do the same again I don't know why, don't know why Don't know why, don't know why, don't know why" It's all good and well that he sings about not letting the big world get him down as given the above evidence it would sound meaningless to his partner and furthermore suggesting to her that "we" have to learn to share these moments in our lives sounds like he is in part denial to his abject failings. Leaving aside Ray and Rasa these lines could be about Adultery but to me they sound more like hopeless alcohol or gambling addictions.
"Moments": I would really have liked this song much better if the organ part wasn't so loud and overwhelming and the strings weren't so busy and overpowering. Underneath all that it sounds a rather fragile sentiment. A demo of Ray Davies singing this accompanied by his own guitar or Dave Davies' guitar would have been much more moving. 2/5.
I agree. You all lost me. I'm flabbergasted at the response to this song! It may be my favorite Kinks song of all. It would certainly be one that instantly comes to mind if asked that question. There are few songs that can bring such an emotional response. I have shed many a tear while listening to this song. It hits me hard on so many levels. I have dealt with plenty of stress and anxiety in my life, and I just feel a strong connection to these lyrics. And I ain't gonna let this big world get me down I've gotta learn to keep a hold of my head and keep my feet on the ground Moments of ecstatic happiness And the moments of stress that we had better forget The guitar, organ, and the strings are beautiful and make for a very unique sound. I love the emotion in Ray's voice. An amazing vocal! I think it is one of his best vocals of all time. Dave also nails it with his guitar style and tone. A George Harrison quality is accurate. This is not only one of my favorite Kinks songs, but it's one of my favorite songs, period. While I love the other two songs we have discussed on this album, this one is far and away the song that elevates Percy to classic status. It's also one of my most played songs of the last 20 years, so maybe it will grow on some of you over time. However, I came to this song on the 3 LP Golden Hour compilation and loved it immediately. When I found out it was on an album called Percy it made this album my holy grail. Back then it wasn't an easy album to find. I probably bought the Percy CD at a record show and I cherish this song now as much as ever. Did I mention how much I love this song? "I got a feeling that I've said it all before". As soon as this song ends I almost always play it a couple more times.
