The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Have A Cuppa Tea

    A pleasant knees up, quite light but not necessarily slight.
    I do like Mick's work here though can take or leave Ray's lyrics (perhaps it's because i am not English or big on tea & more a guitar player than tea maker) but the highlight for me is Dave's very tasty guitar licks so i really appreciate it when he has a coupla leads!
     
  2. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Well, British.
     
  3. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    When I grew up, dinner was your lunchtime meal (at dinnertime) and tea was your evening meal (at teatime).
     
  4. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Yes, that's pretty widespread.
     
  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Yea, we grew up with breakfast, lunch and tea.
    When my US wife was first asked "what do you want for tea?" she was quite puzzled.
     
  6. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    They are apparently not tea-totallers!
     
  7. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Have A Cuppa Tea...

    ... or is it Have a cuppa twee?

    In any case, a fun song once I got accustomed to the style and learned to appreciate a cuppa. Also a nice respite from the weight of the other songs on the album so far. Just as the subject matter can be a respite from the day's troubles. Nice association there. Well played, Sir Ray!
     
  8. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Er Alcohol is stronger?
     
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  9. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    "Have A Cuppa Tea", a very pleasant and sing along able song, like many of the songs on this album, about the joys of drinking tea. Although I know that this song is a straightforward one in regards to the lyrics (drinking tea & its benefits), I wonder if Ray knew that "tea" was also used as a code word for "pot" here in the US at the time & probably figured that some members of the audience would overthink the meaning of the song (see Beatles threads in this forum). Just thinking out loud.

    Avid The last man, you are a Martin Newell fan also? Great! He runs neck to neck w/the Kinks as my musical favorites.
     
  10. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Edit: Please don't print what the French equivalent might be for the English!
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2021
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  11. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Les Rosbifs?
     
  12. sharedon

    sharedon Forum Zonophone

    Location:
    Boomer OK
    Love it, along with its cousin, "Jolly Cup of Tea"by Roy Wood's Wizzard:

     
  13. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    I assume in London at least as that's how Pete Townshend & John Entwhistle enquire as to what's for dinner at the beginning of the album The Who Sell Out.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2021
  14. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    I always wondered what the line "so I smoke a pint of tea a day" was about in S&G's "A Simple Desultory Philippic".
     
  15. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    You've lost me with the first example, it sounds like you work so hard in the daytime and have no time to have your sandwich for lunch so save it for dinner!
     
  16. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    She was expecting more infusion than confusion?
     
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  17. side3

    side3 Younger Than Yesterday

    Location:
    Tulsa, OK
    I totally agree with this. This is another of the tracks that has become a real fav of mine. In general, I am more of a 'sound' guy than a 'lyrics' guy, but Ray's lyrics paint such a vivid picture in most cases that they cannot be overlooked. They really stoke my imagination. This is another track that benefits from a great Dave harmony.
     
  18. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Indeed ! Stray Trolleys, Cleaners, Brotherhood of lizards... I'm still in the process of discovering everything, but his output is qualitatively and quantitatively impressive.
     
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  19. Allthingsmusic

    Allthingsmusic Forum Resident

    Love "Have A Cuppa Tea" while I have a cuppa Joe! Great song and wonderful sense of humor!
     
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  20. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    Yeah.
    You give some people an inch then they want a foot.
    You give ‘em a foot and they want a yard.
    You give ‘em a yard and they want a pool in it.
     
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  21. LX200GPS

    LX200GPS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Somewhere Else
    20th Century Man, Here Come The People In Grey, Muswell Hillbillies (and the bonus Lavender Lane) are, im my opinion, what this album is all about. Sure, we meet some of the local misfits and characters along the way, on our journey to that hill in N10, but the lyrics in these four tracks leave very little unsaid about the album's theme, and the other songs portraying the local misfits could have appeared on just about any Kinks LP. So the concept is certainly a looser one than it was on Arthur or Lola Part One.

    Here Come The People In Grey

    I think it was Fortuleo who commented on Ray's call to arms in this song but I don't agree that is the intention of the lyric. His mention of a gun is his attempt to convey to the listener just how mad he is at what is happening. This is the UK and weapons aren't (weren't) as readily available as they are in many other countries and I'm sure most of us have been in situations when talking to people, who were so angry about things, that they blurted out something like "I feel like shooting that bastard". Said it myself many times. Never for a nano-second did I, or they, think there was even the remotest possibility of that happening. So I don't think Ray is encouraging people to take up arms.

    Not far from Muswell Hill lies the North Circular Road. Back in the 1970's it was decided that this very busy road needed an extra lane. Only problem was that meant demolishing many houses. Some residents moved on rather quickly but there were others who took the good fight to the people in grey. The legalities went on and on and it would take the passing of 40 years and every possible legal avenue exhausted before many, but not all, of the houses were demolished. By this time the houses were covered in moss and ivy and their once beautiful gardens looked like overgrown jungles.

    Extract from national newspaper from 2010.

    "When builders began to refurbish 300 houses in Enfield, North London, last month it marked the beginning of the end for a blot on the landscape that has taken 40 years to remove, Duncan Farmer writes. Within two years families will once more be living in homes that have lain empty since they were compulsorily purchased in the early 1970s to make way for the widening of the North Circular Road, which never happened".

    Having received his letter informing him of the compulsory purchase of his castle, the singer of Here Come The People In Grey is not going without a fight, not a gunfight but a legal fight. We know he doesn’t win this fight because Muswell Hillbillies tells the story of his last day in the neighbourhood.
     
  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    It reminds me all of the Australian movie The Castle.
    A suitably working class family in their home next to the airport, and developers want them out, but they fight it out in their own way.
    If anyone likes a good movie, it is a very good movie, and to me at least, a very Australian movie..... one where an Australian knows these characters, they're real people, but someone overseas could very much relate to them, and find them very amusing for different reasons....
    Anyway, The Castle, check it out.
     
  23. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire
    Oh no. I think the solo studio albums deserve the same respect as the Kinks main studio albums.
     
  24. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire
    We have tea at teatime. Around 5.30-6.00pm
     
  25. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire
    Have A Cuppa Tea

    Halleluiah! I love this singalong, and I love a cuppa tea. Well, a mug of tea anyway. Some believe tea tastes better in a bone china cup. I can't tell the difference. I'm off to put the kettle on right now...
     

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