I might equate that Stone's housewife in Mother Little Helper with Priscilla in "Two Sisters." Both woman trapped by gender expectations. The Stone's protagonist escapes through drugs, while the Kinks give it a more optimistic twist. (Wait a minute...I'm jumping a couple of albums ahead here, aren't I?) As for Well Respected man, it can be a bit monotonous but is saved by the fact it is only 2:40 seconds long. There are much worse offenders in their cannon, IMO.
I have heard "Waterloo Sunset" exactly once on US radio as part of regular programming. It was in the late eighties, on a weekend afternoon, on a local album-rock station (DC-101), that played stuff like Tom Petty, Van Halen, John Mellencamp...the basic FM-rock artist roster. The opening notes came on, and I didn't realize it at first, then it hit me -- wait, this is "Waterloo Sunset"! It was a pleasant surprise that I remember to this day (yeah, I know, I need a life) -- I guess DJ's still had at least a little independence back then. I've heard WS on the occasional canned syndicated show or a "special", but that's the only time I've ever encountered it in the wild. Doesn't really matter much now, with all these songs being readily available to us on a mouse click. Back then, you savored these moments. OK, back to our regularly scheduled program before Mark furrows his brow much more...
Curious, as usual. The Kinks - TOP songs playing now on the radio Pertinent to our journey thus far: in last 14 days 1) Lola (Germany 1625; US 1186; UK 352) 2) You Really Got Me (Germany 1237; US 1096; UK 577) 3) All Day ... ( US 724; UK 437; Germany 328) 4) Waterloo Sunset (Germany 498; UK 381; US 183) 5) Come Dancing (US 660; UK 157; UAE 133; Germany 69) 6) Tired of Waiting For You (US 509; UK 259; UAE 141; Germany 102) 7) A Well Respected Man (US 353; Netherlands 59; UK 50; Germany 49) So gives a idea of which songs are getting played. If you click on the site, then song, it’ll give breakdown of which stations and how many times played. I grew up in Japan so looked to see how popular there. Not very! Of these seven, only You Really Got Me and Come Dancing, and just a handful of plays. edit: the first few were US/GERMANY/UK so I concentrated on those numbers. I may have missed a UAE up above. So #’s aren’t 100% in order. But generally are.
I had similar issues in the eighties with music I loved. I stopped listening to the radio in the early nineties, and just haven't been back. It took me up until a few years ago to listen to any of those eighties albums that got murdered by radio.... My turn it off therapy only took about twenty five years to work lol
In the UK, EPs were generally not taken too seriously by the fans. They would assume that the tracks were taken from an issued album or would probably appear later on an album. But for the general public they were a godsend. In 1963, for example, everyone wanted to own Twist And Shout by the Beatles but didn't necessarily have enough money to buy the Please Please Me album, so the Twist And Shout EP sold a quarter of a million copies and made it to number 2 in the singles chart. When an EP contained songs unavailable anywhere else, fans would be aware of it and hear some of the songs on the BBC, but they'd wait to buy it in case the songs turned up on an album. The Beatles Long Tall Sally EP contained four unreleased songs but, despite being a fan, I didn't buy it. The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour was a double EP in the UK so millions bought it because it had 5 unreleased tracks and came just after Pepper. Concerning the Kwyet Kinks EP, fans would probably have been aware of it but wouldn't have bought it for reasons given above. A year later, surprise, surprise, three of these EP tracks turned up on a compilation album which I bought. Whatsmore it was on a budget album so doubly worth buying. In France singles were issued in an EP format, so fans were actually buying a single but getting 3 additional songs and a nice sleeve. Standard singles were issued there too but only for juke-boxes.
I'm not convinced. Most covers have it as arm sweat. I think Ray is intoning "Ahm sweat." Edit:. Listening to various Kinks' live versions. Really can't tell. Kast Off Kinks say "own sweat." Edit-edit: ok, ok, it's "own sweat.". How weird.
The main difference, is that "Mother's Little Helper" has a bridge. 1966 was the year that The Rolling Stones actually began to record Jagger & Richards compositions with bridges. Before "19th Nervous Breakdown," every Jagger & Richards song with a bridge was given away to some other act, hence the abundance of songs with bridges on side one of "Metamorphosis."
I worked for a classic rock station that played ‘Waterloo Sunset’ almost as regularly as ‘Lola’ in the 80’s and 90’s and we were a big enough deal that we got an in studio interview with Ray and Dave (separately, natch) when they played Poughkeepsie. The PD was a major Kinks fan having seen them live 56 times and was playing ‘King Kong’ when Ray entered the studio. Off air he emphatically exclaimed “ I CAN’T believe you’re playing that!” God Save The Kinks!
It's the way I've always heard it and it makes sense to me - the protagonist considers himself superior and everything about him is the best, even his own sweat's smell. I just listened to an old bootleg I have where it's a live rendition and it's very clearly "own sweat". And underarm sweat would make sense too (except it obviously wouldn't scan) but arm sweat, not really.
Loving the commentary on Well Respected Man, which has always been been a favorite of mine. I came to the Kinks post-Britpop, after being a big Blur fan. You can absolutely see how Damon Albarn recontextualized a lot of Ray’s social commentary from songs like this on albums like Parklife and The Great Escape. Charmless Man is almost a direct rewrite, in fact. Not a lot more to add to what you‘ve said except to tell a story: Back in the early 2000s there was a short period where I dropped out of college so I could work full time to make enough money to finish school. Very miserable time scrimping and saving. Didn’t go out much. Had a tiny TV that only reliably picked up the Mexican TV channel. My Spanish is the worst, but still I used to watch telenovelas anyway because a) the ladies were hot and b) there was nothing else to do. So I’m watching some episode and there’s something going on with some gangsters and a wedding at a villa. And, in the midst of a bunch of life-or-death melodrama, all of a sudden the characters get up at the wedding and start singing. And I’m thinking to myself, “That’s a catchy tune. I think I know this one. Some old Mexican folk tune or other. Wait! That’s WELL RESPECTED MAN!?” Still not quite sure why they were singing that song in particular at a wedding, but it was hilarious. I wonder how much Ray got paid for that? Edit: Almost 10m views on this Spanish version of the song by Los Hitters. Obviously there’s a whole story about this song’s success in the Spanish speaking world that I’m not aware of: Also: Haha Los Hitters
A Well Respected Man-Ray Davies in full flow with a story-telling style that would begin to dominate the kind of songs The Kinks would soon begin to focus upon. The genesis of British social commentary. The one thing that might strike you differently about this one is its lyrics, it's a profile about a person. This group would eventually specialize in that. Don't You Fret- Ray really seems to be enjoying himself. The melody is good without being too simple. The middle and the end when he strums his guitar fast in a peculiar instrumental build-up is an exciting peak to the song. Most are not crazy about this song but I like it.
Excellent @Martyj , I was just waiting for someone to mention Vaudeville and Ray's attraction to it and especially the link between it and a certain Well Respected Man!
I've always felt that the Stones were very influenced by Ray's style of writing in the mid 60s, especially with things like Mother's Little Helper, I Am Waiting, Cool, Calm & Collected, Who's Been Sleeping Here, Complicated, Miss Amanda Jones and Something Happened To Me Yesterday
In France that began to change as singles gained commercial (as well as jukebox releases) circa 1966. E.P's could also periodically contain 2 singles out of their 4 songs even if perhaps one of them was technically only a single on foreign shores. It certainly made for some very strong E.P's for some acts!
Here’s a translation of the opening lines. Notice the complete disregard for Ray’s thematic intent. I will tell them that I was a nobody And not a girl noticed me Today I have achieved many things They have to know why Day and night I have worked And i feel satisfaction And now I am a man That causes them admiration Because I have my millions And girls of a lot I am a respectable man And the world is at my feet
Since this thread started, I've been thinking along the same lines. Mother's Little Helper sounds very much like a Ray song. But I still think that Dylan is one of the most obvious influences on Jagger/Richard's songwriting. To my ears, Who's Been Sleeping Here is at least 60% Dylan.
