The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Out Of The Wardrobe

One thing about the Misfits album -- for all the talk about the band "streamlining" its sound, it's actually as diverse and eclectic as any Kinks piece of work. After one of the fiercest tracks the band ever recorded fades out, the album transitions to a gentle folk-rock ballad -- the first few verses sound like Ray doing his best Dylan impression. This song (whose title is a twist on "out of the closet") is often cited as a rehash of "Lola", but the similarities begin and end with the main character being a cross-dresser; the background stories are very, very different. Here the protagonist Dick (real subtle, Ray) is married, suddenly reveals to his wife Betty Lou he's a transvestite, and his wife eventually learns to deal with it, and even winds up embracing the situation. It's a pretty racy narrative for 1978, but Ray's vocal pulls it off with aplomb as if this were the most normal thing in the world, and Dave turns down the knobs and provides restrained, tasteful strumming. Gosling's organ swells are my favorite part of the record, though -- he will be missed.

Really wish he hadn't used the f-word, though.

 

Another fine discovery for me on the Velvel 1998 CD. Other than Pete Townshend, Lou Reed, Bowie and Ray, were ANY mainstream rockers touching these subjects at all? The Who had ‘I’m A Boy’ a decade earlier and all four artists wrote their share of gender bent stories and lyrics but it seems like it was just not discussed by anyone else with any level of success

 

"Out Of The Wardrobe"

This is one of the lesser tracks on the album for me - musically it's never stood out too much, and I've never felt particularly comfortable with the lyrics. It's nothing that I would skip, but given that it immediately follows "Black Messiah" in the version of the album that I've been listening to for 30 years, it does contribute to what I perceive as a bit of a side two drop-off on this album.

 

Out of the Wardrobe

Just as Black Messiah would be perfectly acceptable without the one (seemingly segregationist) line, this song would be an end to end delight without the one derogatory term.

Now I don't know.... maybe the term wasn't as pejorative across the pond? Maybe some of our UK avids could confirm or deny. Or maybe it was just more acceptable in 1978? I ask about maybe a lesser level of harshness in the usage because 8 years later, Dire Straits would famously use the term in an otherwise amusing song that actually became their biggest hit.

Terminology aside, I really shouldn't like this song. It's not a topic of interest to me. The return to the country-ish sound is also not my thing. But as I said, its almost a total joy. I think Mark did an excellent job articulating why. And I have to admit that the line "Cos when he puts on that dress he feels like a princess" really tickles me.

 

The term wouldn't have been very well known on the UK. Possibly a case of Ray setting his sights on the US market. Ditto the Dire Straits song. There are equivalents on the UK which would have sounded equally as harsh, maybe Ray thought he was being diplomatic in his language.

 

Out Of The Wardrobe

The Muswell acoustic vibe is a welcome change for the LP's variety & Ray handles things with sensitivity but somehow i am not so entertained & can take it or leave it.

 

Out of the Wardrobe: I’m a Muswell guy through and through so there’s no question I think this is a good song. Ray is back to writing clever lyrics (after a brief detour focusing on the ‘accessible.’) Who isn’t going to croon along to “but when he puts on that dress, he looks like a princess”?

7 out of 8 (songs I like) from the album so far. Solid, solid, solid…(almost making me forget about Stormy Sky or whatever it was that left me trauma-ridden).

 

Out of the Wardrobe: At the time, I loved this song, seeing it as a follow-up to "Lola." It sounds good, melody is good, lyrics are interesting. It was one of those Kinks song that made me feel "in" on something unusual as a teenager while all the other kids were listening to Styx and Journey.

But see "Black Messiah" in terms of how a song ages. AJ Smith beat me to it by describing the song as being by "a comedy country artist, delivered with raised eyebrows and a wide knowing grin." I suspect in Ray's mind, he was thinking, "Take that, Loudon Wainwright III." I think the reality was closer to Ray Stevens.

I don't think I have to imagine how more recent generations would view this song. But I do have the context of the 70s to judge the song by, which they don't. Context is everything, and the first thing to go out the window with people who want to change history to suit their points of view. This type of "nod and wink" humor was in vogue for decades. Maybe centuries? I'm not even sure why "Dick" would be looking at his wife with mixed emotions. He's not gay. He likes cross dressing, apparently to the extent that he would nowadays consider himself transgender. And that's fine. But I get the impression Ray is writing this song at him and not with him, and there's the rub. Imagine a show like Bosom Buddies today - not possible. 70s movies and shows were awash with this kind of stuff (Dog Day Afternoon?).

I know from personal experience, the general reaction was shock and nervous laughter. I partook of this humor myself many times, particularly with a group of martial arts guys I knew through a friend. I recall one afternoon party with them, watching Rio Bravo with them on video while they ran gay riffs on each other. I don't think I've laughed so hard since, but I later realized, even something that innocuous was playing into this theme. It didn't feel hard to abandon this angle when I realized supporting it could make some people feel uncomfortable and threatened. That's not how I feel listening to "Out of the Wardrobe," but I can surely understand someone dealing with this issue would. For me, the song remains a relic of another time, the 70s, much like the gay riffs in a movie like Fun with Dick and Jane, among many others, feel.

 

Thought I should flag up this recent Andrew Sandoval interview podcast from Jan of this year that I saw linked on the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band box set thread. The first half of the interview is very Kinks heavy, including Andrew's reminisces of his early fandom, being in Dave's band, working with Ray on the VGPS box and his still unreleased Live At Kelvin Hall redux. Interesting point he mentions with regards to Kelvin Hall and why they don't play the most recent hit at the time 'Dead End Street' on it: he claims Dave told him that Then Kinks had a thing at the time of not playing their current hit because they were The Kinks and they could!

Fans On The Run - Andrew Sandoval (Ep. 72)

 

LOL, yes, this is perfect.

 

Out of the Wardrobe: The Kink’s musical interpretation of Ed Wood’s “Glen or Glenda.” But unlike that So-Bad-It’s-Good clumsy movie, this music has nothing to be ashamed of. Well constructed, arranged, and performed. It’s defining acoustic rendering, somewhat quiet and sparse, is yet another stylistically diverse entry in Misfits pleasing mixed stew of sounds. This one perhaps the most overly so.

By my reckoning the Kinks did about a dozen or so songs with LBGT themes/subtext—some direct, some tangential—nearly all cleverly enough designed to allow for open interpretations for the listener to either deny or welcome any sort of LBGT connection. Ray is so tricky with his lyrics that even “Lola” is given some wiggle room.

“Out the the Wardrobe” is distinctive as the only one that gives us zero ambiguity. Its a situational song about a cross dresser and nothing more. The only question, then, is why here? Why now? Why not shade it with the usual lyrical playfulness that keeps us on our toes, always guessing “what does Ray really mean here?” Who knows. Ray has been criticized as getting lazy with his lyrics in the post Pye/RCA years. Is that all that is at play here? That Ray just doesn’t want to make the effort? Again, who knows?

The song is also, by my estimation, the last-but-one LBGT Kinks song (“Destroyer” being the final entry***, albeit tangentially so with its Lola throwback). For some reason Ray’s interest in the subject waned as his lyrics as a whole became more direct/less subtle as the Arista period evolved. I’m not sure if there is a connection. Maybe Ray was only ever really interested in addressing LBGT at the edges. Not so much when it’s handled directly, which is perhaps why it explains ajsmith’s insight here:

I hear this, too. When the Kinks handle LGBT directly, it becomes comedy. While I don’t see this song as mocking of its subject, the lyrics are all set up/punch lines. The way Ray sings “…he washes up, she’s helps him wipe..” is a comedians delivery. My belief is Ray wants us to laugh along with this song. Perhaps that’s the band’s comfort level around the subject circa 1978, given that it would wait until the 1990's autobiographies for Ray to hint at and Dave to admit bi-sexual experiences in their real-lives.

(***FOOTNOTE***: I’ll point out I had thought “The Informer” from Phobia was possibly the band’s last stab at LBGT, but as someone earlier in the thread pointed out that song had actually been composed, but not recorded, during “Sleepwalker,” the band’s most intense period of LBGT themed songs )

 

That’s hilarious. Jonathan Richmond of the Modern Lovers said something similar after seeing the great audience reaction to ‘Roadrunner.’ Paraphrasing, “maybe we shouldn’t play it anymore.”

 

"Out of the Wardrobe", a pleasant, basically sympathetic song which I always considered to be a bit of a lesser and more subdued sequel to "Lola".

 

Indeed. Frederick is a hidden treasure in the larger Washington DC metro area. A lot of the DC types go to nearby Alexandria, Virginia for that quaint 'old towne' experience, not knowing of this similar getaway, just an hour up the road. Were you living here when the Clinton's discovered it in the last year of his administration? Camp David is just 20 minutes away, and Hillary and a few of her staff 'discovered' Frederick, fell in love with it, and came back several times for low-key antiquing and dining. The sole time Bill came with her--as the sitting president--it turned into the expected media circus.

 

Aha..... Fatbelly Jones!

 

Well, I’m just going to say it. I think that Ray Stevens equation couldn’t be further off the mark. That is all.

 

"Dave turns down the knobs and provides restrained, tasteful strumming. Gosling's organ swells"

Sorry to quote you above out of context but after @Vangro 's picture post it seems things have temporarily gone a bit Two Ronnies / Benny Hill!

 

Out of the Wardrobe

Musically, I love it. It's got the memorable vocal hook. It's got the harmonies. It's got the country-tinged sound that I dig. It's got a great acoustic strum, with various little guitar licks to highlight. It's got the tinkling piano. It's got the bed of organ. It's a great arrangement. It has a very Kinkian bridge.

I am not sure exactly where I land on the lyrics. I don't have the context of living through the 1970s, so I only see this as being introduced to it in the world of 2022. To me, this comes off as an almost novelty/comedy lyric. The only thing that puts it above that is the clever pun with Closet/Wardrobe, and this is about literally coming out of a small room of clothes. The song is approached and sung with compassion and empathy. He loves who he is, and feels much better being open about who he is, so there are no more secrets. But the whole hook with "princess"... I don't know... Could it have worked with something like "When puts on that dress, he feels like his true self"?

I think what it comes down to... is I could do without the setups and punchlines, I think, and have it approached a bit more deftness. "A chick called Dick"? "She helps him wipe"? I think this all could have been approached in a similar way to On the Outside, and I would have preferred it.

It's not a skip-track. But I probably wouldn't play this publicly, because you really need to be knee-deep in Kinks fandom to get where Ray is coming from with this.

 

"Out Of The Wardrobe" - this is a song that I really needed to be reminded of - earlier this morning, I thought to myself "Wow, this is a sequel to "Lola". I don't recall ever hearing this song on the Kinks live shows I have heard (could be wrong) and I have not spent huge amounts of time listening to Misfits. Musically, it is pretty rootsy so I enjoy it - of course, the lyrics fall into the "from the mind of Ray Davies" category and the song deals with a topic most songwriters would not touch (Lou Reed excepted). It fits into the misfits theme perfectly. Still a minor song to me but enjoyable enough.

 

Out of the Wardrobe:

I think this is where I land on this one. The "princess" line may have been intended sincerely but I can't hear it without also hearing a smirk behind it. One byproduct of Ray's history as a satirist and social critic is that I sometimes can't discern when he is being sincere vs. when he's sending up or jabbing someone. Ultimately, I feel uncomfortable with the song and prefer "Black Messiah" to this; at least the sentiments of that one I can reasonably attribute to a character (plus I like the music better).

All very eloquently stated, @fspringer.

 

Out of the Wardrobe: Woah, this feels like the most controversial song on the album, I wasn't expecting that! While Black Messiah obviously is controversial, there was a pretty unanimous conclusion that the lyrics are clunky. This one has fans and detractors, how fun!

Count me among those that enjoy it. Dated language and some clunky, snide aside, this one adds greatly to the melting pot that is Misfits. I like the musical comparisons that have already been made, but I'll add another one; it reminds me of Jimmy Buffett. The melody is just so breezy and the delivery is laid back until the bridge, which snaps into focus a bit like Buffett does for the chorus of tracks like Changes in Attitudes. One thing I don't enjoy about this one (I definitely seem to be in the minority): The "When he puts on that dress..." bit. It's just too precious for me, like it's the hook for some commercial about a toy store, and feels a little more mocking than the rest of the song.

 

If I am going to compare on this song, I go with John Prine.

 

"Out Of The Wardrobe"

A hint of Ray's vocal quiver style from the earlier 70s makes this an interesting tune. It has a Showbiz/Muswell vibe and I really enjoy the music. However, I am not so sure about the lyrics. Ray has a level of mocking in his vocal like this is meant to be a comic song. Not only does it have the F word, but it also includes pansy which is also insulting. This is another case on this album where his intentions are not made clear. I don't think he meant any harm in the lyrics, but a few lines are uncomfortable these days. The lyrics just make it feel like a joke and not a song to be taken seriously. I'm mixed on it though because the music and the melody are really great. I have to say the more I listen to it, I find it to be more light and silly than it initially might come across. You couldn't play it at a party, but I would imagine that most Kinks fans wouldn't be offended by it. Can someone please set up an interview with Ray to ask him about all of these songs on Misfits?

I was expecting @DISKOJOE to mention Woody Allen again! This is a song topic that actually made it into a Woody Allen film. The very funny Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex*But Were Afraid To Ask. Here is a clip from the question Are Transvestites Homosexuals? This movie is hilarious! Other skits feature Gene Wilder falling in love with a sheep, and others that I'm not sure if it is ok to mention on this forum.

 

*aul, co-founder of the Group that Shall Not be Named, trots out his little story about Ob‐La‐Di, Ob‐La‐Da all the time, oh, I switched Desmond and Molly by mistake, but hey, it was a bit of a laugh, a bit of fun, confuse the audience and make 'em wonder if Desmond's a transvestite.

Because, I guess, ha ha.

Human sexuality is endlessly mutable, impetuous, whimsical, beautiful, and of course ridiculous. It would be just another of the endless brilliant variations of human experience if there hadn't been a relentlessly vile, brutal, bigoted social reaction to it. And, sad to say, the thin edge of the wedge that leads to the marginalization and ultimate oppression of people who don't conform to social-sexual norms are the pejorative, sneering, sarcastic schoolyard insults everyone from our generation knows all too well.

In historical context, I agree with @mark winstanley -- this is a compassionate treatment of the subject. Ray wasn't just not being a jerk about it, he was treading dangerous waters by even bringing it up at all, and by treating *Dick* as a worthy Misfit protagonist. So put me in a time machine and send me back to the late 70s and I can really dig this song. The humor isn't purposely cruel or insensitive, the sentiment is inclusive.

But @fspringer eloquently laid out the reasons I can't enjoy the song now. In fact, like Black Messiah, it really messes with my enjoyment of the LP.