"Big Sky" | |
---|---|
Song by the Kinks | |
from the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society | |
Released | 22 November 1968 |
Recorded | c. 12 October 1968 |
Studio | Pye, London |
Genre | Pop, [1] rock [2] |
Length | 2:50 |
Label | Pye |
Songwriter(s) | Ray Davies |
Producer(s) | Ray Davies |
Official audio | |
"Big Sky" on YouTube |
"Big Sky" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks. Written and sung by Ray Davies, it was released in November 1968 on the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society . Ray has typically avoided providing a direct answer on the song's meaning, but commentators often interpret it as describing God as unsympathetic towards the problems of humans.
Ray composed the song in January 1968 in Cannes, France, after watching people walk beneath the sunrise from his hotel balcony. The Kinks recorded it in October 1968, making it among the last songs recorded for Village Green. Ray's lead vocal alternates between singing, speaking and harmonising with his brother, Dave; Ray's wife, Rasa, contributes a wordless falsetto harmony. Though Ray later disparaged his vocals and the song's production, contemporary reviewers and retrospective commentators have described it in favourable terms, highlighting its songwriting, while disputing its level of thematic cohesion with the other songs on Village Green. It is one of only two songs from the album that the Kinks performed live, including it in their set list from its release through 1971. Yo La Tengo and Matthew Sweet have each covered the song.
Ray Davies composed "Big Sky" in January 1968 while visiting Cannes, France. [3] At the request of his song publisher, Ray was attending the second annual MIDEM Music Publishers Festival, an international music industry convention, hoping it would help boost his position in the record industry. [4] He later recalled watching the sunrise from his balcony at the Carlton Hotel: "I spent an evening with all these people doing deals. The next morning ... I watched the sun come up and I looked at them all down there, all going out to do their deals. That's where I got the 'Big Sky looking down at all the people' line. It started from there." [5] [note 1] Ray later stated that watching the businessmen from his hotel made him imagine "a being somewhat bigger than all the hustlers around me," [8] but that rather than dealing with his dissatisfaction of the music business, the resulting lyrics are instead "more about the struggle of ordinary human beings surviving in the modern world." [7]
Commentators have often interpreted the lyrics of "Big Sky" as relating to God, [9] though when asked directly, Ray has typically avoided providing a direct answer. [10] In a 1968 interview with Melody Maker , he denied that the "Big Sky" of the lyrics was God and instead said it referred only to "a big sky". [11] Author Johnny Rogan finds Ray's comment both "reductive and obtuse" and suggests he was hesitant to discuss any potential theological theme due to fears of being misinterpreted. [12] [note 2] In a 2015 interview, Ray suggested the song's central meaning related to the triviality of personal problems when compared with the issues of the world at large. [14] Author Andy Miller suggests the term "Big Sky" may have been influenced by the 1952 Howard Hawks film, The Big Sky , [15] while critic Paul Williams suggests Ray drew the lyrics thematically from the 1897 short story "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane. [16]
Most authors write that the song describes God as unsympathetic to the problems of humans and too preoccupied to interact with them, [17] heard in the line, "People lift up their hands and they look up to the big sky / But big sky is too big to sympathise'." [10] Author Thomas M. Kitts writes that the song's lyrics attempt to resolve humans' suffering and their relationship with God, and that its central theme relates to "the smallness of human action in the overall scheme of a vast universe and divine indifference". [18] He writes that the singer takes consolation at Big Sky's indifference, as in the line, "When I think that the world is too much for me / I think of the Big Sky and nothing matters much to me." [19] Miller similarly writes the song finds solace in the indifference of God, since compared to the Big Sky, humans' issues are small. [20] [note 3] Author Christian Matijas-Mecca describes "Big Sky" as an example of introspective rock music that began appearing post-psychedelia, writing that the singer's detachment from both society and himself is channelled into "a hoped-for state of being". [22]
"Big Sky" was among the last tracks recorded for The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society . The Kinks recorded it in October 1968 during a series of sessions meant to increase the album from twelve to fifteen songs. [23] [note 4] Due to the nine-month gap between its writing and recording, Miller suggests that Ray may have initially intended to keep the song for a solo album, but that once plans for a possible solo project had dissolved, he instead opted to include it on Village Green. [26]
Maybe I wasn't the right person to sing it. Knowing I got the image across and the fact that a lot of people like the song is enough. But my performance is really bad ... It just wasn't recorded properly ... [27]
– Ray Davies on "Big Sky", 1984
The band recorded "Big Sky" in Pye Studio 2, one of two basement studios at Pye Records' London offices. [28] Ray is credited as the song's producer, [29] while Pye's in-house engineer Brian Humphries operated the four-track mixing console. [30] It features Ray on lead vocal, alternating between singing and speaking; [19] Ray interpreted the spoken section as being "like the voice of God", [31] while his brother, Dave Davies, later suggested he was impersonating American actor Burt Lancaster. [32] [note 5] Other vocal contributions include a shared harmony vocal between the brothers, as well as a wordless falsetto harmony from Ray's wife, Rasa Davies. [27] For the instrumentation, Dave plays what Kitts describes as a "muscular, hard-pushing guitar riff", alongside the "forceful drumming" of Mick Avory. [19]
Pye released Village Green in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1968, [34] sequencing "Big Sky" on side one between "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" and "Sitting by the Riverside". [29] [note 6] Reflecting in 1984, Ray expressed that "Big Sky" was one of his favourite songs, though he was unsatisfied with the finished recording, [27] finding his vocal performance and the production wanting. [19]
While Village Green generally went unnoticed by contemporary critics and listeners, [38] the founder of Crawdaddy magazine, Paul Williams, published an influential guest-review in the 14 June 1969 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. [39] In it, he declares Ray a genius, [40] further writing that "[h]earing 'Big Sky' on this new album, I know we'll get along just fine." [16] He singles out the line, "I think of the big sky and nothing matters much to me", describing it as an experience he has shared. [16] In the April 1969 edition of The Village Voice , critic Robert Christgau characterises "Big Sky" as "an acrimonious anti-religious song which exemplifies fictional song technique", and that it achieves the difficult task of writing a song that says, "'God is horrible because he lets people suffer.'" [41]
In a retrospective assessment, critic Rick Clark of the All Music Guide (now AllMusic) describes "Big Sky" as one of Village Green's highlights, [42] and author Andy Miller praises the song in laudatory terms, designating it the creative peak of the album while comparing it to the best work of Lennon–McCartney and Bob Dylan. [43] He disputes Ray's disparagement of the song's production, finding it instead, "perfectly balanced", "scintillating in design and execution" and "some of the most beautiful, thunderous music [the Kinks] ever recorded". [44] He concludes it marks the end of Ray's creative peak, a period he determines began in 1966 with "Sunny Afternoon". [45] Kitts finds Miller's assessment excessive, but suggests the song is among the best of those dealing in similar themes, such as John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine". [19] Author Nicholas Schaffner describes the song as "the closest [Ray] ever came to a theological statement", [46] while Mendelssohn characterises it as "probably the most cogent expression of the precept that religion is the opiate of the people in rock history." [47]
Author Olga Ruocco connects the song lyrically to Ray's 1967 song "Lazy Old Sun" – recorded for the band's previous album, Something Else [48] – a connection Rogan also makes, suggesting that both songs employ a similar method of lyrical pondering. [49] Critic Rob Sheffield compares "Big Sky" to another of Ray's 1967 songs, "Waterloo Sunset", writing that it transports the listener to "an equally unforgiving country locale" with a sense of resignation that is "almost mystical". [50] Kitts further suggests that the resignation of the singer hints at a death wish, something he relates to other songs on Village Green, like "Johnny Thunder", "Phenomenal Cat" and "Sitting by the Riverside". [19]
Author Clinton Heylin describes "Big Sky" as a "choice cut", being a major statement on Ray's part and an indication that he "could not suppress a more autobiographical view of the world." However, he criticises the song for departing from the album's concept, having more in common with the themes of the Kinks' next two albums and "[sending it] some place that was more Muswell Hill than village green". [51] [note 7] Miller likewise views the song as a departure from Village Green's central themes of memory and desire, [26] and Morgan Enos of Billboard magazine writes it deals in "heavenly" concerns where the rest of the album is largely "terrestrial". [52] By contrast, Kitts finds that, though "Big Sky" and "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" were not recorded until late in the album's production, both "now seem indispensable to the concept of Village Green." [35] He writes that while "Big Sky" deals less in specific characters than in larger "statements and questions", [18] it fits into the album through its themes of "contemplation" and "yearning for understanding". [53] Jem Aswad of Variety magazine instead sees the song as another of the album's "vivid" character studies, with its central character being "the almighty", [54] and author Mark Doyle writes that though several of the album's characters do not seem to directly interact with one another, "it is easy to imagine them all coming together under the benevolent (but non-interventionist) 'Big Sky'". [55]
"Big Sky" is one of two tracks from Village Green that the Kinks added to their live set list, [56] including it from 1968 through 1971. [57] Miller describes a heavy rock performance of "Big Sky" at the Fillmore West in 1970 as resembling Jimi Hendrix's version of "Hey Joe", though he concludes the treatment is "horrible", with Ray's "beautiful words" hidden under the guitar work of Dave. [56] Kitts instead finds that the version demonstrates the band's tightness, highlighting the "inventiveness and precision" of Dave's guitar work. [58]
On the suggestion of musician Clint Conley, [59] American indie rock band Yo La Tengo covered "Big Sky" for their 1986 debut album, Ride the Tiger . [60] The song was the first on which drummer Georgia Hubley contributed backing vocals. [59] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Mark Deming describes the cover favourably, writing that "any band that can cover the Kinks and Pete Seeger on the same album and make them both work must be doing something right." [61] American musician Matthew Sweet recorded a cover of the song, [62] released on the 2002 tribute album This Is Where I Belong: The Songs Of Ray Davies & The Kinks. [63] In Tom Semioli's review of the album for AllMusic, he writes that the cover sounds "as fresh and vital as the day [it was] written", [63] while Rob Mitchum of Pitchfork calls it "inessential", criticising it for being too similar to the original. [64]
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Kinks. Released on 22 November 1968, Village Green is regarded by commentators as an early concept album. A modest seller on release, it was the band's first studio album which failed to chart in either the United Kingdom or United States, but was lauded by contemporary critics for its songwriting. It was embraced by America's new underground rock press, completing the Kinks' transformation from mid-1960s pop hitmakers to critically favoured cult band.
"The Village Green Preservation Society" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Written and sung by the band's principal songwriter Ray Davies, the song is a nostalgic reflection where the band state their intention to "preserve" British things for posterity. As the opening track, the song introduces many of the LP's themes, and Ray subsequently described it as the album's "national anthem".
Four More Respected Gentlemen is an unreleased album by the English rock band the Kinks. The project arose out of the band's different American contract schedule, which obligated them to submit a new LP to Reprise Records in June 1968. As the band continued recording their next album, released later in the year as The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, bandleader Ray Davies submitted fifteen completed master tapes to Reprise. The label planned to issue the LP in the US in November 1968 but abandoned the project only a month beforehand for unclear reasons.
"Wonderboy" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by Ray Davies. It was released as a non-album single in April 1968. It stalled at number 36 in the UK charts, becoming the band's first single not to make the UK Top Twenty since their early covers.
"Wicked Annabella" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their 1968 album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written by Ray Davies, it was recorded by the Kinks in July 1968. The song is Dave Davies's only lead vocal contribution on the album. It is one of several character studies on Village Green, recounting the wicked deeds of the local witch as a warning to children. Employing an eerie tone, its lyrics are darker than the rest of the album and have been likened by commentators to a dark fairy tale.
"Picture Book" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song's lyrics describe the experience of an ageing narrator flipping through a photo album reflecting on happy memories from "a long time ago". Recorded in May 1968, its cheerful sound is defined by the jangle of an acoustic twelve-string guitar and a disengaged snare drum. In continental Europe, the song was issued as the B-side of the album's lead single, "Starstruck", in November 1968. The same single was issued in the United States in January 1969, though it failed to appear in any charts.
"Village Green" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Written and sung by the band's principal songwriter, Ray Davies, the song was first recorded in November 1966 during the sessions for Something Else by the Kinks (1967) but was re-recorded in February 1967. Both the composition and instrumentation of "Village Green" evoke Baroque music, especially its prominently featured harpsichord played by the session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. Unlike most of the band's late 1960s recordings, it employs real orchestral instruments, including oboe, cello, viola and piccolo, as arranged by the English composer David Whitaker.
"Polly" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks. It was released on a non-album single in April 1968, as the B-side to "Wonderboy". Written and sung by bandleader Ray Davies, the song was recorded in March 1968 during sessions for the band's 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Ray was initially inspired by the character Polly Garter in Dylan Thomas's 1954 radio drama Under Milk Wood, though his resulting character does not share anything with Thomas's besides the same name. The song is one of the few Kinks recordings from the late 1960s to possibly feature real strings, as arranged by David Whitaker.
"Starstruck" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in July 1968. The song was issued as the album's lead single in continental Europe in November 1968 and in the United States in January 1969. The European release was accompanied by a promo film shot in Waterlow Park, Highgate. The song failed to chart anywhere besides the Netherlands, where it reached No. 13 on the Veronica Top 40 and No. 9 on the Hilversum 3 Top 30.
"Do You Remember Walter?" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in July 1968. The song's narrator describes an experience of running into old friend, only to find that the two no longer have anything to talk about. The song was directly inspired by a similar experience of Davies. As one of several character studies to appear on Village Green, the song is often characterised by commentators as central to the album's themes of nostalgia and loss. Retrospective commentators have described it as one of Davies's best compositions.
"Animal Farm" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in March 1968. Musically an example of pop, the song features a noticeably larger sound than the others on Village Green, accomplished through it being recorded in a larger studio space as well as heavy reverb added to its drums, percussion and tack piano. The song is one of the few Kinks recordings from the late 1960s to possibly feature real strings, as arranged by David Whitaker.
"Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in October 1968 and was among the final tracks completed for the album. Variously described as a blues, R&B or rock number, the song describes a steam train that has outlived its usefulness and has since moved to a museum.
"People Take Pictures of Each Other" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in July 1968. The song features a breathless vocal from Davies as well as harpsichord and piano from Nicky Hopkins, which was likely the last contribution he ever made to a Kinks recording.
"Berkeley Mews" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks. It was released on a non-album single in June 1970, as the B-side to "Lola". Written and sung by bandleader Ray Davies, the song was recorded in early 1968 during the sessions for The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). The title references a small street in London, while the lyrics recount a one-night stand. Influenced by the music of the 1940s, the song employs a heavier production than was typical for the band's 1968 work.
"All of My Friends Were There" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in July or October 1968. It features a church-like organ and a changing metre, while the style showcased Davies's continued interest in music hall. The song's narrator describes an embarrassing concert experience which all of his friends were present to witness. Its lyrics were inspired by a July 1967 concert during which Davies fell ill but was persuaded to perform due to the agreed contract. The song was not present on Davies's original twelve-track edition of Village Green, but was among the tracks he added for its UK release in November 1968. Retrospective commentators have described the song in favourable terms while disputing its level of thematic cohesion with the others on Village Green.
"Johnny Thunder" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in March 1968. Davies was inspired to write the song after seeing the 1953 film The Wild One, basing it on Marlon Brando's character Johnny as well as on a classmate Davies admired as a child. A rock song, its recording features a countermelody played by Dave Davies on electric guitar, wordless vocal harmonies and one of the album's few instances of a single-tracked vocal by Ray.
"Monica" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded sometime between late 1967 and May 1968. The song features congas and a syncopated rhythm, indicating Davies's continued interest in calypso music. Its lyrics are a serenade for a prostitute and were partly inspired by Dylan Thomas's radio drama, Under Milk Wood (1954), though Davies kept the lyrics deliberately subtle to avoid a radio ban. Retrospective commentators have disputed the song's level of thematic cohesion with the others on Village Green.
"Phenomenal Cat" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and produced by Ray Davies, the song was recorded sometime between late 1967 and May 1968. The song features a Mellotron which duplicates the sound of a flute. It is one of several character studies on Village Green, recounting the story of a flying cat who travels the world, discovers "the secret of life" and spends the rest of his life eating. Commentators have sometimes likened the song to Victorian fairy tales and have often described it as an example of psychedelia.
"Sitting by the Riverside" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, it was recorded in July 1968. The song features honky-tonk piano and a Mellotron which duplicates the sound of an accordion. An example of psychedelia, the song's relaxed style is offset by the sound of a swelling cacophony between verses, a sound reminiscent of the crescendo in the Beatles' 1967 song "A Day in the Life". The song describes a pleasant experience sitting next to a river and was inspired by Davies's time spent as a child fishing with his father.
Then Now and Inbetween is a promotional compilation album by the English rock band the Kinks. Reprise Records issued the album in July 1969 to journalists, radio program directors and disc jockeys in conjunction with the "God Save the Kinks" promotional campaign, which sought to reestablish the Kinks' commercial status in the US after their four-year ban on performing in the country.