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"David Watts" | ||||
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Single by the Kinks | ||||
from the album Something Else by the Kinks | ||||
A-side | "Autumn Almanac" | |||
Released | 29 November 1967 [1] | |||
Recorded | February 1967 [2] | |||
Studio | Pye, London | |||
Genre | Rock [3] [4] | |||
Length | 2:27 | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Songwriter(s) | Ray Davies | |||
Producer(s) | Ray Davies | |||
The Kinks USsingles chronology | ||||
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"David Watts" is a song written by Ray Davies that originally appeared on the Kinks' 1967 album Something Else by the Kinks . [5] It was also the American and Continental Europe B-side to "Autumn Almanac". It has been included on several compilation albums, including The Kink Kronikles (1972) and a live version recorded at Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, New York, 4 March 1980 was included on One for the Road , a double live album released in June 1980.
The song is about the singer's great admiration of fellow schoolboy David Watts, who appears to have a "charmed life". There is an undercurrent of either deep envy or, as AllMusic put it, "a schoolboy crush". It is also, as Jon Savage has written, one of Ray Davies' "sharpest homoerotic songs". Despite this, Davies has commented that he sought to keep the lyric ambiguous: "When it comes to songs like 'See My Friends' or 'David Watts', I like to leave their meaning open. In [my] book, I wrote about how 'David Watts' is about a gay guy but part of the thing also is like having admiration for the head boy in school. I try not to come down on one side, or the other". [6]
As Ray Davies confirmed in The Kinks: The Official Biography by Savage, "David Watts is a real person. He was a concert promoter in Rutland." He goes on to relate how the real Watts was gay and demonstrated an obvious romantic interest in his brother Dave Davies. In this light, lines such as "he is so gay and fancy free" and "all the girls in the neighbourhood try to go out with David Watts... but can't succeed" provide a second level of interpretation based on this ironic in-joke. [7]
The band members were invited back to Watts' home for a drink one night after a concert. Ray Davies recalled to Q magazine in a 2016 interview: "My brother, Dave, was in a flamboyant mood and I could see that David Watts had a crush on him. So I tried to persuade Dave to marry David Watts because he was connected with Rutland brewery. See, that's how stupid my brain was." (Chuckles silently) "I thought: if I can get Dave fixed up with this Watts guy, I'll be set up for life and get all the ale I want. But the song's really about complete envy. It was based on someone else entirely – the head boy at my school. He was captain of the team, all those things, but I can't tell you his real name as I only spoke to him a few months ago."
"David Watts" | ||||
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Single by the Jam | ||||
from the album All Mod Cons | ||||
A-side | "'A' Bomb in Wardour Street" (double A-side) | |||
Released | 11 August 1978 | |||
Genre | Mod revival | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Ray Davies | |||
Producer(s) | Vic Smith, Chris Parry | |||
The Jam singles chronology | ||||
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The song was later covered by the Jam, who released it on 11 August 1978 as a single, [8] then included it on their third studio album, All Mod Cons (with different mixes used for the single and album versions). This version, which reached No. 25 in the UK singles chart, featured bassist Bruce Foxton on lead vocals rather than Paul Weller, as it was not in the right key for the Jam frontman. [9] The track was released as a double A-side along with "'A' Bomb in Wardour Street", of which a distinct, slightly shorter version was used for the single release and which would also appear later that year on All Mod Cons.[ clarification needed ]
According to band researcher Doug Hinman: [10]
The Kinks
Additional musician
Something Else by the Kinks, often referred to simply as Something Else, is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Kinks, released on 15 September 1967 by Pye Records. The album continued the Kinks' trend toward an eccentric baroque pop and music hall-influenced style defined by frontman Ray Davies' observational and introspective lyrics. It also marked the final involvement of American producer Shel Talmy in the Kinks' 1960s studio recordings; henceforth Ray Davies would produce the group's recordings. Many of the songs feature the keyboard work of Nicky Hopkins and the backing vocals of Davies's wife, Rasa. The album was preceded by the singles "Waterloo Sunset", one of the group's most acclaimed songs, and the Dave Davies solo record "Death of a Clown", both of which charted in the UK top 3.
"Waterloo Sunset" is a song by English rock band the Kinks. It was released as a single on 5 May 1967 and featured on the album Something Else by the Kinks later that year. Written and produced by Kinks frontman Ray Davies, "Waterloo Sunset" is one of the band's best-known and most acclaimed songs, and was ranked number 14 on the 2021 edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It was also their first single that was available in true stereo.
"Lola" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by frontman Ray Davies for their 1970 album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. The song details a romantic encounter in a Soho bar between a young man and Lola, who is possibly a trans woman or cross-dresser. In the song, the narrator describes his confusion towards Lola, who "walked like a woman but talked like a man", yet he remains infatuated with her.
"Long Tall Sally", also known as "Long Tall Sally (The Thing)", is a rock and roll song written by Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson, and Little Richard. Richard recorded it for Specialty Records, which released it as a single in March 1956, backed with "Slippin' and Slidin'".
Kinda Kinks is the second studio album by the English rock band the Kinks. It was released on 5 March 1965 in the United Kingdom by Pye Records. The original United States release, issued by Reprise Records on 11 August 1965, omits three tracks and substitutes the singles "Set Me Free" and "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy". Recorded and released within two weeks after returning from a tour in Asia, Ray Davies and the band were not satisfied with the production.
"Where Have All the Good Times Gone" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by the Kinks. It was released as the B-side to "Till the End of the Day," and then on their album The Kink Kontroversy.
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the top 10 in the United States.
"Apeman" is a 1970 song by the English rock band the Kinks. It was written by Ray Davies and appears on the album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. Written as a call to return to nature amidst the crowding and industry of the city, the song features calypso stylings. Like its predecessor, "Lola", it had to have a lyric re-dubbed for commercial release.
"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.
"Autumn Almanac" is a song written by Ray Davies and recorded by the rock group the Kinks in 1967. "Autumn Almanac" has since been noted for being an "absolute classic", "a finely observed slice of English custom", and a "weird character study", and praised for its "mellow, melodic sound that was to characterize the Kinks' next [musical] phase..." Some have placed this and other Davies compositions in the pastoral-Romantic tradition of the poetry of Wordsworth, among others.
"Susannah's Still Alive" is a song by Dave Davies, released for his second solo single. The recording featured all of the Kinks' members as his backing band. It was a hit but it did not live up to the expectations of Davies' last single "Death of a Clown", which was a Top 5 hit. It failed to chart in the US, but was a significant success in Europe, reaching #10 in the Netherlands, #27 in Germany, #18 in Belgium and #18 in Sweden. Although it was never featured on an LP, its B-side "Funny Face" was included on the Kinks' 1967 album Something Else by the Kinks.
"Till the End of the Day" is a song by the Kinks, written by Ray Davies and released as a single in 1965 and later on their album The Kink Kontroversy. It centres on a power chord, like many of the group's early hits, and was similarly successful, reaching number eight in the United Kingdom and number 50 in the United States, spending eight weeks or more in each chart.
"I'm Not Like Everybody Else" is a song written by Ray Davies and first recorded by the Kinks in 1966 and released that year as the B-side of "Sunny Afternoon". The lead vocal is sung by Dave Davies, with occasional parts vocalized by his brother Ray, the band's usual lead singer. The song is a defiant anthem of non-conformity. It has been covered by various artists, notably the Chocolate Watchband in their 1968 rendition of the song, and by Australian band Jimmy and the Boys, who covered it as their debut single in 1979.
Kinkdom is a studio album by the English rock band the Kinks. Released in the United States and Canada on 24 November 1965, it was their fourth album issued on Reprise Records. It peaked at number 47 on the Billboard album chart.
"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.
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"She's Got Everything" is a song written by Ray Davies and released by English rock band the Kinks. It first appeared as the B-side of the Kinks' 1968 single, "Days".
"Hold My Hand" is a song and single recorded and written by Dave Davies. The song is Davies' fourth solo single.
"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.
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.
...And "David Watts"...is one of rock's great lead-off tracks...