The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorized in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognized as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a wide range of genres, including rhythm and blues, British music hall, folk, and country.
Song lyrics
[edit]All songs by Ray Davies except as noted.
- Girl, you really got me goin'
You got me so I don't know what I'm doin'
Yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I can't sleep at night.
Kinda Kinks (1965)
[edit]It's your life
And you can do what you want
Do what you like
But please don't keep-a me waiting
Please don't keep-a me waiting'Cause I'm so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you.
The Kink Kontroversy (1965)
[edit]- Yeah, you and me
We live this life
From when we get up
Till we go sleep at night
You and me we're free
We do as we please, yeah
From morning, till the end of the day
Till the end of the day.
- Well, lived my life and never stopped to worry 'bout a thing
Opened up and shouted out and never tried to sing
Wondering if I'd done wrong
Will this depression last for long?
Face to Face (1966)
[edit]- Dandy, you know you're moving much too fast,
And Dandy, you know you can't escape the past.
Look around you and see the people settle down,
And when you're old and grey you will remember what they said,
That two girls are too many, three's a crowd and four you're dead.
- The tax man's taken all my dough,
And left me in my stately home,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
And I can't sail my yacht,
He's taken everything I've got,
All I've got's this sunny afternoon.
Something Else by The Kinks (1967)
[edit]- I am a dull and simple lad
Can not tell water from champagne
And I have never met the queen
And I wish I could have all that he has got
I wish I could be like David Watts.
- My makeup is dry and it clags on my chin
I'm drowning my sorrows in whisky and gin
The lion tamer's whip doesn't crack anymore
The lions they won't fight and the tigers won't roar.- Death of a Clown, written with Dave Davies (and released first as a single by Dave Davies)
- You don't have to look at me
You don't have to smile at me
You just have to love me till the sun shines
You don't have to cook for me
You don't have to laugh with me
You just have to love me till the sun shines.- Love Me Till the Sun Shines, written by Dave Davies
- Dirty old river, must you keep rolling
Flowing into the night
People so busy, makes me feel dizzy
Taxi light shines so bright
But I don't need no friends
As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise.
- In a dark and misty house,
Where no Christian man has been,
Wicked Annabella mixes a brew
That no one's ever seen.
- Days I'll remember all my life,
Days when you can't see wrong from right.
You took my life,
But then I knew that very soon you'd leave me,
But it's all right,
Now I'm not frightened of this world, believe me.
- Long ago life was clean
Sex was bad and obscene
And the rich were so mean
Stately homes for the Lords
Croquet lawns, village greens
Victoria was my queen
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria.
- Now that you've found your paradise
This is your Kingdom to command
You can go outside and polish your car
Or sit by the fire in your Shangri-la
Here is your reward for working so hard
Gone are the lavatories in the back yard
Gone are the days when you dreamed of that car
You just want to sit in your Shangri-la.
- We shall defend our island
On the land and on the sea
We shall fight them on the beaches
On the hills and in the fields
We shall fight them in the streets
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed to so few
'Cos they have made our British Empire
A better place for me and you.
- Where are you going I don't mind
I've killed my world and I've killed my time
So where do I go what do I see
I see many people coming after me
So where are you going to I don't mind
If I live too long I'm afraid I'll die
So I will follow you wherever you go
If your offered hand is still open to me
Strangers on this road we are on
We are not two we are one.- Strangers, written by Dave Davies
- You go to a publisher and play him your song
He says 'I hate your music and you hair is too long.
But I'll sign you up because I'd hate to be wrong.'
- Well I'm not the world's most physical guy
But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola.
- Well that's the way that I want it to stay
And I always want it to be that way for my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola
La-la-la-la Lola.- Lola
- I know what I am and I'm glad Im a man and so is Lola.
- Lola
- I was lost just wandering round downtown
Many people pushing me around
Hate spreads just like infection
Those rats jumping on and off my back.- Rats, written by Dave Davies
- I think I'm so educated and I'm so civilised
'Cos I'm a strict vegetarian
But with the over-population and inflation and starvation
And the crazy politicians
I don't feel safe in this world no more
I don't want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an ape man.
I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man.
- Got to be free to do what I want
Walk if I want, talk if I want
Got to be free to say what I want
Make what I want and play what I want.
- Man made the buildings that reach for the sky
And man made the motorcar and learned how to fly
But he didn't make the flowers and he didn't make the trees
And he didn't make you and he didn't make me
And he got no right to turn us into machines
He's got no right at all
'Cause we are all God's children
And he got no right to change us
Oh, we gotta go back the way the good lord made us all.
Muswell Hillbillies (1971)
[edit]This is the age of machinery,
A mechanical nightmare,
The wonderful world of technology,
Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare.This is the twentieth century,
But too much aggravation
It's the age of insanity.
What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem?
- Whatever the situation, whatever the race or creed,
Tea knows no segregation, no class nor pedigree
It knows no motivations, no sect or organisation,
It knows no one religion,
Nor political belief.
- All life we work, but work's a bore,
If life's for livin' what's livin' for?
Everybody's in Show-Biz (1972)
[edit]- On my supersonic rocket ship
Nobody has to be hip
Nobody needs to be out of sight. Out of sight.
Nobody's gonna travel second class
There'll be equality
And no suppression of minorities. Well alright.
We'll take this planet, shake it round
And turn it upside down.
My supersonic rocket ship.
- Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star,
And everybody's in movies, it doesn't matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Their names are written in concrete.
- You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.- Celluloid Heroes
Preservation Act 1 (1973)
[edit]Everybody say I'm lazy
They all tell me get a job you slob,
I'd rather be a hobo walking round with nothing
Than a rich man scared of losing all he's got.So I'm just sitting in the midday sun
Just soaking up that currant bun,
Why should I have to give my reasons
For sitting in the midday sun?
- Father Christmas, give us some money
Don't mess around with those silly toys.
We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over
We want your bread so don't make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys.
- Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time.
But remember the kids who got nothin'
While you're drinkin' down your wine.- Father Christmas
Give the People What They Want (1981)
[edit]- Here's hoping all the days ahead
Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you.
Be an optimist instead,
And somehow happiness will find you.
Forget what happened yesterday,
I know that better things are on the way.
State of Confusion (1983)
[edit]- Should feel happy, should feel glad
I'm alive and it can't be bad
But back on planet earth they shatter the illusion
The world's going 'round in a state of confusion
Lyin' awake in a cold, cold sweat
Am I overdrawn, am I going in debt?
It gets worse, the older that you get
No escape from the state of confusionI'm in
State of confusion
I'm in- "State of Confusion"
They put a parking lot on a piece of land
Where the supermarket used to stand.
Before that they put up a bowling alley
On the site that used to be the local palais.
That's where the big bands used to come and play.
My sister went there on a Saturday.Come dancing,
All her boyfriends used to come and call.
Why not come dancing, it's only natural?
You look out of your window,
Into the night.
Could be rain, could be snow,
But it can't feel as cold as what you're feeling inside.And all of you friends are either married, vanished,
Or just left alone.
But that's no reason to just stop living.
That's no excuse to just give in to a sad and lonely heart.Don't forget to dance, no, no, no,
Don't forget to smile.
Don't forget to dance, no, no, no,
Forget it for a while.
