Saturday, July 16, 2016

July 16 - Waterloo Sunset

Sometimes my themes start morphing as the week goes by, and the idea of exploring working class and blue collar in songs is really changing a little today as I bring you a little bit of everyday poetry instead. Although, truth be told, The Kinks wrote several songs about working class (I had initially thought about using Sunny Afternoon for today, which really satirizes British upper class, but I though it might be a little too far for now) - and it's not hard to see Waterloo Sunset as a description of love in a blue collar/working class setting either.

I started listening to The Kinks because of my dad. I think that I have exposed myself to a lot of music because I wanted to get closer to people, and this was no exception. Like many other boys growing up, I really wanted to be so close to my dad as to become him( luckily I outgrew that part and decided that being my own person would be even better, but I was blessed with a great role model). Anyway, he had talked about The Kinks as one of his favorite bands growing up, so I wanted to listen to them as well. I started with aforementioned Sunny Afternoon, which is one of the songs he'll "sing" along to (if you ever heard him, you would know why the quotation marks are needed). Then he borrowed a couple of lps from a friend, and we played them over and over. And then came Van Halen. Listening to Van Halen's covers of All Day and All of the Night and You Really Got Me made me want to revisit The Kinks for me as well, and I loved what I heard.

One year, I think it must have been around 1988, my mom got the chance to accompany my dad on a business trip to Paris. They were so excited about the trip - and from how they talked about it, it was quite the experience. However, I was excited because of what they brought home for me. My dad had found The Kinks Are Well Respected Men, a double album with some of The Kinks' early EPs (all non-album tracks). Digging into that album, I discovered several of my favorite songs of theirs, like Set Me Free, See My Friends, and Days. Today's song, Waterloo Sunset, was unknown to me until I picked up one of their many Greatest Hits collections on CD, but quickly became my favorite Kinks song. The lyrics are so straightforward. There are no flowering words, not much in terms of hyperbole - just words that describe a couple in the center of London. Enjoy the song as well - I love the arrangement - but pay close attention to the words, because they are really something else (pun intended - the song is originally from Something Else by The Kinks).


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