You know when you hear a burst of a song on the TV and then you have to go and play it in full? I was watching an episode of the PBS series The Vietnam War yesterday- it's half term, watching hour long episodes about the Vietnam War in the afternoon is what half terms are made for- and the episode in question was focusing on the first half on 1968 (in brief- the Tet Offensive, perceptions of who won and who lost the Tet Offensive, the execution of a VC suspect in the street by an ARVN general, problems piling up for Lyndon Johnson, the assassination of Martin Luther King, increasing anti- war rallies and protests, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy). At one point, as students fought with the police after occupying Colombia University in New York, this song played for maybe twenty seconds.
I'm Not Like Everybody Else was the B-side (the B- side!) to Sunny Afternoon, written by Ray Davies but sung by brother Dave, a snarly, defiant act of non- conformity, a celebration of outsider status. Dave's guitar sounds wonderful, crunchy and fuzzy, and the song is a superb three minutes twenty three seconds of 1966 bottled. The A- side isn't bad either...
Sunny Afternoon shows Ray's music hall roots, the descending piano part straight from the pre- rock 'n' roll era, the lyrics all superstar ennui and complaints about paying tax (Ray's writing in character but he himself is in there too I think).
I watched a documentary about The Kinks a while ago. Their singles from 1964- 1968, songs like You Really Got Me, All Day And All Of The Night, Tired Of Waiting For You, Set Me Free, See My Friends, Sunny Afternoon, Dead End Street, Waterloo Sunset and Days are as good as anybody else's from the period, if not better. In the documentary they spent a lot of time focussing on The Village Green Appreciation Society, released in 1969, an album I've not really ever clicked with. It's funny (funny peculiar) that even in the heat of the mid- to- late 60s with all that forward momentum that music was providing Ray Davies was pining for a world that for him vanished, lamenting the loss of the London of his childhood and writing nostalgic songs about village greens and steam trains.
9 comments:
The first version I heard of I'm Not Like Everybody Else was the Chocolate Watch Band's version on a tape I got from a friend at school that his big brother compiled, all 60 garage and acid rock, 5 Years Ahead of My Time, Kick Out The Jams, My Little Red Book etc . When I think back on it now I wonder where he got all of the strange sounds from back in 1985/6 but I'm glad I did as this was all very new to me. Anyway it was the early 90s before I found out it was a cover. The original is good but I still prefer the version I first heard, probably mostly for that reason and the memory of the feelings that tape stirred and the journey it began for me
Great post. That's new to me, so thanks.
what a cool song
Yes Adam, Ken Burn's brilliantly detailed documentary makes for compulsive and repeated viewing. It is currently reshowing alongside BBC's 'Once upon a time in Iraq'. I was struck by the many similarities of U.S. foreign policy. So many repeated errors by Bush's neo-con government. Did these people not study their own history or are they just amateurs playing with other peoples lives? They seemed to think that they could just run another country by shear force and propping up a corrupt government, with no regard for the countries culture, custom or religion. Bringing misery, death and destruction to the world, as with Afghanistan, do they never learn?
Great Kink's song, Dave's vocal brings an edge and a feeling of desperation to it.
-SRC
I watched Once Upon A Time In Iraq last year- harrowing but essential tv. Stayed with me long after it had finished.
Deffo a top 10 rock n roll band. If there is a better run of 6 albums than from Face To Face to Muswell Hillbillies...
The Kinks don't get the respect they deserve.
I'm the same as Drew with 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else', as I was getting into the 60s US underground material being released on Pebbles/Nuggets comps etc. and thus hearing the Chocolate Watch Band before even knowing it was a Kinks track. But I love so much of their output; they were so garagey at times and so perfectly wistful pop at others - such a lot to offer. I think I saw the same documentary you describe, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great stuff.
The Nomads also did a great cover of I'm Not Like Everybody Else in the mid-1980s. What a tune.
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