Comments on: THE KINKS – “Sunny Afternoon”

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 13:20:44 +0000

TOTPWatch: The Kinks thrice performed Sunny Afternoon on Top Of The Pops;

9 June 1966. Also in the studio that week were; Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch, The Yardbirds, Tom Jones and Wayne Fontana. David Jacobs was the host.

23 June 1966. Also in the studio that week were; Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames and Petula Clark. Jimmy Savile was the host.

7 July 1966. Also in the studio that week were; Chris Farlowe, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Los Bravos, Petula Clark and The Shadows. David Jacobs was the host.

None of these episodes survive.

By: Lena

Lena — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:47:40 +0000

A songwriter emerges: http://musicsoundsbetterwithtwo.blogspot.com/2011/08/turning-points-gene-pitney-no-one-needs.html Thanks for reading everyone!

By: Mark G

Mark G — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:21:10 +0000

2005 reviews seem totally tired of the Kinks. Were they ubiquitous at the time? probably.

now, being 2011, and (re)discovering them via my nice 10CD Pye box, it seems less about the mourning for a disappearing englishness, and more about laughing (a little) at those whose only way forward is nostalgia.

I resisted getting the “Village Green” because of the “god save Donald Duck” line, but actually it was a purposefully throw-away line to distance the singer from the subject.

“Walter” from the same album seemed more about regret for passing of an old friendship, but even then “If you saw me now, you would’t even know my name” is fake as walter’d certainly realise his mate was lead singer of The Kinks.

Anyway, arch-toryism was endemic to much of the entertainment provided to yer working classes around this time: How many comedies were about “work-to-rule” and “striking” Unions, returning home to find yr house invaded by squatters, not to mention …….

By: James K.

James K. — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 01:11:34 +0000

“Furthermore, the video produced was like 90% of the other videos shown on the programme – an incredibly literal translation of the lyrics.”

There is an actual 1960s-era video of this on Youtube in which the Kinks perform the song in the snow, which for me reinforces the deadpan tone of the lyrics. To see “In the Summertime” or a Beach Boys song performed in the snow would be merely strange, but for this song it is actually funny,

By: crag

crag — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:44:13 +0000

DESERT ISLAND DISCS WATCH:

Ann Mallalieu, First lady President of the Cambridge Union(1968)

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:06:37 +0000

Now THIS is a record I should have given more than 8 to.

By: Darren

Darren — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:46:38 +0000

I remember the Golden Oldie Picture show, and yes, Sunny Afternoon was featured as a video on there. Furthermore, the video produced was like 90% of the other videos shown on the programme – an incredibly literal transaltion of the lyrics. Girl drives of in the Rolls as the guy sips beer by the pool in his stately home.

By: John V. Keogh

John V. Keogh — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:56:19 +0000

One of the first records in our house – I was 9, I bought Hideaway by Dave Dee, Dozy, etc and my younger brother bought Sunny Afternoon. I’ve never been sure which is the better record!

By: thefatgit

thefatgit — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:09:34 +0000

What a cool No1 to be born under. This feels like Blur’s “Country House”. Or should “Country House” feel like this? I remember that DLT programme vaguely, although I couldn’t put my finger on any memorable vids from it.

By: Conrad

Conrad — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:26:53 +0000

And the title…he said 4 pints down

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:14:01 +0000

This is so much funnier, cleverer and more compelling than Paperback Writer.I know the Beatles are the greatest pop band of all time!!!1!, but what they were coming up with in this period seems infinitely more dated and of its time than the work of either the Kinks or the Stones.

By: Caledonianne

Caledonianne — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:21:11 +0000

Don’t know about “the English countryside suffused with light”, but for me this is redolent of Glsgow Fair day-trips for my nigh-on-seven year-old self with the cousins to Ayr, getting grubby on exhaling-their-last steam trains (“change at Dalry!”), chomping boiled egg sandwiches on sizzling sands, and sniggering conspiratorially about the “big fat mama” – perhaps because the accompanying aunt was a slender Joan Sanderson-type schoolmarm.

One of said cousins is now a Professor of Psychiatry. Wonder what he makes of it all?

By: The flipside of the last flipside « Backed with

The flipside of the last flipside « Backed with — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:09:20 +0000

[...] this Popular post for a perceptive and rounded discussion of the A side of ‘I’m not like everybody [...]

By: sj maclean

sj maclean — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:40:48 +0000

What a brilliant post from Tom. Captures an emotional feeling of how we like to think of the sixties. What a beautiful sense of calm it captures.

By: maxes

maxes — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 19:41:00 +0000

well the blog is good but I don’t understand very well english but I think that the blog is good

my blog is http://www.elblogmasinteresante.blogspot.com
bye

By: Lena

Lena — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 16:48:00 +0000

I agree with you, Frank, on the hopelessness of this song – it is very dark and it’s hard to tell where to look for the darkness (“the tales of drunkenness and cruelty”?), but Jagger’s darkness is a literal blackness and this seems more like a kind of blurry helplessness wherein the singer wants to be saved, but there is no salvation – whereas Jagger knows what he wants. I don’t know, aggression vs. passive-aggression? I agree that there is no irony in this song, at least, and as a listener I can’t tell what the heck is going on. Maybe that’s the point?

Also, I don’t think this has much to do with the “Daydream” song which is uncomplicated to me – just slow and slack and kind of annoying.

By: Frank Kogan

Frank Kogan — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 15:12:00 +0000

“Sunny Afternoon” is notable for being one of my few absolute favorite Kinks songs that has neither drone nor rave-up. So it’s less Yardbirds-like than the others.

By: Frank Kogan

Frank Kogan — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 15:06:00 +0000

it’s so gratuitously slackerly that I have a hard time caring

Lena, it’s interesting that you say this, since you and I are so close to each other in the way we hear “Paint It, Black.” In some ways – and not just the lyrics, but the delivery, the tone – “Sunny Afternoon” is “Paint It, Black,” with a sunny surface.

The Kinks, like the Stones, put their song elements at war with one other. The word “irony” isn’t sufficient to describe what’s going on in “Heart of Stone” and “Get Off of My Cloud” and “Under My Thumb” and “Back Street Girl” and “Street Fighting Man” and “Sunny Afternoon” and “Waterloo Sunset.” You can’t say that there’s some “intended” message in these songs that runs opposite to the “literal” message, since the war between elements is never resolved, and no message gets to define the song.

By: It's Dadaismus

It's Dadaismus — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:53:00 +0000

As a dyed-in-the-wool Kinks’ fans since I was THREE YEARS OLD (goldarnit!) (…or so my mum tells me), I’ve never liked this song much. Musically, it drags – no doubt deliberately but nonetheless – and the satirical edge of the lyrics is dulled by the fact that Ray, being a clever chap, seems only too aware of the fact that he could be singing about himself, if not his current self then his future self – so, on cue, archness ensues.

Also the reference to the taxman – 1966, a Labour government increases its majority from 3 to 97 and, all of a sudden, working class boys on the way up (yer George Harrisons and Ray Davieseseses) are bellyaching about their earnings disappearing to fuel Harold Wilson’s white hot technological bonfire instead of up their noses. Do I not like that…

And, yes, it has always struck me as an English equivalent of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Daydream” (pettiness, cynicism and whingeing inclusive therefore) but then “Daydream” is another of my least favourite songs by another of my most favourite bands!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 14:30:00 +0000

I think that the Kinks ( and Ray in particular ) were writing " out of the box" in the sixties. NO spoon, moon june, for ol' Ray - except of course when he wanted it that way. Cue the face paint and gas lamps of the venerable music Hall.

Ray was into a broader palate than most at this time and writing about stuff he knew and cared about, England and it's changing face in the sixties & seventies.

As in the name of an LP they did - he's a chronicler of that time.

Incidentally , as all songwrtiters know , cool beer is a double rhyme with cruetly.

And just in passing I live in the home town of Zal from the Lovin' Spoonful - unfortunately he passed away 2 years this Xmas and besides the musical legacy established the best restaurant ( Chez Piggy ) and the best bakery (Pan Chancho ) - this side of Montreal...

Brian in ( Kingston ) Canada

By: bza

bza — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 17:14:00 +0000

how odd, maybe in my haste I pasted in the link to this comments section? We may never know...

Hope you enjoy if you did get to read it. Don't take it to seriously either.

The Kinks are my favorite band, by the way, although they are certainly not for everybody. They did have so good songs post-Muswell, but their albums generally took a nose dive. So few bands stay relevant after ten years, though, it's hard to single them out for their decline.

By: Lena

Lena — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 16:26:00 +0000

For some reason the line “telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty” sticks out for me, and for all I know this song may be one. But it’s so gratuitously slackerly that I have a hard time caring. Maybe if I was British I’d get the sarcasm?

By: Alan Connor

Alan Connor — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:15:00 +0000

bza, the authorities won’t let me onto your Village Green.

Hmmmm… bza’s link works, but only if you copy and paste the text, rather than clicking on the hyperlink.

See if this flies:

http://www.prefixmag.com/features/T/The-Kinks/The-Kinks/177

By: Frank Kogan

Frank Kogan — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 01:00:00 +0000

Same season as “Sunshine Superman.”

By: Frank Kogan

Frank Kogan — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 00:57:00 +0000

bza, the authorities won’t let me onto your Village Green.