From Wikipedia: "The record reached number 2 on the British charts in mid 1967 (it failed to dislodge the Tremeloes' "Silence Is Golden" from the number 1 position). It was also a top 10 hit in Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe. In North America, although "Waterloo Sunset" was released as a single it was not a hit, as it completely failed to chart. As a result, while "Waterloo Sunset" is well-known amongst Kinks fans and anglophile music fans, it is not necessarily a song widely known to the general public in the US or Canada.
"Davies considered the song a professional milestone, where he managed to blend the commercial demands of a hit single with his own highly personal style of narrative songwriting. The elaborate production was the first Kinks recording produced solely by Davies, without longtime producer Shel Talmy. In subsequent arguments with Kinks management over the direction of the band, Davies would say "I've done 'Waterloo Sunset', now I want to do something else".
"In 2010 Ray Davies stated the song was originally entitled 'Liverpool Sunset'. In an interview with the Liverpool Echo he explained 'Liverpool is my favourite city, and the song was originally called Liverpool Sunset. I was inspired by Merseybeat. I'd fallen in love with Liverpool by that point. On every tour, that was the best reception. We played The Cavern, all those old places, and I couldn't get enough of it. I had a load of mates in bands up there, and that sound – not The Beatles but Merseybeat – that was unbelievable. It used to inspire me every time. So I wrote Liverpool Sunset. Later it got changed to Waterloo Sunset, but there's still that play on words with Waterloo. London was home, I'd grown up there, but I like to think I could be an adopted Scouser. My heart is definitely there.' [10][11]"
Always likes this song, man it's old, hehehe
ReplyDeleteI agree Iri. How can these songs be so old when we are all still young? ;-)
DeleteIt's interesting how many great pop songs like this went big in parts of the Anglo-world and somehow failed to chart in others.
Glad you enjoyed this one.
I always did like this song.................I looked at this and thought I'd already commented, and then I realized I'm not suffering amnesia, I must have commented on it on your other site...........anyway, its worth listening twice, :-))
ReplyDeleteThanks Loretta. Glad I could find this one.
DeleteAh takes me back...this is from a time post kitchen sink drama that dramatises the English working class. Interesting that Ray Davies wanted to be an adopted Scouser.....don't quite get that myself but whatever, Cockneys can be odd people. I was at Waterloo station just yesterday as a matter in fact.... I was in London for the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at the Tate Modern and got a tube to Waterloo en route from Euston to Southwark...strange bit of synchronicity that I should discover your post here tonight Doug....Your posts here are a bit hard to find for me actually, I don't know why...perhaps it is just that Blogger is not as interactive as Multiply and it's as simple as that? Anyway a great song Doug and a very good pick, thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteYour welcome, AA. I didn't quite understand Davies remarks on Liverpool either. Maybe he wanted to sing for "The Searchers" or "The Pacemakers", who knows? Perhaps just a case of "the grass smokes better on the ferry cross the Mersey".
DeleteTo me it's like someone saying, "I grew up in San Francisco but I always wanted to really live down in a real cosmopolitan spot like....San Jose"????
I hope you enjoyed the Lichtenstein show. I've noticed too some strange synchronicity...I was listening to a Buffalo Springfield CD and suddenly someone posted a picture of that 60s group on another site. That's weird!
Yes, I wish Blogger was easier to navigate. But there aren't as many tea party reactionary versions of my countrymen (The Yank Deadheads) over here, so that's something to be thankful for. :-)
Thanks AA.