The Kinks' Sir Ray Davies on alternative name for band and why he loves taunting US fans

The Sun

17-07-2025

SIR Raymond Douglas Davies and the United States Of America – let's just say it's a complicated relationship.
Their paths first crossed in 1964 when the British Invasion was in full swing.
5
5
The Beatles lit the blue touch paper and The Kinks, led by Ray and his brother Dave, were key players in the explosion of sound that followed.
Their heavy riff-driven hits You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night rocketed into the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.
A year later, however, the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion — and they had to make a hasty 'British Retreat'.
Following a turbulent US tour in the summer of '65, The Kinks were banned from performing there for four years.
Though no official reason was given by the American Federation of Musicians, there were reports of rowdy behaviour on and off stage, a physical altercation with a ­'British-baiting' TV producer and an unpaid fee.
Sixty years on, I've been given the chance to ask Sir Ray, 81, about The Kinks' Stateside story.
He has curated the third and final part of the band's archive series, The Journey, which focuses on the late Seventies and early Eighties, when they finally cracked America.
For context, Davies begins by reflecting on the impact of seismic events more than a decade earlier.
He says: 'I was talking to (drummer) Mick Avory the other day and we concluded that the ban in America was a result of bad management, bad luck and bad behaviour — but we were only young.
'We had dreamt of America for so long'
'Nevertheless, the four-year ban was a bit excessive. Looking back though, it allowed me the space to write songs about England and forget about breaking America.
'However, it was irksome having to watch all our peers tour the States while we were left behind.'
By saying 'peers', Davies is of course referring to groups such as The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who.
Did The Kinks feel bruised by missing out on the wild success enjoyed by the others?
'Of course we did,' he replies. 'We were young and looking forward to touring the country that had inspired our music and to experiencing Americana first hand.
'We had dreamt of America for so long through this vision of the movies of our childhood.'
Davies adds that 'on returning back to England, the band was in financial difficulties and on the verge of breaking up — and that took a further toll on all four of us.'
As we know, he picked himself up and emerged as one of our most gifted, perceptive and literate songwriters.
There was something quintessentially English about his Dedicated Follower Of Fashion and his lovers Terry and Julie, who 'as long as they gaze on Waterloo Sunset, they are in paradise'.
Just consider The Village Green Preservation Society with lines like 'God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties'.
In a previous interview, I remember Davies telling me that his song A Well Respected Man was about a neighbour who went to work in a bowler hat.
He said: 'While we were banned, it was our biggest hit in America and I sang it in a London accent.
'It was Dick Van Dyke London. Americans still think of us as being a bit Mary Poppins.'
A British Invasion contemporary, The Who's Pete Townshend, has said Davies 'invented a new kind of poetry' and that he should have been our Poet Laureate.
By 1970, The Kinks' ban had been lifted and American success beckoned once more.
They returned to the US top ten with Lola, a memorable Ray ­Davies composition set in a Soho bar and noted for its singalong chorus and daring lyrics about the gender-fluid title character.
'Before the ban, we played venues like the Hollywood Bowl,' he tells me.
'When we eventually returned, we were booked into small clubs and college venues.
'It was like starting all over again but it felt like an opportunity to get back what had been taken away from us.'
5
By the mid-Seventies, The Kinks were delivering a leaner, more hard-rocking sound to their American audiences.
It comes with this explanation from Davies: 'We were often playing as a support act and soundchecks were not always possible.
'So our sound became stripped down, which in a strange way made it more direct and in your face.
'Punk brought London alive, energy returned'
'I started reproducing this sound in the studio,' he continues before stressing, 'but you can't really say songs like All Day And All Of The Night and You Really Got Me are lightweight.
'Having said that, audiences responded well to songs like Art Lover and Well Respected Man, which are not exactly heavy metal.
'On occasions I would break into vaudevillian renditions of You Are My Sunshine and the British National Anthem just to taunt the American audiences and heavy rock aficionados as if to say, 'Yeah, we are British, take it or leave it.'
The first Kinks album to adopt a more 'direct' sound was Sleepwalker (1976), their first for music mogul Clive Davis' fledgling Arista Records.
It was also the first of a string of LPs that did better in the US than back in good old Blighty.
Davies says: 'Clive persuaded me to stay in New York and I began work on Sleepwalker there. I eventually rented an apartment on the Upper West Side.'
The title track and Sleepless Night dealt with his insomnia at the time which he likens to ­'having permanent jet lag'.
The band's no-nonsense approach to the music also chimed with the advent of punk and the arrival of bands like The Jam who cited The Kinks as a major ­influence.
Davies says: 'I feel it (punk) brought London alive and energy returned to the city — we were back on the map of music and fashion.
'A lot of great bands came out of that period and The Kinks were like contemporaries.'
Although Davies started work on Sleepwalker in The Big Apple, it was recorded in London at his newly founded Konk Studios.
He remembers the early days of Konk and the freedom it afforded.
'We acquired a Neve (mixing) desk and started adapting what was an old factory in North ­London.
'It was rough and ready but the sound was to our liking and we had a certain amount of control over the budget. This made a huge impact on our recordings. Before Konk, we recorded at other studios and they were strictly on the meter but now we could run into overtime.'
Following Sleepwalker came Misfits in 1978 — well received, particularly in the States, but representing another difficult period for The Kinks.
Davies says: 'After the success of the Sleepwalker album, the band was in disarray and two members left.
'But myself, Dave and Mick remained committed and we brought in two new members, Jim Rodford and Ian Gibbons.'
Did the band see themselves as misfits? I venture.
'As it turned out, Misfits would have been a good name instead of The Kinks,' muses Davies.
'In some ways we have always been more like outsiders — not fitting in with any style or movement.'
One of the Misfits songs, A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy emphatically proved that Davies hadn't lost his way with neat turns of phrase.
'I was absorbed into American culture'
He says 'It is quite an autobiographical song. 'The king is dead' was a deliberate reference to Elvis (who died on August 16, 1977).
'I wrote it from the apartment on the 11th floor in NYC and the last verse was a direct reference to a man I saw listening to music in the building opposite.
'The first verse is about a friend of mine . . . 'You've been sleeping in a field but you look real rested/You set out to outrage but you can't get arrested/You say your image is new but it looks well tested/You're lost without a crowd, and yet you go your own way.''
Next, I ask Davies how living in NYC impacted on his songwriting in general. 'It was like learning another language,' he replies.
'I was being absorbed into American culture, particularly with the Low Budget album (1979) and songs like Catch Me Now I'm Falling and Attitude. But one thing that remained was my London accent as opposed to trying to sound American.'
On Catch Me Now I'm Falling, Davies deftly captured the uncertain mood in America during the late Seventies.
5
'There must have been a knock-on effect from all the economic difficulties in the world,' he says.
'After the Second World War, America saved the world, but who will save America?'
Low Budget also featured (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, released in the wake of Christopher Reeve donning the iconic blue and red outfit with yellow accents.
'Superman was a comic book hero of mine and, at the time, we had strikes all over Britain,' says Davies.
'But the song itself is about a man waking to all this bad news and he fantasises about flying away like Superman.'
After Low Budget came 1981's Give The People What They Want, including the rocking Destroyer which was like a blast from the past.
It featured the riff from All Day And All Of The Night and lyrics referencing Lola.
Davies says: 'It had been my idea for a long time, but had been on the back burner.
'I counted the song in, shouted out the chords through the headphones and it was recorded almost in one take.'
The album ended with the jangly, bittersweet Better Things, written by Davies about his failing marriage to second wife Yvonne.
'It's basically a break-up song about wishing the other person to have a better life,' he affirms.
This brings us to the best-loved of all The Kinks' later songs, Come Dancing, from the 1983 album State Of Confusion.
It served as a heartfelt tribute to Davies' tragic sister Rene who loved to dance to big bands on a Saturday night.
He tells the story behind the song: 'My first Spanish guitar was a gift from Rene.
'She died of a heart condition at the age of 31 on the day before my 13th birthday, while she was out dancing at the Lyceum Ballroom.
'My musical Come Dancing is based on family life and the events leading up to Rene's passing. Also around that time, I would buy records with my pocket money from Les Aldrich record shop in Muswell Hill which has now sadly closed down.
'These records and memories had an impact on my writing the musical.'
If the first disc of The Journey Pt 3 sheds new light on a fascinating and fruitful period for The Kinks, the second is a treasure trove of a different kind.
It is a newly discovered, ­pristine recording of the band's Royal Albert Hall concert on July 11, 1993.
This was at the dawn of Britpop and the old masters showed the young pretenders how it should be done.
The show drew on all parts of The Kinks' momentous 'journey' and included standout renditions of You Really Got Me, Sunny Afternoon and Dedicated Follower Of Fashion.
Last song Days finds Davies addressing the rapturous crowd, 'Thank you for the days/Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.'
He says: 'The concert was part of a tour celebrating our 30th anniversary. It was more like a welcome home from America and it was well received.
'Our fans showed us great affection and enthusiasm which was a highlight of the tour.
'Recently, when we were updating archives in Konk ­Studio, we came across the recording of that show, the last that the band performed at the Albert Hall.'
Finally, I ask Davies about the whole experience of putting together The Journey Parts 1, 2 and 3.
'I would have said let the lyrics do the talking before embarking on this project,' he answers.
'But, in some ways, these recollections have given the songs more depth.'
All I can add is, 'Thank you for the Ray.'
THE KINKS The Journey Part 3
★★★★☆