tony bennett (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} dametonybennett) wrote,@ 2008-12-31 14:35:00 |
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The best Kinks songs I heard in 2008
So, not much music worth a damn came out this year. When Fleet Foxes is everybody's #1 album, something's wrong. I liked a few new things here and there, but i spent most of my time in 2008 listening to the Kinks and Creedence. I have trouble giving a damn about Santogold, Antony and the Johnsons, or lcd soundsystem when not a single one of them has written one song as good as Ray Davies' c-level material.
In honor of Mr. Davies, his brother Dave, and the rest of the Kinks, i give you my Top Ten Kinks Songs of 2008.
1. "Brainwashed" -- Cutting, incisive lyrics and kick-ass music. I went through a phase this year where I drove Kelli crazy by singing this song's "Yes, you are" refrain OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OV
2. "This Time Tomorrow" -- I'll just admit it: hearing this tune in "The Darjeeling Limited" got me started on my Kinks binge. That movie came out in the fall of last year, and the binge is still happening. This song actually made me shed a tear this year. Only a few tunes have ever done that to me.
3. "Victoria" -- Catchy as shit. I woke up with this in my head at least fifty times this year. Probably, it was more like a hundred.
4. "20th Century Man" -- Perhaps the best example of Ray Davies' grumpy anti-modern views. "Apeman" is a good one, too. I don't know any songwriter who talked about modern life sucking as much as Ray. My hero.
5. "David Watts." -- Much like "Victoria," a tight, concise jam, and a great album opener.
6. "Some Mother's Son" -- If Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel wasn't SEVERELY influenced by this song, I'll be a donkey's nephew. This song seriously sounds like it could be on "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." Only Mangum never wrote a chord progression this amazing.
7. "King Kong" -- A totally rocking b-side.
8. "Strangers" -- Oh, so, you know, Ray Davies is a genius and everything, but then his brother also wrote some songs, too. And most of THEM were genius. And maybe no lyric hit me harder this year than "If I live too long, I'm afraid I'll die."
9. "The Village Green Preservation Society" -- Great opener. Great key change. God save the Kinks.
10. I can't just pick ten. Here are some others that, ahem, really got me in 2008: "Death of a Clown," "Mindless Child of Motherhood," "Shangri-La," "Johnny Thunder," "Do You Remember Walter," "Waterloo Sunset," and "Misty Water."
From about 1965 to 1973, the Kinks wrote and played some of the best songs I've ever had the pleasure to hear. You should hear them, too.
Happy new year. 2009 had better shit all over 2008, or I'm asking for a refund.
So, not much music worth a damn came out this year. When Fleet Foxes is everybody's #1 album, something's wrong. I liked a few new things here and there, but i spent most of my time in 2008 listening to the Kinks and Creedence. I have trouble giving a damn about Santogold, Antony and the Johnsons, or lcd soundsystem when not a single one of them has written one song as good as Ray Davies' c-level material.
In honor of Mr. Davies, his brother Dave, and the rest of the Kinks, i give you my Top Ten Kinks Songs of 2008.
1. "Brainwashed" -- Cutting, incisive lyrics and kick-ass music. I went through a phase this year where I drove Kelli crazy by singing this song's "Yes, you are" refrain OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OV
2. "This Time Tomorrow" -- I'll just admit it: hearing this tune in "The Darjeeling Limited" got me started on my Kinks binge. That movie came out in the fall of last year, and the binge is still happening. This song actually made me shed a tear this year. Only a few tunes have ever done that to me.
3. "Victoria" -- Catchy as shit. I woke up with this in my head at least fifty times this year. Probably, it was more like a hundred.
4. "20th Century Man" -- Perhaps the best example of Ray Davies' grumpy anti-modern views. "Apeman" is a good one, too. I don't know any songwriter who talked about modern life sucking as much as Ray. My hero.
5. "David Watts." -- Much like "Victoria," a tight, concise jam, and a great album opener.
6. "Some Mother's Son" -- If Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel wasn't SEVERELY influenced by this song, I'll be a donkey's nephew. This song seriously sounds like it could be on "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." Only Mangum never wrote a chord progression this amazing.
7. "King Kong" -- A totally rocking b-side.
8. "Strangers" -- Oh, so, you know, Ray Davies is a genius and everything, but then his brother also wrote some songs, too. And most of THEM were genius. And maybe no lyric hit me harder this year than "If I live too long, I'm afraid I'll die."
9. "The Village Green Preservation Society" -- Great opener. Great key change. God save the Kinks.
10. I can't just pick ten. Here are some others that, ahem, really got me in 2008: "Death of a Clown," "Mindless Child of Motherhood," "Shangri-La," "Johnny Thunder," "Do You Remember Walter," "Waterloo Sunset," and "Misty Water."
From about 1965 to 1973, the Kinks wrote and played some of the best songs I've ever had the pleasure to hear. You should hear them, too.
Happy new year. 2009 had better shit all over 2008, or I'm asking for a refund.
