The definitive Ray Davies interview

November 13, 2003 7:10 AM

The definitive Ray Davies interview by Candy Darling, Tinkerbelle and Glenn O'Brien
Tinkerbelle: You've probably made a lot of money. Do you ever get carried away with the material side?
Ray: I'm not wealthy. I never made that much. You probably don't want to talk to me now.
Candy: People really are more interesting when they're rich sometimes. You just can't help but like them better. Do you feel that way?
posted by y2karl (29 comments total)

from Andy Warhol's INTERVIEW, January 1973

Damn. I was hoping this was a teaser for another Kinks Reunion,
or at least a follow-up to X Ray.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:16 AM on November 13, 2003

Ray: What's that big building on the horizon?

Candy: Oh that's where you rent the bicycles. I love inclement weather, don't you?

Tinkerbelle: On the horizon. That's where Allen Funt lives.

Glenn: In Harlem?

They don't make 'em like this anymore. Great wacky link, thanks Y2
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:24 AM on November 13, 2003

Ray Davies is the man that Morrissey thinks he is. That is all.
posted by jonmc at 7:29 AM on November 13, 2003

Hey! Don't drag Morrissey into this!
posted by Quartermass at 8:02 AM on November 13, 2003

Also on the same site, which I check daily for Kinks/Ray/Dave updates, is the definitive Ray Davies review of a Beatles album.
posted by jlynford2 at 8:29 AM on November 13, 2003

A link providing some context on who the hell "Ray Davies" is would have been helpful.
posted by rushmc at 9:03 AM on November 13, 2003

Whatever happened to Glenn O'Brien? Is he still writing? He was so good.
posted by sparky at 9:17 AM on November 13, 2003

I check daily for Kinks/Ray/Dave updates

Daily? Are the Kinks still that active?
posted by mischief at 9:31 AM on November 13, 2003

Oh, sort of. Some of us are still patiently waiting for Ray's solo album that has been in the works for nearly a decade. Also, Dave has a solo album from ca. 1967 that still hasn't been released. Perhaps I should take your snarkiness as advice and remember that a watched pot never boils..... Thanks mischief!
posted by jlynford2 at 9:50 AM on November 13, 2003

Actually, that wasn't snarky. I am truly interested.
My reputation preceeds me.
posted by mischief at 10:32 AM on November 13, 2003

A link providing some context on who the hell "Ray Davies" is would have been helpful.

Ray Davies was the frontman for the Kinks, one of the most underrated bands of all time. Buy and listen to the albums Face to Face, Something Else by the Kinks, The Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur, and all will be revealed.
posted by ed at 11:25 AM on November 13, 2003

Wow, great old interview. Thanks.
posted by patrickje at 12:00 PM on November 13, 2003

A link providing some context on who the hell "Ray Davies" is would have been helpful.

Please tell me this is a troll/joke, you are way too attuned to pop culture to be serious.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:00 PM on November 13, 2003

for what it's worth, i have no idea who ray davies is, and i'm reasonably attuned to pop culture. a link would have been nice.
posted by jcruelty at 12:05 PM on November 13, 2003

Amen, Ed. Except I prefer the title as "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society." You have to read the fine print to read it that way, but as a fellow fan of the album, I'm sure you understand the significance. A double CD version of the album has been rumored since August, but has yet to be released. Also, Andy Miller's book on the album is the highlight, so far, of the 33 1/3 series. Happy 35th anniversary to the Village Green!
posted by jlynford2 at 12:16 PM on November 13, 2003

Ray Davies was the frontman for the Kinks, one of the most underrated bands of all time.

Thanks, ed.

Please tell me this is a troll/joke, you are way too attuned to pop culture to be serious.

Sorry to disappoint, but I hadn't heard of him. Just a gentle (well, intended to be gentle) reminder to posters not to assume that everyone shares the same cultural knowledge. Obviously, it's a judgement call as to how well-known a person is, or how likely it is that the vast majority of one's intended audience will have heard of them, and I'm sure a bunch of folks will chime in that well, everyone should know this guy!, but Metafilter has a very large audience of all ages and backgrounds and...well, you get the idea. Not a biggie, but worth pointing out, I thought. IMO a post should be self-contained and not require additional research to comprehend; others may feel differently.

/derail off
posted by rushmc at 12:25 PM on November 13, 2003

(oh, and thanks for the backwards compliment!)
posted by rushmc at 12:26 PM on November 13, 2003

i'm really feeling quite pretty!
posted by quonsar at 12:46 PM on November 13, 2003

jlynford2: Relying upon memory due to lack of time. but there were also great versions of the album issued by Parlophone a few years ago, I think, that had tons of B-sides. Presumably this new version of Village will reproduce these, no?

rushmc: Another good album to get acquainted with the Kinks: The Kinks Kronikles, sort of a greatest hits meets obscure B-sides collection. It even has Davies' beautiful ballad "Waterloo Sunset," which you can't always find on the albums. And I must confess an addiction to the song "Autumn Almanac" (on KK), which is, from any reasonable respective, silly and incomprehensible, but still irresistable.
posted by ed at 1:31 PM on November 13, 2003

Ed: With a two cd set, one would expect to get the stereo and mono versions of the album, and then some. (The stereo/mono version was released in 1998 with 28 tracks) One hopes the new 2cd version will have better fidelity, liner notes or something. Also Andy Partridge admits to basically basing XTC's sound on Autumn Almanac.
posted by jlynford2 at 1:37 PM on November 13, 2003

jlynford2: I'm definitely with Partridge. The song does function as an incredible epic. If Davies had not taken the songwriting risks that he had with "Autumn Almanac," then it's doubtful that Radiohead could have gotten away with "Paranoid Android" twenty or so years later, which essentially did the same thing structurally, albeit with less of a jarring major/minor shift screwing around with your emotions.

But then again, Davies could do so much with even a D-A-G structure. Witness "Days," which starts off as a traditional ballad and then goes into that funky chord thing near the end.
posted by ed at 2:14 PM on November 13, 2003

Sorry to disappoint, but I hadn't heard of him.

rushmc, I'm sorry. I apologize for making the unwarranted assumption. Also sorry that you reached adulthood without spending hours glorying in some of the best music of the '60s. ;-)
posted by billsaysthis at 5:02 PM on November 13, 2003

Something a little more recent: a conversation between Ray Davies and the late, lamented Elliott Smith.
posted by staggernation at 6:13 PM on November 13, 2003

[Smith not late or lamented at time of conversation.]
posted by staggernation at 6:13 PM on November 13, 2003

I had no idea Interview had been around since 1973. I have a Warhol-signed edition from 1982. This interview is so incredibly vapid I had to pinch myself to make sure I hadn't floated off into CelebrityAetherland.
posted by kozad at 6:51 PM on November 13, 2003

Also sorry that you reached adulthood without spending hours glorying in some of the best music of the '60s. ;-)

No worries. I'll have to try to rectify the situation.
posted by rushmc at 8:42 PM on November 13, 2003

Oh, you're in for a treat, rushmc. Start with the songs "Waterloo Sunset" and "You Really Got Me." Nobody but the Beatles and the Kinks alternated between gentleness and brutality with such agility.
posted by jonmc at 6:45 AM on November 14, 2003

Fabulous retro link, y2karl - great find!
Here's a more recent profile of Davis in Salon.

I expect great things from the offspring of Davies and erstwhile paramour Chrissie Hynde - Natalie Hynde should be about 20 now.
posted by madamjujujive at 6:29 AM on November 15, 2003

Well.

I met her in a club down in old Soho,
where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola.
C-o-l-a cola.
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance.
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said,

Lola
L-o-l-a Lola

was the song that came to mind for me.

Well, I'm at the cybercafe, where time is money, so onward and upward--I'm off to find a new power supply. Until then I'm offline at home.
posted by y2karl at 3:28 PM on November 15, 2003