Ray Davies!

Here's hoping all the days ahead
Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you.
Be an optimist instead,
And somehow happiness will find you.
Forget what happened yesterday,
I know that better things are on the way. - Ray Davies

Lost in the McCartney turning 80 histrionics was Ray Davies turning 78 yesterday.

Ray Davies is the only man I'd even consider to be in the same league as Lennon-McCartney. Period. Not Dylan, not Wilson, Westerberg or Springsteen, not nobody. Only Ray Davies. He is second only to McCartney when it comes to melody, his tales of everyday Britain are without peer, and he's even funny to boot - who else could possibly rhyme "vernacular" and "Dracula" in a song and it works perfectly?

Great post HERE from moi on the Ray/Dave thingee.

Some of my favorite Ray lyrics HERE.

Ray trashing Revolver (oh fuck you, Ray!) HERE.

Just take about 3 seconds today to remind yourself how much we all should love Ray Davies:

All the Kinks did, with Davies in command as frontman, songwriter, producer and arranger, was create the warmest, funniest,🤗 most varied and keenly intelligent body of work in the rock canon.

...his characters are never heroic. They have everyday frustrations and everyday enjoyments. When Davies delves into his own psyche, a listener hears him coping with loneliness and loss and disconnection from family and friends, but also struggling to find enough heart and encouragement to snap out of a funk and move forward. No one has written more songs about how hard it can be simply to get out of bed and face another day, but Davies’ characters almost always find a way to do it.

Nevertheless, there’s never been a Kinks album that was a downer. Even a song of roaring anger like “20th Century Man,” a magnificently arranged and performed piece that builds momentum from its opening acoustic tension to a blazing rock release of fear and disgust, starts with a certain bleary humor before erupting against the march of mass-retailed modern culture. Humor is Davies’ guiding spirit – for example in “Life Goes On,”:

My bank went broke and my well ran dry.
It was almost enough to contemplate suicide.
I turned on the gas, but I soon realized
I hadn't settled my bill so they cut off my supply.
No matter how I try, it seems I'm too young to die.

...whose first-person protagonist (someone not unlike the songwriter himself) is grateful and amused to recall a thwarted suicide attempt as a lucky pratfall.

I LOVE RAY DAVIES, HAPPY BIRFDAY RAY! 🤗🕺