BRILL BUILDING #1 by Ian Brill
The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset"
My parents often bewilder me. Most of us only know our parents after they have gone through that life changing experience of having children. In the process we have absolutely no concept of them being hip, with-it kids, if they ever were.
From what my mother tells me she wasn't. My mother was raised to be a nun while growing up in a little town outside of Dublin, Ireland. Not being in swinging London at the time (the mid-sixties) and expecting a life of being married to God instead of Bill Wyman is not particularly conductive for a real cool, swinging demeanor. Still I remember a few years ago my mother once telling me of the music she was into when she was in her teens, the time when music was as vital as the air we breath or the blood we circulate. I can't remember what prompted the revelation; in contrast to my father, my mother isn't particularly inclined towards music. She just rattled off a few names in the living room one day. I'm for sure (sic) she mentioned T.Rex and a little less sure she mentioned The Hollies. I definitely remember her telling me she dug The Kinks.
I was already familiar with T.Rex and The Kinks, but all I knew of The Hollies then was "Long Cool Woman". This familiarity comes from my Dad's devotion to FM classic rock. What classic rock radio does is basically reduce an artist's career down to three or four songs deemed appropriate by the play-list editors. So when I say knew of the Kinks then, I mean I knew "Really Got Me Going," "All Day and All of the Night," "Lola," and "All the Love That I Found." They seemed to me to be alright band. They had to be, or why else would their songs be good enough to be used in commercials? It really wasn't until my guitar playing did I get a lot more into music, even finding bands that, of all things, didn't get played on the radio. I remember getting a British guitar magazine; I think it was called "Guitar Player," from my aunt Rosarie. It had Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller on the cover and inside were the transcriptions of such songs as Television's ”Marquee Moon" (try finding a guitar magazine in this country that'll do that!), "Stairway To Heaven," and "All Day and All of the Night." It wasn't just a transcription of the songs like the mags in this country though, where you get the songs' skeleton on pulpy paper instead of the glossy stuff the rest of the magazine is printed on, it was a whole tutorial and a short history of the band. In a little box near the end they listed artists who have covered Kinks songs. One was Damon Albarn's )of Blur and Gorillaz) cover of "Waterloo Sunset." This song was hailed in the article as one of Ray Davies' greatest compositions. I had to hear it.
Radio was no use, they couldn't play another Kinks song in lieu of songs by such geniuses as Bad Company and Journey. I couldn't even find a Kinks album with "Sunset" on it at Best Buy or musty old Record Outlet. I was at a stalemate until Audiogalaxy rolled around. My friend Eli (who will be mentioned some more in this series) turned me on to it. Here was a website where I could get the songs I wanted without having to deal with other file sharers consumed with a societal built-in obsession with Fred Durst and Britney Spears. Here was a site I thought, that was by music nerds for music nerds! I quickly got in the habit of downloading entire albums and occasionally compilations of an artist's oeuvre. When I created my Kinks CD I was sure to put this elusive beast "Waterloo Sunset" on it. I downloaded the song but only listened to it to hear that it was the full song and not a truncated version. I burned the CD with "Sunset" and fifteen other Kinks song on it. I played the CD in my 1986 Volvo going to and from work at Target. It was on those drives that I fell in love with the beauty one Ray Davies brought to this world.
It starts off with a descending riff, only to really start the song off with an airy mix of acoustic guitars, background harmonies and Davies' unmistakable vocals. The younger Davies brother, Dave, puts in some of the most tasteful lead guitar ever recorded that gives the song its distinct melodic edge. At the time I was in the midst of one of the most terrible jobs, department store cashier during the busy holidays season, and this song did what all great songs do, transport the listener to a small room in heaven. Here I was listening to another homebody tell me about looking at the world through his window and finding peace in enjoying the world on his own terms, in his warm cozy abode. I was dealing with a world in a much different way, with greedy and selfish shoppers using me and my colleagues in the retail business as pawns in their quest to forget the world though consumer culture. With "Sunset" I am reminded of a time before PS2s and DVD players and even livejournals, for that matter. With "Sunset" I got a chance to go away from millions people swarming like flies round disgustingly large malls and department stores and to a humble cottage Muswell Hill. Where else would I rather be?
Purchase The Kinks' "Something Else " from Amazon.com to hear "Waterloo Sunset" and other Kinks songs.