Have been listening to Ray Davies' excellent solo album, Working Man's Cafe, a lot recently and it struck me that in the title song, Ray manages to say, with economy and elegance, what Bob tries and fails to say in 'Workingman's Blues, #2:
I don't agree at all, Elmer. I like and can admire most of the Ray Davies / Kinks songs I've heard, but this seems sentimental: an impression not helped by the way that in the performance you link to, he keeps grinning at his own lines in an off-putting, ingratiating way. In contrast, Dylan's 'Workingman's Blues #2' is, along with 'Nettie Moore', the only part of Modern Times I like to hear.
Am afraid we will have to agree to disagree on that one.
i have always found 'Workingman's Blues' intolerably fake and affected. Its far too late for Bob to pretend to be a Woody Guthrie style champion of the Working Class.
Also, lines about 'the buying power of the proletariat' strike me as disingenuous at best from a multi-millionaire 'old business man'...
Woud add that i agree that Ray Davies' onstage antics have always been extremely irritating (esp. the clapalong caper) but am willing him to forgive him this, as I think he is one of the greatest English rock songwriters...
To me, "Workingman's Cafe" fits into a whole body of work where Davies has looked at the English class system, questions of identity and ideas about belonging (which sometimes veer towards the politically dodgy, but that's another story'). Also - for what its worth -I have always seen his work as more 'nostalgic' than 'sentimental.'
By the way, his autobiography is up there with Chronicles as one of the best books ever written by a rock musician.
It's always warms the heat to hear a great new band you haven't heard before, and this lot sure fit the bill.
ReplyDeletethanks
Dave
Michael
ReplyDeleteHave been listening to Ray Davies' excellent solo album, Working Man's Cafe, a lot recently and it struck me that in the title song, Ray manages to say, with economy and elegance, what Bob tries and fails to say in 'Workingman's Blues, #2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12j1yAWFMPA
I don't agree at all, Elmer. I like and can admire most of the Ray Davies / Kinks songs I've heard, but this seems sentimental: an impression not helped by the way that in the performance you link to, he keeps grinning at his own lines in an off-putting, ingratiating way.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, Dylan's 'Workingman's Blues #2' is, along with 'Nettie Moore', the only part of Modern Times I like to hear.
Michael
ReplyDeleteAm afraid we will have to agree to disagree on that one.
i have always found 'Workingman's Blues' intolerably fake and affected. Its far too late for Bob to pretend to be a Woody Guthrie style champion of the Working Class.
Also, lines about 'the buying power of the proletariat' strike me as disingenuous at best from a multi-millionaire 'old business man'...
Michael
ReplyDeleteWoud add that i agree that Ray Davies' onstage antics have always been extremely irritating (esp. the clapalong caper) but am willing him to forgive him this, as I think he is one of the greatest English rock songwriters...
To me, "Workingman's Cafe" fits into a whole body of work where Davies has looked at the English class system, questions of identity and ideas about belonging (which sometimes veer towards the politically dodgy, but that's another story'). Also - for what its worth -I have always seen his work as more 'nostalgic' than 'sentimental.'
By the way, his autobiography is up there with Chronicles as one of the best books ever written by a rock musician.