 | Waterloo Sunset
The Kinks
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Ironically, this most London of songs started its life as 鈥楲iverpool Sunset鈥: Ray Davies鈥 reflection on the decline of the Merseybeat boom. But while the head Kink was still mulling his song over, The Beatles released 鈥楶enny Lane鈥 and Ray was prompted to look to his own London roots.
As an art student in the early 1960s, Davies had regularly travelled from his north London home, way down south to Croydon. The journey took him across Waterloo Bridge - and a few years later it was to Waterloo that the Kinks returned for this, their best-loved song.
Even before the Kinks recorded 鈥榃aterloo Sunset鈥 early in 1967, Ray Davies had established himself a reputation as a wry chronicler of English society. Hit singles like 鈥楧edicated Follower Of Fashion鈥, 鈥楽unny Afternoon鈥 and 鈥楧ead End Street鈥 had seen him hailed as pop鈥檚 Samuel Pepys, but it was the mournful and melancholic 鈥榃aterloo Sunset鈥 that would become enshrined as the great London song.
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Ray Davies talks about Terry and Julie, the characters听who featured in the song and the inspiration of the River Thames in Waterloo Sunset. |
鈥淲hen the record was finished and it was coming out,鈥 Ray Davies remembered, 鈥淚 got my wife Rasa to drive me down to Waterloo Bridge to see if the atmosphere was right鈥 I鈥檝e never worked with a song that has been a total pleasure from beginning to end like that one.鈥
The song鈥檚 evocative opening 鈥淒irty old river鈥︹ rooted it firmly in the metropolis while the names of its two protagonists, Terry and Julie, linked it indelibly to the Swinging 60s - and the glamourous couple who came to epitomise that era. The more famous Terry (Terence Stamp) and Julie (Christie) were starring in Far From The Madding Crowd when the Kinks single appeared.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 mean anything鈥 Ray Davies has said about the song, 鈥渂ut when you hear the record, it means a lot.鈥
Surprisingly, on its release in May 1967 鈥榃aterloo Sunset鈥 only made it to No.2 - kept off the top by Sandie Shaw鈥檚 Eurovision winning 鈥楶uppet On A String鈥. But Ray Davies remained fascinated by the south London district - in 1984 he appeared in a film, Return To Waterloo, while a collection of his short stories was published in 1997 as鈥 Waterloo Sunset.
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