Radios of the world are tuning in tonight,
Are you on the dial, are you tuned in right?
One of our D.J.'s is missing.
Are you listening?
Are you listening to me?
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me clearly?
Around the dial.
Are you on the dial, are you tuned in right?
One of our D.J.'s is missing.
Are you listening?
Are you listening to me?
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me clearly?
Around the dial.
I've been around the dial so many times,
But you're not there.
Somebody tells me that you've been taken off the air.
Well, you were my favorite D.J.,
Since I can't remember when.
You always played the best records,
You never followed any trend.
F.M., A.M. where are you?
You gotta be out there somewhere on the dial.
On the dial. (From Around the Dial by Ray Davies)
I was ten years old. My family was living on the west coast of Sweden, some 20 miles north of Gothenburg. I had slowly become aware of the emerging pop scene in Sweden and abroad. My four year older sister was a Beatles fan and had a few Beatles 45's. She had also been nice enough to take me to the movie theater where we had watched The Beatles first movie, A Hard Day's Night. My sister Aino usually brought home a Swedish pop music magazine, Bildjournalen, which I read from cover to cover as soon as she was finished with it.
The Swedish public radio didn't have much pop music on it was usually a few hours per week. Saturdays the radio broadcast a traveling hit list show, where the audience could vote on the Top 10, plus five challengers. Tio I Topp, as it was called even came to the community, Stenungsund, where we were living at the time.
Anyway, from the music magazine I had learned about a radio station, Radio Luxemburg, which was broadcasting pop music 24/7.
However, it was distributed on middle wave, which only came in at night, if it came in at all.
We had a yellow transistor radio and this radio became my window out to the pop world a couple of hours every night.
I used to "sneak out" to the kitchen, grab the radio and bring it to my room while my parents and my sister were watching TV.
I soon learned to find Radio Luxembourg and enjoyed listening to the latest pop sounds, as much as the transmission quality allowed.
One night, I heard something I had never heard before on Swedish radio. The song started with a bang. A guitar blasted out, 'bam baba bam bam! I had no clue what they were singing about. I was in fourth grade and had just starting to learn English a month, or so earlier.
The DJ came on and announced t bla-bla-The Kinks -bla-bla-bla etc. I didn't understand much, but remembered the name of the band, The Kinks. I
heard that song several times until the my sister's music magazine mentioned a new band, The Kinks and their hit record, You Really Got Me.
I was just take by the sound of the song. Finally I had something on my own to admire. I didn't just have to rely on my sister's Beatles 45's anymore.
Later that autumn, it could have been around Christmas Time, 1964. our family was traveling to Gothenburg for some shopping. I had saved some of my weekly allowance for this occasion, because I wanted that record so much. At the record store the store clerk, an elderly gentleman, probably in his early 40's, asked me if i wanted to listen to the record before I bought it and of course, I thought he never would ask. It was just magic to listen to it like that.
I was a happy camper when we returned. I didn't have a record player yet, so my sister was graceful enough to let me play it on her record player, you know one of those players where the speaker was in the lid, which you removed so one could get access to the turntable.
I was in heaven.
The Kinks continued to release hits, in fact they released a string of hits during the next few years. All Day And All Of The Night, Tired of Waiting, See My Friends ( which perhaps was the first hit song with Eastern drone tones), A Well Respected Man, Dedicated follower of Fashion, and many more. The last one was a hit in Swedish as well, covered by Boris & The Beatmakers. I remember my dad really liked that song because of the catchy melody and the witty lyrics. By the way, the Swedish translation was fairly true to Ray Davies' English lyrics.
I continued to follow the Kinks over the years. However it wasn't until much later I realized how groundbreaking they were. It seemed like they were working in the shadow of the big men, The Beatles, The Rollings Stones, The Who, and maybe some other bands. I mentioned the Eastern sounding See My Friends above. Also they were the first rock band to release an album with a theme, Village Green Preservation Society. The follow up, Arthur (And The Decline Of The British Empire was also thematic. Eventually they sang about transgenders like Lola, or did they. We might never know. In the 1970's Ray Davies decided to release operatic albums like another two Village Green albums, plus Ducks on the Wall and Schoolboy In Disgrace.
I saw The Kinks perform once, in my then hometown of Lund, Sweden. It was during the Schoolboy In Disgrace tour.
However many years later, perhaps 25 years ago, I went to London. I had won a pop/rock trivia competition and the main prize was a flight to London. It just so happened that Ray Davies was performing his first Story Teller show. The show was based on his "unauthorized" biography, X-Ray. Roy read excerpts from his book accompanied by Kinks songs. As you can imagine it was a moving night to remember for this guy who, some 41 years earlier had listened to You Really Got Me on my family's transistor radio.
Many years after I moved here I was moved, again. I was watching the Olympic Game closing ceremony of 2012. All of a sudden, Ray Davies emerged singing , my perhaps favorite pop song ever, Waterloo Sunset. It was like all pieces came together.
All the above came to mind when I was playing one of The Kinks' 80's-albums Give The People What They Want. I used to be one of those kids who were searching around the dial for those pop songs. If I hadn't stumbled over The Kinks that one time, my list of favorite bands might have looked different.
However the great The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and other bands are, The Kinks will always have a special place in my heart, no matter what.
But you're not there.
Somebody tells me that you've been taken off the air.
Well, you were my favorite D.J.,
Since I can't remember when.
You always played the best records,
You never followed any trend.
F.M., A.M. where are you?
You gotta be out there somewhere on the dial.
On the dial. (From Around the Dial by Ray Davies)
I was ten years old. My family was living on the west coast of Sweden, some 20 miles north of Gothenburg. I had slowly become aware of the emerging pop scene in Sweden and abroad. My four year older sister was a Beatles fan and had a few Beatles 45's. She had also been nice enough to take me to the movie theater where we had watched The Beatles first movie, A Hard Day's Night. My sister Aino usually brought home a Swedish pop music magazine, Bildjournalen, which I read from cover to cover as soon as she was finished with it.
The Swedish public radio didn't have much pop music on it was usually a few hours per week. Saturdays the radio broadcast a traveling hit list show, where the audience could vote on the Top 10, plus five challengers. Tio I Topp, as it was called even came to the community, Stenungsund, where we were living at the time.
Anyway, from the music magazine I had learned about a radio station, Radio Luxemburg, which was broadcasting pop music 24/7.
However, it was distributed on middle wave, which only came in at night, if it came in at all.
We had a yellow transistor radio and this radio became my window out to the pop world a couple of hours every night.
I used to "sneak out" to the kitchen, grab the radio and bring it to my room while my parents and my sister were watching TV.
I soon learned to find Radio Luxembourg and enjoyed listening to the latest pop sounds, as much as the transmission quality allowed.
One night, I heard something I had never heard before on Swedish radio. The song started with a bang. A guitar blasted out, 'bam baba bam bam! I had no clue what they were singing about. I was in fourth grade and had just starting to learn English a month, or so earlier.
The DJ came on and announced t bla-bla-The Kinks -bla-bla-bla etc. I didn't understand much, but remembered the name of the band, The Kinks. I
heard that song several times until the my sister's music magazine mentioned a new band, The Kinks and their hit record, You Really Got Me.
I was just take by the sound of the song. Finally I had something on my own to admire. I didn't just have to rely on my sister's Beatles 45's anymore.
Later that autumn, it could have been around Christmas Time, 1964. our family was traveling to Gothenburg for some shopping. I had saved some of my weekly allowance for this occasion, because I wanted that record so much. At the record store the store clerk, an elderly gentleman, probably in his early 40's, asked me if i wanted to listen to the record before I bought it and of course, I thought he never would ask. It was just magic to listen to it like that.
I was a happy camper when we returned. I didn't have a record player yet, so my sister was graceful enough to let me play it on her record player, you know one of those players where the speaker was in the lid, which you removed so one could get access to the turntable.
I was in heaven.
I continued to follow the Kinks over the years. However it wasn't until much later I realized how groundbreaking they were. It seemed like they were working in the shadow of the big men, The Beatles, The Rollings Stones, The Who, and maybe some other bands. I mentioned the Eastern sounding See My Friends above. Also they were the first rock band to release an album with a theme, Village Green Preservation Society. The follow up, Arthur (And The Decline Of The British Empire was also thematic. Eventually they sang about transgenders like Lola, or did they. We might never know. In the 1970's Ray Davies decided to release operatic albums like another two Village Green albums, plus Ducks on the Wall and Schoolboy In Disgrace.
I saw The Kinks perform once, in my then hometown of Lund, Sweden. It was during the Schoolboy In Disgrace tour.
Many years after I moved here I was moved, again. I was watching the Olympic Game closing ceremony of 2012. All of a sudden, Ray Davies emerged singing , my perhaps favorite pop song ever, Waterloo Sunset. It was like all pieces came together.
However the great The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and other bands are, The Kinks will always have a special place in my heart, no matter what.
Thanks, Bengt!
ReplyDeleteClosing ceremony
ReplyDeleteThanks. Corrected :)
Delete