13 Songs – 3

Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks

Whilst almost none of the tracks featured in this particular 13 would appear in my best 13, Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks almost consistently holds top spot (i.e. my favourite song of all time). Whilst I might be on a funk tip, reggae vibe, dubstep voyage, punk revival or garage/psych trip. This song is always in the upper echelons of the ever-changing pop chart of my heart…

I don’t recall hearing it in my childhood days/daze, in fact I most probably didn’t hear it until mid-78? But, when I did – I was blown away. Lyrically far superior to almost anything I’d heard until then, a song in praise of my capital and also in praise of the hopelessly romantic backstory of life. Musically it is hypnotic and melodic in equal measure. This was written during a spell of almost unimaginable creativity by Ray Davies. Most songwriters would have given up after ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘All day and All of the Night’ and ‘Tired of waiting for you’. But he kept on going and delivered ‘See my friends’, ‘A well respected man’, ‘Dedicated follower of fashion’, ‘Sunny Afternoon’ (No.1 the week that England won the World Cup), ‘Dead End Street’ all before the ultimate pay-off ‘Waterloo Sunset’.

I am relentlessly drawn back to this song. It transports in a way that few others do. I instantly insert myself in the scene. Whilst the narrator Davies watches from his window. I’m down there on the banks of the river, feeling the warmth of the fading sun on my face. 

The track itself is wreathed in the vibrations of the city. The bosses ruing their losses, heading back out to some far-flung suburban Valium drenched backwater. Office workers charging to the bar to smother their weekend in stale pale ale and Strand cigarettes and lovers plotting their way out of this whole sorry mess in each other’s company. The powerful resonance of Terry & Julie meeting at the same place, every week; clinging to hope, to the passing of time and to each other. We can clearly sense the Routemasters and black cabs mingling with rest of the traffic heading (mainly south) over the Thames. 

Waterloo Sunset delivers both a strong evocation of an age fading like London fog and the sense that nothing changes, for as long as we gaze on the sunset, we are indeed in paradise. What a song! 

Dirty old river, must you keep rolling
Flowing into the night?
People so busy, make me feel dizzy
Taxi light shines so bright

But I don't need no friends
As long as I gaze on
Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise

Every day I look at the world from my window
But chilly, chilly is the evening time
Waterloo sunset's fine (Waterloo sunset's fine)

Terry meets Julie
Waterloo station
Every Friday night
But I am so lazy, don't want to wander
I stay at home at night

But I don't feel afraid
As long as I gaze on
Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise

Every day I look at the world from my window
But chilly, chilly is the evening time
Waterloo sunset's fine (Waterloo sunset's fine)

Millions of people swarming like flies 'round
Waterloo underground
But Terry and Julie cross over the river
Where they feel safe and sound
And they don't need no friends
As long as they gaze on
Waterloo Sunset
They are in paradise

Waterloo sunset's fine (Waterloo sunset's fine)
Waterloo sunset's fine

 

Songwriter: Raymond Douglas Davies

Waterloo Sunset lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC