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Post by cooldad98 on Jan 24, 2009 23:43:52 GMT -5
Basically, life is a very perplexing thing. A lot of writers try to solve it for us. Ray Davies never does. He just presents little vignettes, crystallized fragments of other people’s lives, and leaves it up to us to figure out what it means. It’s such a relief to be trusted like that. Ray Davies never insults my intelligence; he never pontificates or preaches. Ray has the chameleon imagination of a great artist – what Keats referred to as “negative capability” – the ability to enter so fully into someone else’s existence that he loses himself. And while he’s in there, he figures out how that person – no matter what a loser he is – sees the world. That compassion for the forgotten person, for the misfit, the outsider, is one of the most important aspects of Ray’s art to me. On the days when I feel like a loser, I comfort myself with the thought that Ray would understand me, and wouldn’t judge me. It also helps me to be more tolerant and more generous to other people – an essential tool for getting through life without breaking your own heart. I love how subtle Ray’s humour is – he doesn’t hit us with a sledgehammer. Some of these songs like “Holiday” and “Apeman” and “Maximum Consumption” I have been listening to for over 30 years and they still make me laugh every time. And in this crummy world of ours, a reliable source of laughter is worth its weight in gold. Sometimes I can just feel the burden of my existence lifting off my shoulders when I treat myself to a little bit of Kinky humour. I don’t even have to put the records on any more; I’ve got those songs like talismans in my brain, stored behind a little glass door with a hammer that says “Break in case of emergency.” Ray’s written lots of songs about how confusing life is. Well, he’s right. Some of us just aren’t built to slug our way out of a tight spot. Even when you’re just trying to get along, things pile up, and change baffles us, and we feel fragile and overloaded. And on those days, I’ve got a Ray Davies song like “Complicated Life” or “State of Confusion” to steady myself with. When things get even worse, I can dream that “I’m On An Island” or wish I could just “Drift Away.” That longing to escape it all, to give up – maybe everyone doesn’t need that message, but I do. I need it most days, in fact. Which brings us to the question of growing older. There are few things more painful to me than to watch Mick Jagger strip down to his spandex and strut around a stage talking the same old trash about gonna love ya baby. I would like a little advice about how life looks when you’ve passed forty and your heart’s been broken a few too many times. I can get that from Ray Davies, because he is not afraid to grow and change, not afraid to try something that sounds different, not afraid to admit that life’s not as satisfying or as simple as the old pop songs promised us. Thank god for that. God bless you, Mr. Davies. Please keep on writing and recording your songs. It means more to us than you can ever know. Holly you are a literary genius! In everyone of his songs, Ray speaks to me!
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Post by franklima on Jan 25, 2009 11:25:00 GMT -5
Why Ray is my hero? I consider him my all time hero is for just this reason alone (although there are many others too), that being the defining perimeters of his social consciousness and all that is encompassed by it and keeps reoccurring throughout out his entire career is all that I hold sacred and sums up exactly how I feel about life, the world, society, civilization and just everyday life as well. And considering much of his point of views also are from someone who was born and grew up very British that says a lot that he was able to convert this Brooklyn, NY, born, Long Island raised, and now living in Montvale, New Jersey Boy in to a Muswell Hillbilly Boy. They'll try and make me change my way of living but, They'll never make a zombie out of me. I remain One of the Survivors. Yes she is cooldad and you speak the truth also...Ray speaks to a part of my soul and being that no one has or will ever come close to...and besides being my friend and hero... Ray is my conscious and soul
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Post by bamajohn1 on Jan 22, 2011 0:10:07 GMT -5
Basically, life is a very perplexing thing. A lot of writers try to solve it for us. Ray Davies never does. He just presents little vignettes, crystallized fragments of other people’s lives, and leaves it up to us to figure out what it means. It’s such a relief to be trusted like that. Ray Davies never insults my intelligence; he never pontificates or preaches. Ray has the chameleon imagination of a great artist – what Keats referred to as “negative capability” – the ability to enter so fully into someone else’s existence that he loses himself. And while he’s in there, he figures out how that person – no matter what a loser he is – sees the world. That compassion for the forgotten person, for the misfit, the outsider, is one of the most important aspects of Ray’s art to me. On the days when I feel like a loser, I comfort myself with the thought that Ray would understand me, and wouldn’t judge me. It also helps me to be more tolerant and more generous to other people – an essential tool for getting through life without breaking your own heart. I love how subtle Ray’s humour is – he doesn’t hit us with a sledgehammer. Some of these songs like “Holiday” and “Apeman” and “Maximum Consumption” I have been listening to for over 30 years and they still make me laugh every time. And in this crummy world of ours, a reliable source of laughter is worth its weight in gold. Sometimes I can just feel the burden of my existence lifting off my shoulders when I treat myself to a little bit of Kinky humour. I don’t even have to put the records on any more; I’ve got those songs like talismans in my brain, stored behind a little glass door with a hammer that says “Break in case of emergency.” Ray’s written lots of songs about how confusing life is. Well, he’s right. Some of us just aren’t built to slug our way out of a tight spot. Even when you’re just trying to get along, things pile up, and change baffles us, and we feel fragile and overloaded. And on those days, I’ve got a Ray Davies song like “Complicated Life” or “State of Confusion” to steady myself with. When things get even worse, I can dream that “I’m On An Island” or wish I could just “Drift Away.” That longing to escape it all, to give up – maybe everyone doesn’t need that message, but I do. I need it most days, in fact. Which brings us to the question of growing older. There are few things more painful to me than to watch Mick Jagger strip down to his spandex and strut around a stage talking the same old trash about gonna love ya baby. I would like a little advice about how life looks when you’ve passed forty and your heart’s been broken a few too many times. I can get that from Ray Davies, because he is not afraid to grow and change, not afraid to try something that sounds different, not afraid to admit that life’s not as satisfying or as simple as the old pop songs promised us. Thank god for that. God bless you, Mr. Davies. Please keep on writing and recording your songs. It means more to us than you can ever know. Thanks to reviewing muswellhillbilly22's posting history, I stumbled across your great testimonial about the power of the music and insight into life of one Raymond Douglas Davies! Holly, this was fantastic!
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Post by franklima on Jan 22, 2011 12:01:31 GMT -5
Great to see this thread revived, I put a link to it over on the Ray Davies forum.
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Post by martin53 on Jan 22, 2011 12:27:23 GMT -5
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Bub
Dreamer
Head Gardener
Posts: 542
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Post by Bub on Jan 22, 2011 16:26:04 GMT -5
Hi holly, I've been resisting rejoining the board here (just cause the other one takes up so much time already)...but this article broke down my resistance!
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Post by bamajohn1 on Jan 22, 2011 16:27:53 GMT -5
Hi holly, I've been resisting rejoining the board here (just cause the other one takes up so much time already)...but this article broke down my resistance! It is a great article! I'm glad that it inpsired you to join us Bub!
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Post by franklima on Jan 22, 2011 16:50:15 GMT -5
I hope this inspires others to add their thoughts about what Ray's music means to them...to me it has always been a way of life and is more like a religious belief....We need a hymn for a new age "I don't believe that God is a man with white hair sitting in a big chair Judging the world and its morals Forgiving today so we can sin again tomorrow But I believe I need something to look up to..."
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Post by martin53 on Jan 23, 2011 2:22:48 GMT -5
Hi holly, I've been resisting rejoining the board here (just cause the other one takes up so much time already)...but this article broke down my resistance! I'm glad you joined, bub!
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Post by franklima on Jan 24, 2011 7:30:10 GMT -5
famous quotes about Ray... "RAY DAVIES IS GOD" ;D
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Post by franklima on Jan 24, 2011 11:25:34 GMT -5
Holly they want you back on the gray board since I posted the link to this thread over there...!
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Post by HollyH on Jan 30, 2011 14:17:48 GMT -5
Thanks for all the comments (I'm blushing!!). Having written this so long ago, it was a nice surprise for me to read it again too! And while my list of favorite Kinks songs changes from day to day, these reasons why I love their stuff haven't changed at all. I agree with Frank -- I'd love to hear other people's ideas on what Ray's music means to you.
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Post by luis on Feb 19, 2011 8:52:42 GMT -5
I don't know whether RDD is the greatest artist in the history of modern popular music, but he certainly is one of the greatest, and he is my favorite. For many reasons, most of which have been beautifully put by HH in her wonderful piece. Thanks.
Contrary to most famous Rock'n Rollers, Ray's delivery is personal, and heartfelt and, as Holly expresses so well, full of consideration and compassion, and lots and lots of humor. Purely musically, he is an unequaled songwriter, original, diverse, complex, unique.
I feel that for the last 37 years he's been my buddy. L
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Post by franklima on Feb 19, 2011 11:09:22 GMT -5
I don't know whether RDD is the greatest artist in the history of modern popular music, but he certainly is one of the greatest, and he is my favorite. For many reasons, most of which have been beautifully put by HH in her wonderful piece. Thanks. Contrary to most famous Rock'n Rollers, Ray's delivery is personal, and heartfelt and, as Holly expresses so well, full of consideration and compassion, and lots and lots of humor. Purely musically, he is an unequaled songwriter, original, diverse, complex, unique. I feel that for the last 37 years he's been my buddy. L Nicely put Luis
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Post by sleepwalker24 on Feb 19, 2011 11:24:01 GMT -5
Yes, nicely put Luis! I really must add to this thread at some point, I couldn't write something of the caliber of Holly's piece though!
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