The Kinks: Their 10 Greatest Songs

4. Waterloo Sunset

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-D9xcZgKX4 Taken from the album: Something Else By The Kinks (1967) Released as a single in May 1967, "Waterloo Sunset" is one of The Kinks most recognisable and most acclaimed songs. A No. 2 hit in the UK and a Top 10 hit in Australia and New Zealand and most of Europe, "Waterloo Sunset" is pure whimsy set to music with a solitary, melancholic narrator relating his experiences as he watches over the bustling metropolis of London. These are emotional lyrics which seem to perfectly encapsulate the absurdity and strange anonymity of city living. Ray Davies' narrator is content to sit back and watch the "millions of people swarming like flies" around London, forever surrounded by people and yet totally alone, an experience the narrator appears to be content with as it enables him to silently watch the world go by. Waterloo Sunset is a milestone in the career of The Kinks as it perfectly blends the commercial aspects of writing a hit single with Ray Davies distinct and highly personal take on lyrical songwriting. A beautiful song which somehow manages to make the unpleasant aspects of London, the "dirty old river" Thames and the endless stomp of London's population, sound beautiful and appealing. A triumph and one of the most important songs of the Rock n' Roll era.