The Kinks

British rock band

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorized in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognized as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a wide range of genres, including rhythm and blues, British music hall, folk, and country.

English rock group the Kinks, pictured here in 1966. Left to right: Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Mick Avory and Pete Quaife


Song lyrics

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All songs by Ray Davies except as noted.

  • Girl, you really got me goin'
    You got me so I don't know what I'm doin'
    Yeah, you really got me now
    You got me so I can't sleep at night.
  • It's your life
    And you can do what you want
    Do what you like
    But please don't keep-a me waiting
    Please don't keep-a me waiting

    'Cause I'm so tired
    Tired of waiting
    Tired of waiting for you.

  • Yeah, you and me
    We live this life
    From when we get up
    Till we go sleep at night
    You and me we're free
    We do as we please, yeah
    From morning, till the end of the day
    Till the end of the day.
  • Well, lived my life and never stopped to worry 'bout a thing
    Opened up and shouted out and never tried to sing
    Wondering if I'd done wrong
    Will this depression last for long?
  • Dandy, you know you're moving much too fast,
    And Dandy, you know you can't escape the past.
    Look around you and see the people settle down,
    And when you're old and grey you will remember what they said,
    That two girls are too many, three's a crowd and four you're dead.
  • The tax man's taken all my dough,
    And left me in my stately home,
    Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
    And I can't sail my yacht,
    He's taken everything I've got,
    All I've got's this sunny afternoon.
  • I am a dull and simple lad
    Can not tell water from champagne
    And I have never met the queen
    And I wish I could have all that he has got
    I wish I could be like David Watts.
  • My makeup is dry and it clags on my chin
    I'm drowning my sorrows in whisky and gin
    The lion tamer's whip doesn't crack anymore
    The lions they won't fight and the tigers won't roar.
    • Death of a Clown, written with Dave Davies (and released first as a single by Dave Davies)
  • You don't have to look at me
    You don't have to smile at me
    You just have to love me till the sun shines
    You don't have to cook for me
    You don't have to laugh with me
    You just have to love me till the sun shines.
  • Dirty old river, must you keep rolling
    Flowing into the night
    People so busy, makes 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.
  • In a dark and misty house,
    Where no Christian man has been,
    Wicked Annabella mixes a brew
    That no one's ever seen.
  • Days I'll remember all my life,
    Days when you can't see wrong from right.
    You took my life,
    But then I knew that very soon you'd leave me,
    But it's all right,
    Now I'm not frightened of this world, believe me.
  • Long ago life was clean
    Sex was bad and obscene
    And the rich were so mean
    Stately homes for the Lords
    Croquet lawns, village greens
    Victoria was my queen
    Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria.
  • Now that you've found your paradise
    This is your Kingdom to command
    You can go outside and polish your car
    Or sit by the fire in your Shangri-la
    Here is your reward for working so hard
    Gone are the lavatories in the back yard
    Gone are the days when you dreamed of that car
    You just want to sit in your Shangri-la.
  • We shall defend our island
    On the land and on the sea
    We shall fight them on the beaches
    On the hills and in the fields
    We shall fight them in the streets
    Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed to so few
    'Cos they have made our British Empire
    A better place for me and you.
  • Where are you going I don't mind
    I've killed my world and I've killed my time
    So where do I go what do I see
    I see many people coming after me
    So where are you going to I don't mind
    If I live too long I'm afraid I'll die
    So I will follow you wherever you go
    If your offered hand is still open to me
    Strangers on this road we are on
    We are not two we are one.
  • You go to a publisher and play him your song
    He says 'I hate your music and you hair is too long.
    But I'll sign you up because I'd hate to be wrong.'
  • Well I'm not the world's most physical guy
    But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
    Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola
    Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
    Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man
    Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola.
  • Well that's the way that I want it to stay
    And I always want it to be that way for my Lola
    La-la-la-la Lola
    Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
    It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola
    La-la-la-la Lola.
    • Lola
  • I know what I am and I'm glad Im a man and so is Lola.
    • Lola
  • I was lost just wandering round downtown
    Many people pushing me around
    Hate spreads just like infection
    Those rats jumping on and off my back.
    • Rats, written by Dave Davies
  • I think I'm so educated and I'm so civilised
    'Cos I'm a strict vegetarian
    But with the over-population and inflation and starvation
    And the crazy politicians
    I don't feel safe in this world no more
    I don't want to die in a nuclear war
    I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an ape man.
    I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man.
  • Got to be free to do what I want
    Walk if I want, talk if I want
    Got to be free to say what I want
    Make what I want and play what I want.
  • Man made the buildings that reach for the sky
    And man made the motorcar and learned how to fly
    But he didn't make the flowers and he didn't make the trees
    And he didn't make you and he didn't make me
    And he got no right to turn us into machines
    He's got no right at all
    'Cause we are all God's children
    And he got no right to change us
    Oh, we gotta go back the way the good lord made us all.
  • This is the age of machinery,
    A mechanical nightmare,
    The wonderful world of technology,
    Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare.

    This is the twentieth century,
    But too much aggravation
    It's the age of insanity.
    What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem?

  • Whatever the situation, whatever the race or creed,
    Tea knows no segregation, no class nor pedigree
    It knows no motivations, no sect or organisation,
    It knows no one religion,
    Nor political belief.
  • All life we work, but work's a bore,
    If life's for livin' what's livin' for?
  • On my supersonic rocket ship
    Nobody has to be hip
    Nobody needs to be out of sight. Out of sight.
    Nobody's gonna travel second class
    There'll be equality
    And no suppression of minorities. Well alright.
    We'll take this planet, shake it round
    And turn it upside down.
    My supersonic rocket ship.
  • Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star,
    And everybody's in movies, it doesn't matter who you are.
    There are stars in every city,
    In every house and on every street,
    And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
    Their names are written in concrete.
  • You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
    Some that you recognise, some that you've hardly even heard of,
    People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
    Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
    • Celluloid Heroes
  • Everybody say I'm lazy
    They all tell me get a job you slob,
    I'd rather be a hobo walking round with nothing
    Than a rich man scared of losing all he's got.

    So I'm just sitting in the midday sun
    Just soaking up that currant bun,
    Why should I have to give my reasons
    For sitting in the midday sun?

  • Father Christmas, give us some money
    Don't mess around with those silly toys.
    We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over
    We want your bread so don't make us annoyed
    Give all the toys to the little rich boys.
  • Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
    Have yourself a good time.
    But remember the kids who got nothin'
    While you're drinkin' down your wine.
    • Father Christmas
  • Here's hoping all the days ahead
    Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you.
    Be an optimist instead,
    And somehow happiness will find you.
    Forget what happened yesterday,
    I know that better things are on the way.
  • Should feel happy, should feel glad
    I'm alive and it can't be bad
    But back on planet earth they shatter the illusion
    The world's going 'round in a state of confusion
  • Lyin' awake in a cold, cold sweat
    Am I overdrawn, am I going in debt?
    It gets worse, the older that you get
    No escape from the state of confusion

    I'm in
    State of confusion
    I'm in

    • "State of Confusion"
  • They put a parking lot on a piece of land
    Where the supermarket used to stand.
    Before that they put up a bowling alley
    On the site that used to be the local palais.
    That's where the big bands used to come and play.
    My sister went there on a Saturday.

    Come dancing,
    All her boyfriends used to come and call.
    Why not come dancing, it's only natural?

  • You look out of your window,
    Into the night.
    Could be rain, could be snow,
    But it can't feel as cold as what you're feeling inside.

    And all of you friends are either married, vanished,
    Or just left alone.
    But that's no reason to just stop living.
    That's no excuse to just give in to a sad and lonely heart.

    Don't forget to dance, no, no, no,
    Don't forget to smile.
    Don't forget to dance, no, no, no,
    Forget it for a while.

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