The Kinks - Tired Of Waiting For You

Artist: The Kinks
Formed: London, England, 1964.  Disbanded 1996.
Ray Davies (b 21/6/1944, London England) - vocals, guitar
Dave Davies (b 3/2/1947. London, England) - guitar, vocals
Pete Quaife (b 31/12/1943, Tavistock, England; d 23/6/2010, Copenhagen, Denmark) - bass guitar
Mick Avory (b 15/2/1944, East Molesey, England) - drums

Song: Tired Of Waiting For You
Words and music: Ray Davies
Producer: Shel Talmy

Number One History
18/2/65 - 1 week

Formats
7" black vinyl, plain sleeve (Pye, 7N 15759)

Of all the big 60s British bands, The Kinks often seem like the most modern, and a song like this shows why.  It has a sophisticated mesh of guitar patterns and is moving away from their early more aggressive sound that prefigured both garage rock and heavy metal.  There's a greater melodic feel as well as strong vocal harmonies, and the guitar jangle would be a huge influence on indie rock and especially Britpop.  Indeed, Davies' penchant for third person narratives, displayed on songs like 'Waterloo Sunset', would be hugely influential with bands such as Blur.    

The most notable cover was by Californian pop-punks Green Day, who recorded it as the b-side to breakthrough single 'Basket Case' in 1996.


The Kinks' history is odd.  In British terms, they remained popular until 1970, after which they stopped having hits altogether, save for the one-off hit 'Come Dancing' in 1983.  In the USA, they retained more popularity despite (or maybe because of?) the band's English mannerisms.   After splitting the band, Ray Davies continued to record and tour as a solo artist, revelling in his status as an elder statesman of British song.