Ray Davies

Genres:	Musicals & The Arts • Pop / Rock
Descriptive "tags":	singer-songwriter • rock • british • classic rock • pop
Decades Active:	1980s • 1990s • 2000s

Biography

Raymond Douglas Davies, 21 June 1944, Muswell Hill, London, England. The cornerstone of the Kinks, Ray Davies is one of his country’s great songwriters. A peculiarly English architect of lyrics, Davies, an introverted seventh child, once stated an intention to write ‘for waitresses and divorced people’. However, over four decades he has provided a feast for allcomers, regardless of social station, from the simple urgency of ‘You Really Got Me’ to the detached melancholy of ‘Come Dancing’. Often branded England’s ‘kitchen sink lyricist’ for his depictions of British morality and normality, he has conversely flirted with the fringes of gay and transvestite culture in songs ranging from ‘See My Friend’ to ‘Lola’ and ‘David Watts’. Another thematic pivot is his feel for isolation. This was most ambitiously realized with Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire), a set of songs...

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