0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains some strong language
0:00:08 > 0:00:0950 years ago, Ray Davies wrote his first song.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13He was 15 years old. It was called Tired Of Waiting For You.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Eight years later, in 1965, it was a number-one hit all over the world
0:00:19 > 0:00:21and we're still listening to it now.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Not many people have seen this - my chequebook.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Kinks songs are a bit like the NHS -
0:00:27 > 0:00:32we rely on them, they remind us who we are.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Ray Davies has a new album out,
0:00:35 > 0:00:40where he shares his songs with some of the greatest names in rock'n'roll.
0:00:40 > 0:00:47Julian Temple, a lifelong Kinks fan, has made this film about Ray for Imagine.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54We've arranged to meet in north London but, for some reason,
0:00:54 > 0:00:59Ray's asked me to meet him round the back of Hornsey Town Hall.
0:01:04 > 0:01:05Come this way, sir.
0:01:05 > 0:01:11It's just come onto the market and I think, if you go for it now, you'll get a good deal.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14It's got lovely little artefacts like this, sir.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18That's been there, I'd say, since the building was built.
0:01:18 > 0:01:24'We played here before we were The Kinks, when I was at school.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29'It's close to where we live and it's really the origins of where I came from.'
0:01:29 > 0:01:33- Can you remember the date?- I think it was Valentine's Day, 1963.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37There was a beauty contest on for Miss Valentine.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Miss Valentine. And I didn't win!
0:01:40 > 0:01:43Were you The Ray Davies Quartet at that particular time?
0:01:43 > 0:01:47The way it worked was only three. Pete Quaife, my brother, of course, and me.
0:01:47 > 0:01:53And whoever got the gig got the name. I think I acquired this gig.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57It became The Ray Davies Quartet. Not a great name.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01You released You Really Got Me a year later, didn't you? '64?
0:02:01 > 0:02:04'64. The end of '64.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09That's when I was born. I was literally born when that was a hit.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11- Were you, now?- Yeah.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14If you want my opinion, sir, I wouldn't do too much with it.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16THEY LAUGH
0:02:16 > 0:02:19I'd leave it as it is.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22- You've got wonderful views at the back.- Yeah.- Pear tree.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26That's a listed pear tree. It can't come down.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31- God, look, there are pears ON it! - Yeah.- It's the only living thing in this derelict place.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34- Other than your songs. - # Aren't we a pear? #
0:02:34 > 0:02:39Isn't it amazing that you still live just a few doors away from here?
0:02:39 > 0:02:44- I don't live a few doors... I live a mile or two...- OK.
0:02:44 > 0:02:45Yeah...
0:02:45 > 0:02:48I wonder if they'll try to transform it into something else.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53I thought it was going to be a holding pen for refugees. That's what I thought.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57'I remember the stage. I remember my family -
0:02:57 > 0:03:00'my sisters were in the audience somewhere, pushed to one side.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05'We were just the fill-in band while the big band took their break.'
0:03:05 > 0:03:08# ..picks me up when I am blue
0:03:08 > 0:03:11# And brightens up my ordinary world
0:03:11 > 0:03:13# When I hear that big band play
0:03:13 > 0:03:15# It sounds like optimism
0:03:15 > 0:03:17# And it takes me to another place
0:03:17 > 0:03:20# So pick me up and take me to the band! #
0:03:25 > 0:03:29When I played here, we were just starting out.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31We were a little skiffle group, really.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34People were dancing to big band music still.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44It is decaying, but there's something magnificent about it.
0:03:44 > 0:03:50There's something in the walls that will go when it's clean and shiny.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53It's amazing, you don't appreciate things until you're...
0:03:53 > 0:03:58that PS system on the wall is the worst possible PA you'll ever...
0:03:58 > 0:04:00- Yeah.- My voice probably came through that.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04# I wonder if she would come dancing
0:04:04 > 0:04:07# Come on, sister Have yourself a ball
0:04:07 > 0:04:11# Don't be afraid to come dancing It's only natural... #
0:04:11 > 0:04:17Come dancing is about the time when people like me came along with their guitars
0:04:17 > 0:04:20and took over places like the Lyceum that had palais bands.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24the beat music did kill off the big band era.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37# Now I'm grown up and playing in a band
0:04:37 > 0:04:40# And there's a car park where the Palais used to stand... #
0:04:40 > 0:04:41I'd love to play here.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45You have a vision where you want to be and where you want your work to be presented.
0:04:45 > 0:04:52And this place probably, subconsciously, has been my ideal since I first came here.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Even though family came from the inner city,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05they must have moved because of the devastation of the Blitz.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Just got out of the central city.
0:05:09 > 0:05:10Come along!
0:05:10 > 0:05:15They didn't want to go to a new town so they got the suburbs of Waltham and...
0:05:15 > 0:05:19And to be so close to central London and have a village field is good!
0:05:25 > 0:05:28# Got to be free to do what I want
0:05:28 > 0:05:31# Walk if I want, talk if I want... #
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Knowing it's there's the important thing,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37rather than going there every day.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39It's the manner where you grew up - where I grew up.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43I can't shake it off.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49I always get lost when I'm in south London. Find it difficult to move south of Archway.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53The great thing is the view from Alexandra Palace - you can see all over London.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55The view from Primrose Hill.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00Of course, the views were different - we didn't have the Gherkin, we didn't have Canary Wharf.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Everything was more of a miniature.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07St Paul's stood out. I think you can see Crystal Palace on a clear day.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Samuel Johnson said that any man who's tired of London is tired of life.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17Samuel Johnson never had to park his car, deal with the congestion charge,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21get on crowded buses that are too big for the streets you're riding down.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25I'm not tired of London, it's just, why do we have to have such big buses? I don't get it.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28why can't we have more little buses?
0:06:28 > 0:06:32# Champion Charlie's my name Champion Charlie's my name... #
0:06:32 > 0:06:34When I grew up, I knew nothing
0:06:34 > 0:06:37about the great characters that lived in north London.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42I knew nothing about William Blake walking on Hampstead Heath talking to angels.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Maybe it was a good thing.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46I'd heard of Dick Turpin but knew nothing about him...
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Stand and deliver!
0:06:48 > 0:06:52..or Dick Whittington was a well-known London myth. I think it's a myth.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57I walked out of the pantomime when I was five years old.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07I can't explain what my childhood was like. It was like a dream childhood.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12I found it hard to exist in a family that love people living in the house.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15In a small house.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Look, eight siblings - seven sisters, one brother.
0:07:19 > 0:07:25No disrespect to where I grew up - I love my family - but I was bored by being in the house.
0:07:25 > 0:07:31I did all the things like Christmas and birthdays and New Years...
0:07:31 > 0:07:35waiting for the Saturday afternoon football reports.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37The final score at Carrow Road
0:07:37 > 0:07:40was Norwich City 4-1 Arsenal.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43- ZAPPING - Agh! Agh! Agh!
0:07:43 > 0:07:48I'm sorry. The final score at Carrow Road was
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Norwich City 1-4 Arsenal.
0:07:50 > 0:07:56Most people call it lonely, but I was just isolated. I need to get out, learn to find my space,
0:07:56 > 0:07:57find my world.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02And I went on lots of long walks, went to the West End.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07# Winter time is coming
0:08:07 > 0:08:12# All the sky is grey... #
0:08:12 > 0:08:14And buses - I love riding on buses.
0:08:14 > 0:08:20There's a fabulous bus journey that will take you from Muswell Hill right down to Charing Cross.
0:08:20 > 0:08:25I think, when I look back, I was just looking at people,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28absorbing things to write about.
0:08:28 > 0:08:34# From the dew-soaked hedge Creeps a crawling caterpillar
0:08:34 > 0:08:37# When the dawn begins to crack
0:08:37 > 0:08:41# It's all part of my autumn almanac
0:08:41 > 0:08:46# Breeze blows leaves of a musty-coloured yellow
0:08:46 > 0:08:50# So I sweep them in my sack
0:08:50 > 0:08:52# Yes, yes, yes
0:08:52 > 0:08:55# It's my autumn almanac. #
0:08:55 > 0:08:59I've always got a soundtrack in my head.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Sometimes songs come back, depending on the way I feel.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09It's called See My Friends, the record.
0:09:09 > 0:09:16The friends are, yes, the songs. I also struck up good friendships with nearly everybody on the record.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19# Hoping all the verses rhyme
0:09:19 > 0:09:22# And the very best of choruses
0:09:22 > 0:09:26# To brighten up the doubt and sadness... #
0:09:26 > 0:09:28MOBILE RINGS
0:09:28 > 0:09:30'Hey, Ray, it's Bruce Springsteen.'
0:09:30 > 0:09:34When somebody says Ray Davies, it was going to be art. What's up?
0:09:34 > 0:09:37"I like the arrangement, when we going to do it?"
0:09:37 > 0:09:40I just need one thing from you. Where did the riff come from?
0:09:40 > 0:09:44HE IMITATES RIFF FROM "YOU REALLY GOT ME"
0:09:44 > 0:09:48We stood up a few feet from one another and faced each other,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50did the vocal - one take.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52# I hope that better things are...
0:09:52 > 0:09:55# On the way
0:09:56 > 0:10:00# Here's hoping all the days ahead
0:10:00 > 0:10:05# Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you
0:10:05 > 0:10:11# Be an optimist instead And somehow happiness will find you
0:10:11 > 0:10:13# Forget what happened... #
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Doing this collaborations record is making me stand back and appraise my work.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Try and see it in a slightly different way.
0:10:19 > 0:10:26Sometimes the songs tell me more about myself, cos it's more in the subconscious when I'm writing.
0:10:29 > 0:10:36Sometimes I surprise me. The songs, anyway. "Did I really think of that? Was that my idea?"
0:10:36 > 0:10:41# Tea and toasted buttered currant buns... #
0:10:41 > 0:10:44It's autumn now and conkers are off the trees.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46This'd make a good con...
0:10:46 > 0:10:49I was the conkering champion of my school.
0:10:49 > 0:10:55You get them hard. I'm not quite sure how you get things hard any more.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57You put a string through it, tie it at the other side.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00The other person would hold his thing out like that, dangling,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02and you'd hit it and try to break it.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05# Yes, yes, yes It's my autumn almanac.... #
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Whoever survived was the winner.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11The whole story of life, that, isn't it?
0:11:11 > 0:11:13Someone's got something other people want to smash.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21# Walter, remember when the world was young
0:11:21 > 0:11:24# And all the girls knew Walter's name
0:11:25 > 0:11:28# Do you remember, Walter
0:11:28 > 0:11:33# Playing cricket in the thunder and the rain?
0:11:33 > 0:11:34# Do you remember, Walter
0:11:34 > 0:11:38# Smoking cigarettes behind the garden gate? #
0:11:43 > 0:11:49This could've been the garden gate where we smoked illegally when we were 13.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Now it's best not to smoke at all.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57I was trying to write a song about myself, really.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00It's always better to use another character.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05I'm not Jumpin' Jack Flash. Mick does it very well.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07He's always that character, I think.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09I'm many characters when I perform
0:12:09 > 0:12:12and I'm a different person singing Waterloo Sunset
0:12:12 > 0:12:16to the person that sings Low Budget.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19One of my sisters got married and moved to Highgate,
0:12:19 > 0:12:25which is about a mile or two away and I stayed with her most of my childhood.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28I went to a special school just to try and work out my problems.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I think my problems were... I knew what was coming.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36School bored me.
0:12:36 > 0:12:37I read George Orwell.
0:12:37 > 0:12:42Through TV, there was a fantastic production of 1984 with Peter Cushing.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51I was not allowed to watch it.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54To be not allowed to do things, to me was strange.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58So I got the book instead and read the book.
0:12:59 > 0:13:04"London was not the beautiful city we know today. It was..."
0:13:04 > 0:13:06A lot of the teachers had been in the Army and the services
0:13:06 > 0:13:10in the Second World War and I picked up a sense of bitterness
0:13:10 > 0:13:11from some of them.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14There was one notable teacher who said,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17"Yes. I'm wearing my demobilisation suit.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20"It's all I can afford on my wages."
0:13:20 > 0:13:24I sensed from them that it was not a good world that I was coming into.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28I was not fooled by the promise of the late '50s.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30I think I was an early realist.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33EXPLOSION REVERBERATES
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Being English, being British, was a special thing.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40We were a great warrior empire.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45In fact, the British Empire was vanishing when I was at school.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48We used to have maps at school with the British Empire in pink.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51They don't dare to do that any more!
0:13:51 > 0:13:54I thought the pink meant we were going to be communists.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56That was my hope.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59A socialist working class, of course you would be a socialist.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02But Alf Garnett was a Conservative, wasn't he?
0:14:02 > 0:14:04LAUGHTER
0:14:06 > 0:14:08There was a sense of loving, where I was from.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12But also a sense that I belonged somewhere else.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Ultimately.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19# I'm the last of the good old renegades
0:14:20 > 0:14:23# And I don't know where I'm going
0:14:23 > 0:14:25# Or how I came
0:14:25 > 0:14:27# I'm the last of the good old-fashioned
0:14:27 > 0:14:32# Steam-powered trains. #
0:14:39 > 0:14:42When I was a kid, I used to love the sound of the night trains.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44I could hear it from my bedroom.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46TRAIN HOOTER BLARES
0:14:46 > 0:14:49It's that pulse - ba-dum, ba-dum. Ba-dum, ba-dum.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Ba-dum, ba-dum.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55# I'm the last of the good old-fashioned
0:14:55 > 0:15:00# Steam-powered trains... #
0:15:03 > 0:15:06To me, when I was a kid, it meant adventure,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08excitement, escape.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10Something better down the line.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17This pub, I think, was the first pub I came to when I was old enough
0:15:17 > 0:15:18to drink illegally.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21When I was about 14, 15, I used to sneak in here.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25I was underage and I broke the law.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29I think I actually dated the publican's wife.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33HE LAUGHS
0:15:34 > 0:15:38I could pretend to be somebody else here, which is good.
0:15:38 > 0:15:39In fact, I'm still doing that.
0:15:39 > 0:15:40BELL RINGS
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Time, gentlemen, please.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45I had a good day yesterday.
0:15:45 > 0:15:46# Oh, when the saints
0:15:46 > 0:15:48# Oh, when the saints
0:15:48 > 0:15:50# Go marching in
0:15:50 > 0:15:51# Glory, glory... #
0:15:51 > 0:15:53I used to go to the Highgate Jazz Club,
0:15:53 > 0:15:55which was just round the corner.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57It was a place where you could meet girls and dance.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Trad music was very popular when I was at school.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03When The Saints Go Marching In. That music was party music.
0:16:03 > 0:16:09The musical structure of the songs helped motivate me to write songs.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Because I come from this family of older sisters,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20they brought those big band songs in the house.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24My oldest sister emigrated to Canada.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27She married a serviceman in Canada.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29She used to send back Elvis Presley records
0:16:29 > 0:16:33so we got access to them before they were even on the radio here.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35# You ain't nothing but a hound dog... #
0:16:35 > 0:16:40Things like Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42She said, "This is the new music."
0:16:43 > 0:16:46# Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit... #
0:16:46 > 0:16:49We were a little bit behind the time in the sense
0:16:49 > 0:16:53we had access to songs that were from previous generations
0:16:53 > 0:16:56that I shouldn't normally have gained access to.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Also privy to stuff that was coming.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08The great thing about rock'n'roll, when it came, it was accessible.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10I think that's why I started making music.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14"I can do that. I can make a song like Blue Suede Shoes."
0:17:17 > 0:17:20There was a wonderful film-maker called John Grierson.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24The cinema gave us a doorway to a whole new world full of fun.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Grierson had this wonderful programme on television.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30He showed Big Bill Broonzy playing in a club.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33# Why d'you treat me like... #
0:17:33 > 0:17:37It wasn't what he was playing, it was how he was playing it.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39# Lost John standing by the railroad track
0:17:39 > 0:17:42# Waiting for the freight train to come back
0:17:42 > 0:17:45# Freight train came and never made a stop
0:17:47 > 0:17:49# Lost John thought he had to ride the top
0:17:49 > 0:17:52# And he's long, long, long gone... #
0:17:53 > 0:17:55Yeah.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58Broonzy, to me, because of his incredible size
0:17:58 > 0:18:00and the way he held the guitar,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03was the biggest influence on my early childhood.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Finsbury Park, which was just down the road, had a music hall.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11I saw the last,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13probably the dying gasp of the music hall
0:18:13 > 0:18:17because my Uncle Frankie and Dad were fans of it.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21It must have struck a chord with me,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24the humour of those people.
0:18:24 > 0:18:25# I'm known as the Cheeky Chappie
0:18:25 > 0:18:27# The things I say are snappy... #
0:18:27 > 0:18:30If I ever had a son, I'd call him Max.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32Max Miller was not a sad man.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34I think he was an angry man.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36He was a very political man.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41And didn't care about what he said, which really struck me.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45He used to go on dressed in those ridiculous dressing gowns
0:18:45 > 0:18:46and the hat.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49# Mary from the dairy... #
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Through a comedian called Roy Hudd,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56I acquired Max Miller's hat.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02My eldest sister, who went to Canada, came back to London when she was 30.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06She loved dancing. She went to the dance hall
0:19:06 > 0:19:07and that was on my birthday.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10That was the day she bought me my first guitar.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11It was mine.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14We played a few songs together.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Then she got the bus down to the West End,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20to the Lyceum,
0:19:20 > 0:19:21which is where we are.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25And she died in the arms of a stranger,
0:19:25 > 0:19:26on the dance floor.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34It's just poignant that it was on my birthday
0:19:34 > 0:19:37and also she bought me my first guitar.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40I took that as being a sign.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42It has to be a sign from somebody.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57# Fa, fa, fa, fa-fa, fa, fa, fa
0:19:57 > 0:19:59# Fa, fa, fa, fa-fa... #
0:19:59 > 0:20:01This is what is known as Fortismere School.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05When I went here when it first opened,
0:20:05 > 0:20:07it was called William Grimshaw.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11# I am a dull and simple lad
0:20:12 > 0:20:14# Cannot tell water from champagne
0:20:15 > 0:20:17# And I have never met the Queen... #
0:20:17 > 0:20:21I was voted, I have to say, in this very hallway...
0:20:21 > 0:20:24The girls got together. All the girls in the school voted me...
0:20:26 > 0:20:28..the cutest legs in the school.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31It was a secondary modern school when I came here.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36There were fewer opportunities to go on to university.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38I wasn't a rebel. I was very quiet here.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40I went through a period where I was passive
0:20:40 > 0:20:41and didn't speak for a few years.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Hardly spoke and I was in quite a difficult situation.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48In school, they were concerned about me.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Then I decided, all of a sudden, I had to win everything.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55I wanted to be a footballer
0:20:55 > 0:20:57or an athlete.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00I loved sports. I loved track and field. I was boxing.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05I became a leader of things, rather than someone who was passive.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07I don't know what changed that.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10I just suddenly decided I had to be good at something.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12- COMMENTATOR:- 'It's Cooper, winner on points.'
0:21:12 > 0:21:14ARROW THUDS
0:21:14 > 0:21:16We had assembly here and we also had a guitar club.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18THEY PLAY GUITAR
0:21:18 > 0:21:20I meet Pete Quaife here,
0:21:20 > 0:21:21the original Kinks bass player.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23My brother went here as well.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25He was in the younger year.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27I think we first got together in this hall.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31I was 15 when I started writing songs.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35The first real song I wrote was an instrumental version
0:21:35 > 0:21:36of Tired Of Waiting For You,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38which went on to be a hit.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41There's a sense that I could do things just as well
0:21:41 > 0:21:45not teaching myself but finding my own way through things.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48That's gone on into my music career.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52# When I lie on my pillow at night
0:21:52 > 0:21:54# I dream I can fight like David Watts
0:21:54 > 0:21:57# And lead the school team to victory
0:21:57 > 0:22:00# And take my exams and pass the lot... #
0:22:00 > 0:22:02BOTH LAUGH
0:22:02 > 0:22:03It's good to come back.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07CAMERAS WHIR
0:22:08 > 0:22:09When I went to art college,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11I think that changed everything because
0:22:11 > 0:22:14then we saw bands playing in the college hall.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18I played in clubs in the West End, to supplement my college grant.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23That's where music kicked in when I first started playing...properly.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27I wanted to be a painter.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29I wanted to be an artist.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32They were teaching me to paint but afterwards what would I do with it?
0:22:32 > 0:22:36I think I was disillusioned with the way I was being pushed towards
0:22:36 > 0:22:38a direction that I felt was dated.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42I just changed my palette, if you like,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46left the drawing board and went to music and wrote songs.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51HE PLAYS A TUNE
0:22:51 > 0:22:54A bit of the keyboard just fell apart!
0:22:57 > 0:22:59To this day, I find it hard to know why I became a songwriter.
0:23:01 > 0:23:02HE PLAYS A TUNE
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Just to make moods,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07express moods through sound.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11"That's going somewhere. Where's it going to go?"
0:23:18 > 0:23:22I was floundering around trying to find an identity for myself.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25I think when I say I was born in 1964,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28it's when I thought I had an identity
0:23:28 > 0:23:31because I had a number one record with You Really Got Me.
0:23:34 > 0:23:40It was almost justifying saying, "I exist. I am here."
0:23:40 > 0:23:43HE PLAYS A TUNE
0:23:43 > 0:23:47This piano hasn't been tuned up since 1950!
0:23:47 > 0:23:50I wrote You Really Got Me on the piano.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52I wanted it to be a...
0:23:52 > 0:23:55HE PLAYS A BLUESY "YOU REALLY GOT ME"
0:23:55 > 0:23:58I wanted it to be more of a jazz groove.
0:23:58 > 0:23:59Then I hit a wrong note. I went...
0:23:59 > 0:24:01DISCORDANT PIANO PLAYS
0:24:01 > 0:24:03I went up a tone.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05I made the mistake of going to A.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Opened it up. "What's going to happen now?"
0:24:09 > 0:24:11For a brief second, I'd made a new music
0:24:11 > 0:24:13for the time.
0:24:13 > 0:24:14But by accident.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Suddenly it wasn't a blues song, it wasn't sweet little 16.
0:24:19 > 0:24:20It was mine.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22It wasn't until my brother came in with his guitar
0:24:22 > 0:24:24that we made it more...
0:24:24 > 0:24:25HE PLAYS A HEAVIER "YOU REALLY GOT ME"
0:24:25 > 0:24:26That sort of thing.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31It's almost quite like Stockhausen.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Very punctuated rhythms.
0:24:35 > 0:24:36HE PLAYS PUNCTUATED RHYTHMS
0:24:39 > 0:24:41My brother brought power, angst, energy.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44An incredible right hand.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46"YOU REALLY GOT ME" GUITAR INTRO
0:24:46 > 0:24:47Like a boxer.
0:24:47 > 0:24:48"YOU REALLY GOT ME" GUITAR INTRO
0:24:48 > 0:24:50Serious guitar puncher.
0:24:50 > 0:24:51"YOU REALLY GOT ME" GUITAR INTRO
0:24:51 > 0:24:54No point victory. A knockout.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Two minutes, thirty seconds. Round One.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03# Girl, you really got me going
0:25:03 > 0:25:07# You got me so I don't know what I'm doing
0:25:07 > 0:25:10# Yeah, you really got me now
0:25:10 > 0:25:13# You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:25:14 > 0:25:16# Yeah, you really got me now
0:25:16 > 0:25:19# You got me so I don't know what I'm doing
0:25:19 > 0:25:23# Oh, yeah, you really got me now
0:25:23 > 0:25:25# You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:25:25 > 0:25:27# You really got me You really got me
0:25:27 > 0:25:30# You really got me... #
0:25:30 > 0:25:32GIRLS SCREAM
0:25:33 > 0:25:36# See, don't ever set me free
0:25:36 > 0:25:38# I always want to be by your side
0:25:40 > 0:25:42# Girl, you really got me now
0:25:42 > 0:25:45# You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:25:45 > 0:25:49# Yeah, you really got me now
0:25:49 > 0:25:51# You got me so I don't know what I'm doing
0:25:51 > 0:25:55# Oh, yeah, you really got me now
0:25:55 > 0:25:57# You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:25:57 > 0:26:00# You really got me You really got me
0:26:00 > 0:26:02# You really got me... #
0:26:26 > 0:26:32'You Really Got Me was different. It was before its time. People were really shocked by it'
0:26:32 > 0:26:36and threatened by it. When something different comes along, like punk did,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38a lot of people were threatened by punk.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41# Oh, yeah, you really got me now
0:26:41 > 0:26:44# You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:26:44 > 0:26:47# You really got me You really got me... #
0:26:47 > 0:26:53We had two little column speakers playing in front of 20,000 screaming kids, and nobody could hear a note,
0:26:53 > 0:26:58and that's probably why we were successful, cos they couldn't hear what we were singing.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03And I bought the record in here. This is right up the street from where I live.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07It's amazing. What's amazing is the shop's still going.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10The biggest thrill I had was coming in here to buy my own record!
0:27:10 > 0:27:14I thought, "Why have another hit after that? I've done it once."
0:27:14 > 0:27:19And now Metallica are doing it on a new record, it's bizarre to think of that journey
0:27:19 > 0:27:21because of that song.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24INTRO TO "YOU REALLY GOT ME"
0:27:28 > 0:27:33Oh, yeah! # Girl, you really got me going
0:27:33 > 0:27:36# You got me so I don't know what I'm doing, yeah!
0:27:36 > 0:27:39# Oh, yeah! You really got me now
0:27:39 > 0:27:42# You got me so I can't sleep at ni-i-i-ight
0:27:42 > 0:27:45- # Yeah- You really got me now
0:27:45 > 0:27:49# You got me so I don't know what I'm doing, yeah
0:27:49 > 0:27:50# Oh, yeah
0:27:50 > 0:27:51# You really got me now
0:27:51 > 0:27:54# You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:27:54 > 0:27:57# You really got me You really got me
0:27:57 > 0:27:59- # You really got me- Yeah!
0:27:59 > 0:28:00# Oh, no! #
0:28:13 > 0:28:15For me, it's all happened very quickly.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17One month I was an art student,
0:28:17 > 0:28:22two months later I was driving around with a number-one rock record.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27It happened when I was 18 years old, so it's quite a daunting experience.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31I found it very difficult to accept that people knew who I was
0:28:31 > 0:28:35so I went to great lengths to cover up and I wore disguises.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42In fact, for our first TV show, they sent me to the dentist
0:28:42 > 0:28:44to have some caps put over my teeth.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48When I saw the programme, I looked like Bugs Bunny so I took them off.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51I resisted the drill. As soon as the drill started...
0:28:52 > 0:28:53ARGH!
0:28:53 > 0:28:57I don't care how big the deal is, I don't want to have my teeth touched.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02As a result, it made it difficult for us in America, because they're very conscious of cosmetic things.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04Mmm, neat!
0:29:04 > 0:29:07- Dippity-do! - No lip, no drip.
0:29:07 > 0:29:08Dippity-do?
0:29:08 > 0:29:10Dippity-do!
0:29:10 > 0:29:12Dippity-do!
0:29:12 > 0:29:15We cut our own hair, I think. We just couldn't be bothered.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17You notice I'm not a great virtuoso keyboard player -
0:29:17 > 0:29:19certainly not on this piano! -
0:29:19 > 0:29:23or a great guitar player, but I slot in with the other guys.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26That's what makes bands great.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29Every particular person's there for a reason.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32I was kind of the introspective one, writing songs.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37# You've got this strange effect on me
0:29:37 > 0:29:39# And I like it... #
0:29:39 > 0:29:46'Dave, my brother, was the energy and the fun, the enjoyment of life,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48'the up side.'
0:29:48 > 0:29:53Pete was like the flamboyant bass player. He was very in tune with the time
0:29:53 > 0:29:57and the styles, more so than me, and fashion.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00And then you had the man driving the chariot if you like.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Mick Avory on the drums was very down-to-earth.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06Looked like Dickens characters.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Ray was Filch, I was Bill Sykes,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Dave was The Artful Dodger and Pete was Pip.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19We had little Dickens suits made with kinky caps
0:30:19 > 0:30:22and we had this famous photograph done with the whips.
0:30:22 > 0:30:27That was banned because it looked perverted and debauched.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32They wear Victorian morning coats, hunting neck ties and shoulder-length hair.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36No wonder they're known as The Kinks!
0:30:36 > 0:30:39INTRO PLAYS
0:30:43 > 0:30:47# I'm not content to be with you in the day-time
0:30:50 > 0:30:54# Girl, I want to be with you all of the time
0:30:57 > 0:31:03# The only time I feel all right is by your side
0:31:03 > 0:31:08# Girl, I want to be with you all of the time
0:31:08 > 0:31:10# All day and all of the night
0:31:11 > 0:31:14# All day and all of the night... #
0:31:20 > 0:31:22Oh, come on!
0:31:33 > 0:31:37The great thing about All Day And All Of The Night, it makes you play it...
0:31:37 > 0:31:40HE PLAYS A FEW NOTES
0:31:40 > 0:31:42With You Really Got Me...
0:31:42 > 0:31:45HE PLAYS NOTES Yeah!
0:31:45 > 0:31:47You compose a bit in between it.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51But with All Day And All Of The Night, you've just got to keep motoring.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55It's continually moving and that's what gives it a punk image.
0:31:57 > 0:31:58No time to take a breath.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00# All day and all of the night... #
0:32:07 > 0:32:10FANS SCREAM
0:32:12 > 0:32:16We were in love when we were 19 years old.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20After All Day And All Of The Night, we got married and lived in a bedsit,
0:32:20 > 0:32:22and it was all very kitchen-sink.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26And when everybody else became successful in other bands,
0:32:26 > 0:32:29they moved as far away as they could from where they grew up.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33I lived 200 yards down the road from where my parents lived.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36I kind of felt comfortable in that world.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43And I hate parties, especially when they're in my honour.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48He didn't go to clubs, he wasn't a club-goer. He doesn't get drunk and forget everything.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54He observes and writes it down and a song comes out of it.
0:32:56 > 0:33:01You know, he was writing a lot of the time. He didn't do much else.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04I immersed myself in work. I just wrote songs.
0:33:04 > 0:33:11After the first couple of hits, I thought, "There's more to this guy than riff songs."
0:33:11 > 0:33:18As time went on, I realised he could write about someone eating his dinner if he wanted to.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21It was just amazing.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28# So tired, tired of waiting
0:33:28 > 0:33:33# Tired of waiting for you
0:33:33 > 0:33:36# So tired
0:33:36 > 0:33:38# Tired of waiting
0:33:38 > 0:33:42# Tired of waiting for you
0:33:44 > 0:33:46# I was a lonely soul
0:33:46 > 0:33:51# I had nobody till I met you
0:33:51 > 0:33:55# But you keeping me waiting
0:33:55 > 0:33:57# All of the time
0:33:57 > 0:33:58# What can I do?
0:34:01 > 0:34:03# It's your life
0:34:03 > 0:34:05# And you can do what you want... #
0:34:07 > 0:34:11Before we went to do the American tour in the '60s,
0:34:11 > 0:34:13the band was nearly breaking up.
0:34:13 > 0:34:20I'd just had my first child. Nowadays, people get time off work to have children.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24I can't believe it. How indulgent the world has become.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28I was on tour within a week of my daughter being born
0:34:28 > 0:34:34and...I had to go. If I hadn't gone, I would've let everybody down.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40So I was in a mixed-up state.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45I locked myself in my hotel room for a week,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48ordered a crate of beer and just drank.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51I just did not want to be there,
0:34:51 > 0:34:54and I begrudgingly did the shows,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58supported by bands like the Supremes and the Beach Boys!
0:35:01 > 0:35:04And I just missed my family, simple as that.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10It was a British invasion, but The Kinks were the invaders.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12It was like Mars had landed.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20It was so unfitting for American popular culture at that time.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25# All you got to do is set me free, free, free... #
0:35:27 > 0:35:30- How many?- I'm trying to see four!
0:35:30 > 0:35:33# All you got to do is set me free, little girl
0:35:33 > 0:35:37# You know you can do it if you try... #
0:35:37 > 0:35:41The thing is, The Beatles, Rolling Stones... Bless them, they were great,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44but they did play the game because they knew how to play it
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and still retain their own individual way of life.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49The Kinks did not know how to do it.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53We were just complete innocents.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56# So if I can't have you to myself
0:35:57 > 0:35:59# Set me free
0:36:00 > 0:36:03# Set me free... #
0:36:03 > 0:36:08They - whoever they are or were or still are - did not think The Kinks were right.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12We got a ban and I still don't know to this day what it was for.
0:36:12 > 0:36:18The Kinks were the only group in history to be actually banned from America,
0:36:18 > 0:36:20and I still don't know why.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29One thing that was going on through all this time, I was discovering how to write songs.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31I'd never been taught how to do it.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33GENTLE PIANO MELODY
0:36:35 > 0:36:38And I wrote See My Friends.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46# See my friends
0:36:46 > 0:36:50# See my friends
0:36:50 > 0:36:53# Laying 'cross the river
0:36:53 > 0:36:58# See my friends
0:36:58 > 0:37:01# See my friends
0:37:01 > 0:37:05# Laying 'cross the river
0:37:05 > 0:37:10# She is gone
0:37:10 > 0:37:16# She is gone and now there's no-one left
0:37:17 > 0:37:20# Except my friends
0:37:21 > 0:37:25# Laying 'cross the river... #
0:37:25 > 0:37:27People have asked me what See My Friends meant.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30Keep 'em guessing.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32Can a man tell the difference?
0:37:32 > 0:37:36Is it about sex, is it about girlfriends?
0:37:36 > 0:37:39Maybe it's about lost opportunities.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42# Laying across the river... #
0:37:42 > 0:37:48"Laying across the river." Maybe the river is laying across the big pond.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50# Now she's gone
0:37:50 > 0:37:54# Wish that I'd gone with her... #
0:37:54 > 0:37:59It's about loss, definitely. It could be for a person, but also loss of career,
0:37:59 > 0:38:03because we never thought we'd ever go back to America.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10London looks great at this time of the morning.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Yeah, it looks good anytime.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15# Baby, I feel good
0:38:17 > 0:38:18# From the moment I rise
0:38:18 > 0:38:22# I feel good from morning
0:38:22 > 0:38:24# Till the end of the day
0:38:24 > 0:38:27# Till the end of the day... #
0:38:29 > 0:38:33The great thing about being me, I think, is that I can be completely anonymous.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Not everybody recognises me.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38Very few people recognise me.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42# I get up and I see the sun
0:38:42 > 0:38:47# And I feel good cos my life has begun
0:38:48 > 0:38:51# You and me, we're free
0:38:51 > 0:38:53# We do as we please
0:38:53 > 0:38:58# Yeah, from morning till the end of the day
0:38:59 > 0:39:01# Till the end of the day. #
0:39:03 > 0:39:08Recorded that song with Alex Chilton, Alex Chilton was a friend of mine from New Orleans.
0:39:08 > 0:39:09Great singer.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13He was the first person to sing on this record.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18He died this year, Alex.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21# Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane
0:39:22 > 0:39:24# Ain't got time to take a fast train
0:39:24 > 0:39:26# Lonely days are gone
0:39:26 > 0:39:28# I'm a-going home
0:39:28 > 0:39:30# My baby just wrote me a letter... #
0:39:35 > 0:39:38I really thought You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night were blues songs.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40North London Blues.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42But I went really against it
0:39:42 > 0:39:46with things like A Well Respected Man and Dedicated Follower Of Fashion.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Could have been sung by Max Miller. You know?
0:39:49 > 0:39:52# He gets up in the morning
0:39:52 > 0:39:54# And he goes to work at nine
0:39:54 > 0:39:57# And he comes back home at five-thirty
0:39:57 > 0:39:59# Gets the same train every time... #
0:39:59 > 0:40:04A Well Respected Man was about the Establishment, as it was then.
0:40:04 > 0:40:09And it's probably my fear of becoming like that that made me write that.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12So I turned it into a rather comic critique.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16It's still rebelling. You can rebel and write a jaunty little song
0:40:16 > 0:40:19like Well Respected Man. It can still be a song of rebellion.
0:40:19 > 0:40:25# And he goes to the regatta He adores the girl next door
0:40:25 > 0:40:27# Cos he's dying to get at her... #
0:40:27 > 0:40:30- Hatred.- Hatred?- Hatred.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33You must take your hat off to that.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36# And he's oh, so good And he's oh, so... #
0:40:36 > 0:40:43I turned English. I became almost grotesquely English again. Deliberately English.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50# They seek him here They seek him there
0:40:51 > 0:40:55# His clothes are loud But never square
0:40:58 > 0:41:02# It will make or break him So he's got to buy the best
0:41:02 > 0:41:06# Cos he's a dedicated follower of fashion
0:41:08 > 0:41:12# And when he does His little rounds
0:41:12 > 0:41:15# Round the boutiques
0:41:16 > 0:41:17# Of London Town
0:41:19 > 0:41:24# Eagerly pursuing all the latest fads and trends
0:41:24 > 0:41:29# Cos he's a dedicated follower of fashion
0:41:30 > 0:41:32# Oh, yes, he is Oh, yes, he is
0:41:32 > 0:41:35# Oh, yes, he is Oh, yes, he is
0:41:36 > 0:41:40# He thinks he is a flower to be looked at
0:41:41 > 0:41:46# And when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight
0:41:46 > 0:41:51# He feels a dedicated follower of fashion... #
0:41:51 > 0:41:54When we came back from America, we realised how much it was changing
0:41:54 > 0:42:00in the '60s. But again, we probably should have embraced it all.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02# ..and that is flattering... #
0:42:04 > 0:42:10We'd gone the way that my wonderful peers went - The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles -
0:42:10 > 0:42:14but the one difference was that we were unable to go to America.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18Maybe there was an edge to me, writing things that were deliberately chancy.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23Probably this is it, I'd write a song that would take a chance, not be a big hit,
0:42:23 > 0:42:25knowing I could write another hit.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27That was unheard of in those days.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30You never came back once you had a miss.
0:42:30 > 0:42:31We had several.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35They had to be concerned with the commercial success, to some extent,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38but he wouldn't make that the be-all and end-all.
0:42:40 > 0:42:41He wouldn't follow a trend, either.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44He'd go and set a trend, rather than follow one.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52# Dandy, dandy
0:42:52 > 0:42:54# Where you gonna go now?
0:42:55 > 0:42:56# Who you gonna run to?
0:42:58 > 0:43:00# All your little life
0:43:00 > 0:43:02# You're chasing all the girls
0:43:02 > 0:43:04# They can't resist your smile... #
0:43:04 > 0:43:10The '60s, for me, were not as fun, politically.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15Sometimes style and fashion and pop culture camouflages what's really happening.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18The only thing swinging in London were handbags.
0:43:22 > 0:43:28The music culture was great, the fashion was great, Carnaby Street was a great, great place.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31It was the first time people, young people, particularly,
0:43:31 > 0:43:37had money to spend, and could be heard. It was a liberating time, there's no doubt.
0:43:37 > 0:43:44But I think it was a facade. It was a cover-up for a lot of nasty things happening in the world.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47I was writing all these fun songs,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50"They seek him here, they seek him there,"
0:43:50 > 0:43:53and I was trying to hide.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Just trying to hide from everything.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59He always liked to win a situation.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01Be successful.
0:44:01 > 0:44:02Quite intensely so.
0:44:02 > 0:44:08Other times he could be sort of fragile and mellow and be the victim.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12Have a persecution thing and make you feel sorry for him.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15Look, front cover of the Radio Times.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24I don't think I'm the only artist that's always had problems around them.
0:44:24 > 0:44:30But I had a double problem. My art was the world that was also destroying me,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33through the legal cases and publishing disputes.
0:44:33 > 0:44:39I had to meet with people, the establishment people, who were the law.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43I felt very uncomfortable having to deal with that, cos I just wanted to do my work.
0:44:43 > 0:44:49And everywhere I turned, it turned into a replay of a nightmare.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58It's raining.
0:45:02 > 0:45:03It's raining.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08The pressure used to get to Ray because he knew the onus was on him to come up with the goods.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11We had three managers picking away at him,
0:45:11 > 0:45:13so I think that wore him down.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17I'll give you some pills later, keep you smiling.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20In fact, he had a breakdown fairly early on.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24Not any more. Not now.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26Yeah.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Compared to the way I feel now, having a nervous breakdown was a jaunt.
0:45:30 > 0:45:36I don't think it was a nervous breakdown. I was extremely tired...
0:45:36 > 0:45:41I'm mentally too strong to have a nervous breakdown. I can pull myself through.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44But when you're so exhausted...
0:45:44 > 0:45:49Pressures get to you... It just gets, "Oh, let me go to sleep."
0:45:49 > 0:45:51Come on, son, eat it all up.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Also, the crisis I had was a cultural crisis.
0:45:57 > 0:46:02I felt betrayed by the industry I was in
0:46:02 > 0:46:07and people were expecting me to be a performing animal at the circus. You know?
0:46:07 > 0:46:10Like one of those dancing bears.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12That's what it felt like.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14And, uh...
0:46:14 > 0:46:16I didn't want to be me any more.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19# And the write was served on the verge of a nervous breakdown
0:46:19 > 0:46:21# I decided to fight right to the end
0:46:21 > 0:46:23# And if I ever get my money
0:46:23 > 0:46:26# I'll be too old and grey to spend it, oh... #
0:46:26 > 0:46:28Genius and madness.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33They say there's a thin line.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37There ain't no cure for acute schizophrenia disease.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Here's a spy who keeps on following me.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46And the woman next door's an undercover for the KGB.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Sometimes it gets a bit strange.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57You know. He used to have this jacket that looked like an abstract painting.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02And when he'd wear that I think, "Oh, nice, we're in for a crazy time here."
0:47:02 > 0:47:06He had a pair of glasses as well, with no lenses in.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Our road manager said, "Are they for long distance or for reading?"
0:47:10 > 0:47:13He said, "Both. Saves me buying two pairs."
0:47:13 > 0:47:18I mean, overall he's not mad. He has to go up and down.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Put on your slippers and sit by the fire. Everything will be all right.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30Rest. Take the medication.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53Should have taken more holidays, I think.
0:47:53 > 0:47:58I get obsessed by an idea I have and I have to pursue it.
0:47:58 > 0:48:04Once I get on the starting block, as soon as that gun goes, I don't stop till it's the finishing time.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07That's just he way I am. It's the way I've trained myself to be.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11# I won't take all that they hand me down
0:48:11 > 0:48:15# And make out I smile though I wear a frown
0:48:15 > 0:48:19# And I'm not going to take it all lying down
0:48:19 > 0:48:24# Cos once I get started I go to town
0:48:24 > 0:48:27# Cos I'm not like everybody else
0:48:27 > 0:48:30# I'm not like everybody else
0:48:30 > 0:48:33# I'm not like everybody else
0:48:34 > 0:48:40# I'm not like everybody else I'm not like everybody else... #
0:48:40 > 0:48:42Could have just walked away.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45I admired Syd Barrett for walking away.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48I was on the verge of doing something like that.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50But by this time I had a little family to support,
0:48:50 > 0:48:52so I just kept working.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55# Like everybody else Like everybody else
0:48:55 > 0:48:57# Like everybody else. #
0:49:08 > 0:49:12# The taxman's taken all my dough
0:49:12 > 0:49:16# And left me in my stately home
0:49:16 > 0:49:21# Lazing on a sunny afternoon
0:49:21 > 0:49:24# And I can't sail my yacht
0:49:24 > 0:49:28# He's taken everything I've got
0:49:28 > 0:49:33# All I've got's this sunny afternoon... #
0:49:33 > 0:49:39Sunny Afternoon was a more mature song and I was 22 when I wrote it, I think.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42When the great pop boom was happening in Great Britain in the '60s,
0:49:42 > 0:49:44we were under the screw, financially.
0:49:44 > 0:49:49Sunny Afternoon was inspired by the fact that the pound got devalued.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53So it's quite a dark song even though it's about something seemingly happy.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57More political than most people realise.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00# Save me, save me, save me From this squeeze
0:50:02 > 0:50:05# I got a big fat mama Tryin' to break me. #
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Full of the ominous, descending thoughts.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Then it had that thing, in the summertime.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17# In the summertime
0:50:18 > 0:50:21# In the summertime
0:50:21 > 0:50:26# In the summertime
0:50:26 > 0:50:29# In the summertime
0:50:29 > 0:50:32# In the summertime...#
0:50:32 > 0:50:34The singing atmosphere.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40Sunday Afternoon and Dead End Street were a couplet.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45Dead End Street went to the root of the cause.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47It was about betrayal of the pop era.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49There is a crack up in the ceiling.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51The kitchen sink is leaking.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55# There's a crack up in the ceiling
0:50:55 > 0:50:59# And the kitchen sink is leaking
0:50:59 > 0:51:02# I don't work and got no money
0:51:02 > 0:51:06# A Sunday joint of bread and honey
0:51:07 > 0:51:10# What are we living for?
0:51:10 > 0:51:13- BOTH:- # Two roomed apartment On the second floor...#
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Hearing someone else sing it, Amy MacDonald,
0:51:17 > 0:51:19she was like a kid looking for somewhere to live.
0:51:19 > 0:51:25Definitely, the words totally mean something to me, even though it was written long before I was born,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28it's gone full circle and it's back to being completely relevant again.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31There's so many people in that situation
0:51:31 > 0:51:35and so many people scared that they might end up in that situation.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38- # Dead end - People are dying on dead end street
0:51:38 > 0:51:42- # Dead end - Born to die on dead end street
0:51:42 > 0:51:44- # Dead end street - Yeah
0:51:44 > 0:51:46- # Dead end street - Yeah! #
0:51:47 > 0:51:52The song written out of genuine concern that people were being impoverished,
0:51:52 > 0:51:57it wasn't all flower power in the sixties. I know several DJs resisted playing it.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02They band the video because it showed, what was notionally, a dead man in a coffin.
0:52:03 > 0:52:04# How's it feel?
0:52:04 > 0:52:06# Dead end street...#
0:52:08 > 0:52:11The coffin, it could have been the pop culture, in the coffin.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17I've carried the values of what I call the Great Generation.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19My parents' generation.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22Who lived through world wars.
0:52:22 > 0:52:23They lived through the Depression.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25I wrote for them.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28I wrote for what they stood for.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30And the beliefs they had.
0:52:30 > 0:52:36It's why I don't mind quoting Vaudeville movies and old movies and old songs.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38I used to sing songs to my father.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41# What are we living for?
0:52:42 > 0:52:44# Two roomed apartment On the second floor. #
0:52:44 > 0:52:47"Love that, son, that was good."
0:52:47 > 0:52:48Be political in songs.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51But the songs have got to have good value,
0:52:51 > 0:52:56rather than saying, "We hate Thatcher," or "We hate Cameron," "We hate this, that and the other."
0:52:56 > 0:52:59It's got to do its job as a song.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02I think songs like Stormy Weather had more political...
0:53:02 > 0:53:06Write about the storm, equate it with something more interesting
0:53:06 > 0:53:09than just hatred of a doctrine.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11# Stormy weather...#
0:53:11 > 0:53:13I'm working class. I still am.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18When I had big hits with The Kinks and I could afford my own house
0:53:18 > 0:53:21I moved away to a more manorial house in Hertfordshire.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23I said to a friend,
0:53:23 > 0:53:28"Do you think I'm betraying my class by living in a big house?"
0:53:28 > 0:53:30He said, "Ray, you could live in Buckingham Palace
0:53:30 > 0:53:34"and it'd still feel like a terraced house when you waltz in."
0:53:34 > 0:53:37# Cos he's got a House in the country...#
0:53:37 > 0:53:41I was living in a big house, but I wasn't fooling anybody.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44I got really depressed, I missed my roots.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48The house I moved from hadn't been sold, so I moved back as soon as I could.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53'What if I came up to you and said "That house is mine, don't pull it down." What would you do?'
0:54:02 > 0:54:07# I'm a Muswell Hillbilly boy...#
0:54:07 > 0:54:09Get back to where you belong.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16It wasn't until we had our fifth or sixth hit
0:54:16 > 0:54:19that I thought other people understood what I was singing about.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21I thought all the songs were really private.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Waterloo Sunset, I thought it was my private song.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26I nearly didn't want to put it out.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29Some songs just come out of dreams.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34It's almost like physics. Two things connect and an idea comes from the past,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37and suddenly, I know what I want to write.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41I've been carrying this song around since I was a teenager.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43But I had a picture in my head.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48I was doing a vocal and I wanted to be cushioned by the backing vocals.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51And the engineer said, "How do you want it to sound?"
0:54:51 > 0:54:54All I could do it was draw him a picture.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58It was like atmosphere around a leaf, floating from a tree.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01A simple image like that.
0:55:01 > 0:55:02That's how I wanted it to sound.
0:55:02 > 0:55:09We were mixing it and the engineer said, "Is that OK?" And I said, "No, it doesn't look right yet."
0:55:09 > 0:55:13So... That's why I'm difficult to work with.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19I will not sing anything as I walk across this bridge.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35# Dirty old river Must you keep rolling
0:55:35 > 0:55:38# Flowing into the night
0:55:40 > 0:55:44# People so busy Make me feel dizzy
0:55:44 > 0:55:47# Taxi lights shine so bright
0:55:49 > 0:55:52# But I don't
0:55:53 > 0:55:56# Need no friends
0:55:58 > 0:56:02# As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset
0:56:02 > 0:56:04# I am in paradise
0:56:06 > 0:56:08# Sha la la
0:56:08 > 0:56:14# Every day I look at the world From my window. #
0:56:14 > 0:56:17How did you get the idea for Waterloo Sunset?
0:56:17 > 0:56:19Everything was right for it.
0:56:19 > 0:56:25It's like, if I stopped writing and I went out, I walked past buildings that reminded me of the song.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29It was just, everything happened.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33I saw rivers and I had to do it.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36I wish I'd been a painter, because you can use artistic licence.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40But the reality is, you stick a camera up and it looks like rubbish.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44This is such a fucked up city, look at it. All this crap around us.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49It means lots of different things to me.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51Sometimes that's what songwriting is.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56Any kind of art. It's not the detail, it's the impression. It's impressionistic.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58Like Monet.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03Monet. I think I got paid, I'm not sure.
0:57:04 > 0:57:10What's fantastic about these songs is that millions of other people can feel the same way about them.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14Sometimes when I'm walking, I like to copy the walks of people.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19Fascinating. People are great. I love characters.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24Without these people, nobody would be able to write anything,
0:57:24 > 0:57:28All these people don't realise how important they are.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33# Thank you for the days
0:57:33 > 0:57:36# Those endless days you gave me
0:57:36 > 0:57:38# Thank you for the rain
0:57:40 > 0:57:42# The rain is coming down upon me. #
0:57:42 > 0:57:48I like the intro the Mumfords do on the new record, it's in the spirit of the original.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51They sing it nice a cappella vocal.
0:57:53 > 0:57:59# Thank you for the days
0:57:59 > 0:58:03# Those endless days Those sacred days you gave me. #
0:58:03 > 0:58:06The thing about songwriting,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09is you can be so concise, such an abbreviated form.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13The music adds, somehow, the other element to subtext.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16Again, when I speak the words they sound really naff.
0:58:16 > 0:58:21But when you put it together with an emotion, with a melody, with the sound bed,
0:58:21 > 0:58:23it has a great meaning to it.
0:58:23 > 0:58:28# Thank you for the days
0:58:29 > 0:58:32# Those endless days Those sacred days you gave me
0:58:33 > 0:58:37# I'm thinking of the days
0:58:38 > 0:58:42# I wont forget a single day Believe me
0:58:43 > 0:58:45# I bless the light
0:58:45 > 0:58:49# I bless the light That shines on you, believe me
0:58:50 > 0:58:52# And though you're gone
0:58:53 > 0:58:56# You're with me every single day Believe me. #
0:58:59 > 0:59:01People ask me what Days is about.
0:59:01 > 0:59:04I don't like to put too many meanings on things.
0:59:04 > 0:59:08It's best to let the listener come up with their own interpretation.
0:59:09 > 0:59:13Thank you for the days, those endless days you gave me.
0:59:13 > 0:59:17It's obviously a song about passing, farewell.
0:59:17 > 0:59:21I don't like to think about it too much, I just sing it
0:59:21 > 0:59:25and let the song do the explaining.
0:59:25 > 0:59:27I think that's the best way.
0:59:27 > 0:59:28I'm very close to the song.
0:59:28 > 0:59:30It means a lot to me.
0:59:30 > 0:59:33All my songs mean a lot to me.
0:59:35 > 0:59:38It means a lot, this little part of Hampstead.
0:59:38 > 0:59:43The last video we did together was shot here, Starstruck.
0:59:43 > 0:59:48It was the last time that band was really together, because Pete Quaife left shortly after that.
0:59:48 > 0:59:53# Baby, you're running around Like you're crazy
0:59:53 > 0:59:58# You go to a party And dance through the night
0:59:58 > 1:00:05# And you'll drink till you're tight And then you're out on your feet
1:00:05 > 1:00:09- # Cos you're - Starstruck, baby, starstruck...#
1:00:09 > 1:00:14I miss them more than they can possibly know.
1:00:16 > 1:00:20There's something about growing up with a unit of people.
1:00:20 > 1:00:23Obviously I miss them.
1:00:23 > 1:00:25They probably think I don't.
1:00:25 > 1:00:28But I think about them a lot.
1:03:35 > 1:03:38When you buy these old anthologies of songs,
1:03:38 > 1:03:41they have an indication of how folk songs should be played.
1:03:41 > 1:03:44There's one, I'll always remember,
1:03:44 > 1:03:48called, "to be played intimately, as if among friends".
1:03:48 > 1:03:51That's the best way of describing Village Green -
1:03:51 > 1:03:54something only your friends will understand.
1:03:54 > 1:03:59The success of the record proved how few friends I have!
1:03:59 > 1:04:03# All of my friends were there... #
1:04:03 > 1:04:06Jimi was the only band when we couldn't tour there
1:04:06 > 1:04:09to actually say The Kinks were making great music.
1:04:09 > 1:04:12Noel Redding had a great Charles Hawtrey way of talking.
1:04:12 > 1:04:15He said, "Oh, it's so great to hear all these songs.
1:04:15 > 1:04:19"Americans love it, they love the Village Green Preservation Society,
1:04:19 > 1:04:23"they love She Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina."
1:04:23 > 1:04:26Will you give me a taste of Princess Marina?
1:04:26 > 1:04:28I couldn't remember it if you paid me.
1:04:28 > 1:04:31- How much will you pay me to play it? - A hundred quid.
1:04:31 > 1:04:32I'll play it!
1:04:32 > 1:04:37# She's bought a hat like Princess Marina
1:04:37 > 1:04:41# To wear at all her social affairs
1:04:41 > 1:04:46# She wears it when she's cleaning the windows
1:04:46 > 1:04:51# She wears it when she's scrubbing the stairs
1:04:51 > 1:04:55# But you will never see her at Ascot
1:04:55 > 1:05:00# She hasn't got the time or the fare
1:05:00 > 1:05:05# But she's bought a hat like Princess Marina
1:05:05 > 1:05:08# So she don't care. #
1:05:08 > 1:05:09Give me the money!
1:05:09 > 1:05:13We know you're tight. You have that reputation, Ray.
1:05:13 > 1:05:17Money's scarce There's none to be found
1:05:17 > 1:05:20So don't think I'm tight if I don't buy a round.
1:05:20 > 1:05:21I'm on a low budget.
1:05:21 > 1:05:25# Once all my clothes were made by hand
1:05:25 > 1:05:28# Now I'm a cut-price person
1:05:28 > 1:05:30# Low budget land
1:05:30 > 1:05:32# I'm on a low budget
1:05:34 > 1:05:36# I'm on a low budget. #
1:05:39 > 1:05:44- Why are you making me do this? - It's good, it's good.
1:05:44 > 1:05:47I'm finding this really hard because there's no special trick...
1:05:47 > 1:05:51I don't believe in these people that do these big art programmes
1:05:51 > 1:05:53and they have a picture of Van Gogh
1:05:53 > 1:05:55and they say, "Van Gogh painted this
1:05:55 > 1:05:57"and the rook symbolised death",
1:05:57 > 1:06:00and I think he did it just so he could sell it to make some money,
1:06:00 > 1:06:02which he never did.
1:06:02 > 1:06:06This is why I left art school. I was being taught to analyse things.
1:06:06 > 1:06:08People don't need to know what inspired me.
1:06:08 > 1:06:11They just either like the song or they don't.
1:06:13 > 1:06:15# Back where you started
1:06:15 > 1:06:18# Come on, do it again Do it again, do it again... #
1:06:19 > 1:06:22When we were allowed back to America,
1:06:22 > 1:06:25it was starting again.
1:06:25 > 1:06:29The head of a record company said to me, "You can tour, but you've got to have that world hit."
1:06:29 > 1:06:32Yeah, you never knew what to expect with Ray
1:06:32 > 1:06:35cos he'd always surprised you with something.
1:06:35 > 1:06:39We used to get all these weird people that followed us because of our name,
1:06:39 > 1:06:41the transsexuals amongst them.
1:06:41 > 1:06:44Ray and I, you know, went to a couple of clubs
1:06:44 > 1:06:47and a couple of shows that, you know, were all new to us.
1:06:47 > 1:06:50We spent a few nights with these people
1:06:50 > 1:06:52that had had the operation...
1:06:53 > 1:06:55..and out of that came Lola.
1:06:58 > 1:07:00HE PLAYS INTRO
1:07:02 > 1:07:05# I met her in a club down in old Soho
1:07:05 > 1:07:07# Where you drink champagne
1:07:07 > 1:07:10# And it tastes just like cherry cola
1:07:11 > 1:07:15# C-O-L-A, cola... #
1:07:15 > 1:07:17Why did the champagne taste like cola?
1:07:17 > 1:07:19I don't know. Cos it rhymed.
1:07:19 > 1:07:21PALOMA LAUGHS
1:07:21 > 1:07:22# I asked her her name
1:07:22 > 1:07:25# And in a dark brown voice she said Lola
1:07:25 > 1:07:28# L-O-L-A, Lola
1:07:29 > 1:07:32# La-la la-la, Lola... #
1:07:35 > 1:07:38I just remember that instant with a drag queen
1:07:38 > 1:07:40a few years earlier.
1:07:40 > 1:07:45There was a beautiful woman who ended up being a transvestite. A trannie.
1:07:45 > 1:07:48I've just recorded this with Paloma Faith.
1:07:48 > 1:07:51- I'm going to tell you something about this tie.- Yeah.
1:07:51 > 1:07:53This tie was given to me
1:07:53 > 1:07:55by the Morecambe And Wise Appreciation Society.
1:07:55 > 1:07:57This was Eric Morecambe's tie.
1:07:57 > 1:08:00- Really? Wow! - And I'm wearing it for you.
1:08:00 > 1:08:02'It's radical, the girl singing that song,
1:08:02 > 1:08:05'but she pulls it off - she has a great soul in her voice.'
1:08:05 > 1:08:09# Well, we drank champagne and danced all night
1:08:09 > 1:08:12# Under electric candlelight
1:08:12 > 1:08:15# She picked me up and sat me on her knee
1:08:15 > 1:08:19# And said, "Dear boy Won't you come home with me?" #
1:08:19 > 1:08:23Ray sort of touched on that kind of "is it, isn't it" kind of idea
1:08:23 > 1:08:26of, is she a girl or a boy?
1:08:26 > 1:08:28It doesn't really matter.
1:08:28 > 1:08:31# Well, I'm not the world's most passionate guy
1:08:31 > 1:08:36# But when I looked in her eyes Well, I almost fell for my Lola
1:08:36 > 1:08:38# La-la-la-la, Lola
1:08:39 > 1:08:43# La-la-la-la Lola... #
1:08:44 > 1:08:47Of course, you had the Warhol set in New York,
1:08:47 > 1:08:50people like Candy Darling, who I dated.
1:08:50 > 1:08:52I'm the new girl in town.
1:08:52 > 1:08:55Thinking...Candy Darling. But it wasn't.
1:08:55 > 1:08:58It was the stubble, you know, gave him away.
1:08:58 > 1:09:02'There's something sexy about its ambiguity sexually.'
1:09:02 > 1:09:06Sometimes that's the best way to be.
1:09:06 > 1:09:08# Well, I'm not the world's most masculine man
1:09:08 > 1:09:12# But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man
1:09:12 > 1:09:14# And so's Lola
1:09:14 > 1:09:16# La-la-la-la, Lola... #
1:09:16 > 1:09:19What it did for The Kinks, it gave us an opening.
1:09:19 > 1:09:23A lot of drag queens started coming to concerts.
1:09:24 > 1:09:26I think it opened the door
1:09:26 > 1:09:28to a lot of people who were oppressed,
1:09:28 > 1:09:31and I didn't intend it to be a song to come out to,
1:09:31 > 1:09:35but it became that and a lot of people have since thanked me
1:09:35 > 1:09:37for writing it.
1:09:37 > 1:09:41No-one's ever going to know the real story, cos they'll never guess.
1:09:41 > 1:09:42DOORBELL RINGS
1:09:42 > 1:09:44The real story is too good.
1:09:44 > 1:09:46'Hello. Who is that speaking, please?'
1:09:53 > 1:09:55The songs will be here when I'm gone.
1:09:55 > 1:09:58In a sense, they were here before I came.
1:09:58 > 1:10:00I just picked up the ideas
1:10:00 > 1:10:04and saw what thousands and millions of other people saw
1:10:04 > 1:10:06and it came out the way I interpreted it.
1:10:06 > 1:10:09I could be sitting here a hundred years ago
1:10:09 > 1:10:11but I could be sitting here in the future,
1:10:11 > 1:10:15but I don't ever feel that I existed.
1:10:15 > 1:10:17There's a lot of me invested in it
1:10:17 > 1:10:20but I've absorbed everything from everywhere else.
1:10:20 > 1:10:24# People take pictures of each other
1:10:24 > 1:10:28# Just to prove that they really exist... #
1:10:28 > 1:10:32- This is for the people back home in Derbyshire.- Yeah, Derbyshire!
1:10:32 > 1:10:36You wouldn't believe he's a Grierson Award-winning director!
1:10:36 > 1:10:39- This is for Mozambique. - For Mozambique?
1:10:39 > 1:10:41Shall I take a picture of you two?
1:10:41 > 1:10:43Isn't he lovely?
1:10:44 > 1:10:46Got it.
1:10:48 > 1:10:51Yeah, I should have charged them for that.
1:10:53 > 1:10:58As original as you try to be, the ideas have always been there.
1:10:58 > 1:11:01Same as this city'll be here.
1:11:01 > 1:11:03# In man's evolution he has created
1:11:03 > 1:11:06# The city and the motor traffic rumble
1:11:06 > 1:11:09# But give me half a chance and I'd be taking off my clothes
1:11:09 > 1:11:12# And living in the jungle
1:11:12 > 1:11:15# Cos the only time that I feel at ease
1:11:15 > 1:11:18# Is swinging up and down in a coconut tree
1:11:18 > 1:11:24# Ohm what a life of luxury To be like an apeman
1:11:24 > 1:11:27# I'm an apeman, I'm an ape-apeman
1:11:27 > 1:11:29# I'm an apeman
1:11:29 > 1:11:33# I'm a King Kong man I'm a voodoo man
1:11:33 > 1:11:36# Oh, I'm an apeman
1:11:37 > 1:11:40# Cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky
1:11:40 > 1:11:44# Compared to the clouds as they roll by
1:11:44 > 1:11:47# Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies
1:11:47 > 1:11:49# I am an ape man... #
1:11:50 > 1:11:53Songs get absorbed into the folk culture
1:11:53 > 1:12:00and whether we know it or not, we're passing on music in a common collective consciousness.
1:12:00 > 1:12:04BIG BEN CHIMES
1:12:04 > 1:12:06All these people, where are they going?
1:12:06 > 1:12:09I think they're trying to avoid me.
1:12:09 > 1:12:14- It's Ray Davies standing on Waterloo Bridge again.- Every Sunday afternoon.
1:12:15 > 1:12:20# Whenever they gaze on Waterloo sunset
1:12:20 > 1:12:23# They are in paradise... #
1:12:23 > 1:12:24So am I. CHEERING
1:12:25 > 1:12:27# Tra-la-la
1:12:27 > 1:12:33# Every day I look at the world from my window
1:12:35 > 1:12:37# Tra-la-la
1:12:37 > 1:12:39# But chilly, chilly is the evening time
1:12:39 > 1:12:44# Waterloo sunset's fine
1:12:47 > 1:12:49# Millions of people
1:12:49 > 1:12:51# Swarming like flies round
1:12:51 > 1:12:55# Waterloo Underground... #
1:12:55 > 1:12:59People like William Blake who picked up on ideas,
1:12:59 > 1:13:03I think he would have understood Waterloo sunset.
1:13:03 > 1:13:06Charles Dickens documented the times
1:13:06 > 1:13:09and he would have a great time writing now, I think.
1:13:09 > 1:13:13We're going through a new Dickensian era.
1:13:13 > 1:13:19The workhouses and the things he wrote about in London are all coming to pass again.
1:13:19 > 1:13:21DISTANT: # I'm in paradise
1:13:21 > 1:13:28People say, you've written maybe thousands of songs, why write more?
1:13:28 > 1:13:32I write more because society's changing, people are adapting to change.
1:13:34 > 1:13:37I get fired up by something and I have to write about it.
1:13:37 > 1:13:42Yeah, I can't see Ray ever giving up writing songs
1:13:42 > 1:13:44cos it's too much part of him.
1:13:46 > 1:13:52I have my own soundtrack to my life and it's going on as we speak.
1:13:52 > 1:13:55# Doo, doodle-oodle-oodle, do-do-do
1:13:55 > 1:13:57# Doo, doodle-oodle... # I'm dancing.
1:13:57 > 1:14:02I'd say Ray was the William Shakespeare of songwriting.
1:14:02 > 1:14:05That's the best way I can describe him.
1:14:05 > 1:14:08We might even have a Ray Davies Day.
1:14:08 > 1:14:14But it wouldn't be a holiday - it'd be a day where you work harder.
1:14:14 > 1:14:16HE LAUGHS
1:14:17 > 1:14:20I think that's possibly my epitaph, really.
1:14:20 > 1:14:24Rather than WC Fields' saying, "It's better than playing Philadelphia",
1:14:24 > 1:14:29mine might be, "Not yet, I've just got a tune in my head."
1:14:29 > 1:14:30Mm.
1:14:30 > 1:14:35I have a theory, also, the best songs can be played on an out-of-tune piano.
1:14:35 > 1:14:37HE PLAYS "IMAGINARY MAN"
1:14:56 > 1:14:58FLAT NOTE PLAYS Ooh!
1:14:59 > 1:15:01# So this is really it... # HE LAUGHS
1:15:05 > 1:15:08# Is this the final station?
1:15:08 > 1:15:13# You know, it's really been quite a trip
1:15:17 > 1:15:22# It's really been great to watch the sights
1:15:22 > 1:15:28# And look at the edited highlights
1:15:28 > 1:15:33# And all the outtakes you did not see
1:15:33 > 1:15:40# Were only my unreality
1:15:40 > 1:15:45# I am, I am Imaginary
1:15:45 > 1:15:50# I am, I am Imaginary
1:15:50 > 1:15:53# I'm the imaginary man
1:15:53 > 1:15:57# Imaginary man
1:15:57 > 1:16:00# Imaginary man
1:16:00 > 1:16:02# Yes, I am
1:16:06 > 1:16:09# Imaginary man
1:16:11 > 1:16:15# Imaginary man. #
1:16:15 > 1:16:18Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
1:16:18 > 1:16:21E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
1:16:21 > 1:16:23Pete Townsend wouldn't let you do that.