The Village Green Preservation Society,
The Kinks
February 11, 2007
The Beatles began an unexpected trend when they released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on June 1, 1967. The songs on the album are loosely connected by the idea of a fictional band. It was an ingenious concept, and the result was the release of a string of albums by other bands that mimicked this same fictional concept. I have always wanted to collect all these Sgt. Pepper's inspired albums. They range from obscurities such as the I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die album by Country Joe & the Fish:
To more high profile attempts at matching the concept of the Beatles.. such as Their Satanic Majesties Request by the Rolling Stones:
Both of the above albums were released in the latter half of 1967.. and in each the band is dressed in a fantastic get-up.
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society came out in 1968, but it employs yet again the concept of a band that is acting like they are somebody else. The album opens with the song "Village Green Preservation Society":
We are the village green preservation society
God save donald duck, vaudeville and variety
We are the desperate dan appreciation society
God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties
Preserving the old ways from being abused
Protecting the new ways for me and for you
What more can we do?
The idea was no longer novel, but the Kinks took it in a not-so-psychedelic direction.. ignoring any hint of wizards or such.. and settled instead on a rather old-fashioned English theme: they are a "preservation society" dedicated to saving various aspects of English culture that were in danger of disappearing.
The lyrics are laced with pop-culture references.. ranging from Donald Duck to strawberry jam. One might expect that a someone interested in "preserving the old ways from being abused" might be more interested in Shakespeare than Desperate Dan.. (BTW: Desperate Dan was a wild west character in the British comic The Dandy which ran until 1969). But no. The Kinks turn out to be staunch protectors of the "Old Ways" which could probably be defined as the dear England they knew growing up.
This theme sets up one of those juicy ironies that mark works like this. If you were to think of a force in the late 60s that was destroying the "old ways", it surely must be connected to the rabid cultural energy focused on rock music. But nevertheless here are the Kinks singing rock songs about preserving the old ways from being abused.. The cultural meaning of the songs was at odds with the actual message of the song. (One could almost compare the album to a website aimed at preserving old roads..)
Here are some more fun railings at the modern world:
God save little shops, china cups and virginity
We are the skyscraper condemnation affiliate
God save tudor houses, antique tables and billiards
Preserving the old ways from being abused
Protecting the new ways for me and for you
What more can we do
Now someone might argue that these hopes were meant ironically. The Kinks can't be serious about saving china cups or antique tables.. let alone virginity! But I think it would be a mistake to not take them seriously.. "Village Green" is not an isolated song, but one that reflects a theme that Ray Davies mines throughout his career. When we heard him in concert last March (review here) he played his song "20th Century Man", which includes the following lines:
You keep all your smart modern writers
Give me william shakespeare
You keep all your smart modern painters
I’ll take rembrandt, titian, da vinci and gainsborough,
Girl we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t want to die here.
I enjoy a certain cheekiness in those lines. It reminds me of a dear teacher I once had who told me in all seriousness that everything after some date.. like 1885 or so.. was rubbish. I have always liked and admired people who were willing to think of themselves as out of time.. and who were in some way working to preserve the past.
So without consulting with Emily, let me just go ahead an name "Village Green Preservation Society" the official song of this website.. We understand and embrace the irony. Now check out this performance of the song from 1973:
