“I
love to live so pleasantly
Live
this life of luxury
Lazin'
on a sunny afternoon
In
the summertime.”—British rock ‘n’ roll singer-songwriter Ray Davies, “Sunny
Afternoon,” performed by the Kinks on their Face to Face LP
(1966)
For
years, this song has evoked for me the dog days of summer, when it’s too hot
and humid to do much of anything. Lots of people feel similarly, I bet, because
the tune seems to get more airplay this time of year—including at my local
Starbucks.
This
month 60 years ago, “Sunny Afternoon” was climbing the UK charts, and before
long it gave the Kinks a hit on this side of the Atlantic, too. So much of its
success, I think, derived from an oom-pah melody that seduced listeners into
not paying all that much attention to its lyrics.
That
“life of luxury” was the least of it: that decadent aristocrat moaning about
the tax man chasing him also admits, without much regret, to “drunkenness and
cruelty” aimed at the girlfriend who, understandably, has left him.
It’s
a counterpart to a user in another song on the Face to Face LP released that
fall, “Dandy,” a playboy who is warned, “you're moving much too fast…you can’t
escape the past.” “Sunny
Afternoon” has had a life beyond vinyl, also giving its name and forming the
centerpiece of a British musical that premiered in 2014. Centering on the rise
to prominence of The Kinks, it featured music and lyrics by Ray Davies with a
book by Joe Penhall. It finally made its North American premiere at the Chicago
Shakespeare Theater a year and a half ago for a month-long run.
