Ray Davies writes in his book, "Americana":
It originated from a few evenings spent at Studio 54, where Bob Feiden and Michael Kleffner sometimes took me to see what, in their opinion, was "happening." I joked with them that I might write a disco song that could be played there. I understood some of the cultural origins of disco, but I really was not a fan of pure pop disco music. Yet it was in vogue at the time [1979] and I thought it would be fun to take a stab at it, more for my own amusement than anything else. Feiden and Kleffner had thrown down the challenge, so when I got back to England for our next recording session and rehearsals for the upcoming UK tour I wrote "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" with a disco beat straight out of Saturday Night Fever. The lyrical content, however, was different. The lyrics reflected the political situation in England. The "winter of discontent," the three-day week, the power strikes, the lorry strikes--everybody seemed to be on strike. I wrote this song about a world-weary person who was experiencing this unrest. The only light at the end of his tunnel was the fact that he imagined he could fly like Superman in an attempt to liberate himself.So far so good. I kinda knew that already. What I didn't appreciate were the efforts of the other Kinks--drummer Mick Avory in particular. Davies continues:
Listening back to the recording I thought what a trouper Mick Avory had been to do take after take on the drums until he got it right. During the recording he obeyed my instructions slavishly while I bobbed around next to him in the studio indicating when to play louder and when to play softer, and to mark the beginnings of verses and choruses. Then halfway through the track I made a gesture that indicated that I wanted to break up the monotony. Mick slipped in a skipped a beat, almost like a jazz player, but fell right back into the rhythm so that the listener felt change but was unaware of what happened. Only a drummer from Mick's generation could have done that. There were two rock drummers in the world capable of doing it at that time--one was Mick and the other was Charlie Watts.* No one listening to the finished record would be aware of this subtlety except me and Mick, but to me, it validated the whole rhythm track--it showed that the backing track was not robotic but had a human element._________________
*Mick Avory had auditioned for the Rolling Stones before Charlie Watts, and played at least one show with them.
3 comments:
There were many things wrong with that song, not least of which was the fact that Superman was The Man of Steel, not the Man of Flight.
How the Kinks got the reputation for being the thinking man's rock band was a mystery to me.
It sounded like was an uneasy coming together of disco and rock.
How the Kinks got the reputation for being the thinking man's rock band was a mystery to me.
You really should read the book. I'm almost through and have dropped about two dozen post-it tabs on thoughts I want to blog.
I bought the book because I wanted to understand why the Kinks were banned from the US (1965-69) and also what drove Davies to write some of the satire that he did. I found only clues.
What I did gain was a much deeper appreciation from what he/they did. I used to think of the British Invasion in a Beatles vs. Stones sort of way. That was too simplistic. The Kinks were the "third rail" of changing mores et al.
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