Waterloo Sunset

Ray Davies (1944–)

I first heard this song on a reel-to-reel tape that Pete Frame (look up his Rock Family Trees) sent to Antonia and I. It was also the first time we heard The Incredible String Band, The Soft Machine, Pink Floyd’s “Arnold Lane”, the Purple Gang’s “Granny Takes A Trip” (which the London clothing store is named after), and Denny Lane’s “Say You Don’t Mind”. It was some tape. Wow, we thought, best Kinks song ever. And it maybe it still is. Robert Christgau calls it “the most beautiful song in the English language”. “A divine masterpiece”, said Peter Townsend. Allmusic senior editor Steven Thomas Erlewine described it as “possibly the most beautiful song of the rock ‘n roll era.”