John Gosling, de toetsenist van The Kinks in de periode ’70-’78 is overleden. Dat heeft de band vandaag bekend gemaakt. Hij is 75 jaar oud geworden.
Gosling trad tijdens de opnames voor Lola toe tot The Kinks. Hij speelde mee op de twee laatste echt goede albums, het onderschatte Muswell Hillbillies en Everybody’s in Showbizz.
In ’78 verliet Gosling de band. Er was overigens geen sprake van ruzie, de verhouding van Gosling met de andere leden van The Kinks bleef goed.
Arnold’s favoriet uit de periode dat Gosling deel uitmaakte van The Kinks. Prachtige melodie en – zoals altijd – sterke tekst van Ray Davies over het verschil tussen beeld en realiteit. Wat geldt voor Hollywoodsterren, geldt natuurlijk net zo goed voor rocksterren.
Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star,
And everybody’s in movies, it doesn’t matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Their names are written in concrete!
Don’t step on Greta Garbo as you walk down the Boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile that’s why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph Valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies’ dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on Bela Lugosi
‘Cos he’s liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by Bette Davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.
If you covered him with garbage,
George Sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don’t tread on dearest Marilyn
‘Cos she’s not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are.
And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along Hollywood Boulevard.
I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.
You can see all the stars as you walk along Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.
I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.
Celluloid Heroes is eigenlijk ook mijn favoriet, maar dit is een goede tweede. 20th Century Man is de openingstrack van het destijds door iedereen ernstig onderschatte album Muswell Hillbillies. Muswell Hillbillies is een conceptalbum over de Londense arbeiderswijk Muswell Hill, waar Ray en Dave Davies opgroeiden. Het is een album vol prachtige, liefdevolle portretten van de bewoners van de wijk. Al te sentimenteel wordt het overigens nooit. Davies kijkt weliswaar met een nostalgisch oog naar de wijk, maar hij vermijdt pijnlijke onderwerpen als armoede en alcoholisme niet. Veel bewoners van de wijk zouden maar wát graag ontsnappen aan hun omgeving.
This is the age of machinery,
A mechanical nightmare,
The wonderful world of technology,
Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare,
This is the twentieth century,
But too much aggravation
It’s the age of insanity,
What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem.
Ain’t got no ambition, I’m just disillusioned
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.
My mama said she can’t understand me
She can’t see my motivation
Just give me some security,
I’m a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century.
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 was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.
Don’t wanna get myself shot down
By some trigger happy policeman,
Gotta keep a hold on my sanity
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna die here.
My mama says she can’t understand me
She can’t see my motivation
Ain’t got no security,
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.
This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
This is the edge of insanity
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By The cover art can be obtained from Velvel., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2454008
