Coverafbeelding The Kinks - 20 Century Man
  • Statistieken
  •   2 wkn Tipparade
  •   1972

Artiestinformatie

Land   Verenigd Koninkrijk

The Kinks was een Engelse rockgroep, ontstaan in 1963. De band bestond uit singer-songwriter Ray Davies, zijn broer en tevens leadgitarist Dave Davies en bassist Pete Quaife.

Begin jaren zestig besloten de twee broers een professionele band te beginnen. De broers traden al weleens op als duo. Toen Ray Davies naar de kunstacademie ging, probeerde Dave Davies samen met Quaife een band op te richten. De naam wisselde voortdurend en toen Ray Davies definitief toetrad in 1963, noemde de band zich The Ravens. De band nam Mick Avory aan als drummer. Op advies van hun manager veranderde de naam in The Kinks.



In 1970 hadden The Kinks een grote wereldhit met Lola. De band scoorde nog vier andere nummer 1-hits met de nummers Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, Sunny Afternoon, Waterloo Sunset en Lola [Live].

The Kinks was een van de eerste bands die een conceptalbum heeft uitgebracht, te weten The Village Green Preservation Society uit 1968.

Songtekst

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 want to 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
'cause the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.

Don't want to 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 want to 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 want to 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 want to be here

Songinformatie

ArtiestThe Kinks
 A-kant
Titel 20th Century Man
Lengte 3:59
Componist(en) Raymond Douglas Davies
Producer(s) Raymond Douglas Davies
 B-kant
Titel Skin And Bone
Lengte 3:36
Componist(en) Raymond Douglas Davies
Producer(s) Raymond Douglas Davies
 
Platenlabel RCA
Catalogusnr 74-0620
Hoogste positie UK -
Hoogste positie US 106
Album Muswell Hillbillies


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