Edit for headphones. Source file is from "The Kinks Remastered" (1995 Castle cd # 268).(There is a stereo release of this song on "Face To Face" [2011 deluxe edition] but it only has backing vocals in stereo.) A 1966 # 1 hit in Holland, the UK and Canada. # 2 in New Zealand, # 7 Germany, # 13 Australia and in the snaily US it was a # 14 hit. Hit hit hurray I'd say...
Ray Davies was going through a very difficult time when he wrote this song. The Kinks were in the midst of a sudden rise to stardom, but group tensions, lawsuits, an unrealistic workload and craven management made them miserable. Davies was also dealing with fatherhood, and left the band for a while. When the song hit # 1 in the UK (knocking off "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles), it did bring Davies out of his funk for a while.
Ray Davies recalled writing the song's intro in the book "Isle of Noises" by Daniel Rachel: "I had bought a white upright piano," he said. "I hadn't written for a time. I'd been ill. I was living in a very 1960s-decorated house. It had orange walls and green furniture. My one-year-old daughter was crawling on the floor and I wrote the opening riff. I remember it vividly. I was wearing a polo-neck sweater."
Backing vocalists on this track were Dave Davies, bass player Pete Quaife, and Ray Davies' wife at the time, Rasa.
SUNNY AFTERNOON
(Ray Davies)
The tax man's taken all my dough
And left me in this stately home
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
And I can't sail my yacht
He's taken everything I got
All I've got's this sunny afternoon
Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze
I gotta big fat mama trying to break me
And I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
In a summertime
In a summertime
In a summertime
My girlfriend's run off with my car
And gone back to her ma and pa
Telling tails of drunkenness and cruelty
Now I'm sitting here
Sipping at my ice cold beer
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
Help me, help me, help me sail away
Well give me two good reasons why I oughta stay
'Cause I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
In a summertime
In a summertime
In a summertime
Ah, save me, save me, save me from this squeeze
I gotta big fat mama trying to break me
And I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
In a summertime
In a summertime
In a summertime
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