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The song includes a saxophone solo that Billboard described as "hot," as well as a guitar solo by Dave Davies. [2] [4] Cash Box said the song was "topical" with "a hypnotic blues-rock beat," summarizing the song as "good natured pop with a message." [5] Record World called it "a vintage Kinks rocker complete with raging guitar lines and a ...
The song's B-side, "I Need You", makes prominent use of powerchords in the style of the Kinks' early, "raunchy" sound. "Set Me Free" was heard in the Ken Loach-directed Up the Junction, a BBC Wednesday Play which aired in November 1965; this marked the first appearance of a Kinks song on a film or TV soundtrack.
The song was first released as the B-side to their single "Sunny Afternoon" but soon became a favourite and was often part of the Kinks live act. Ray Davies continues to play the song regularly and used the song as an opening number in his 2006-2008 solo live appearances. Cash Box said that it is a "rhythmic ode about a highly individual type ...
The song, inspired by Superman: The Movie, employs a disco beat and lyrics that describe the singer's wish to be like the fictional character Superman. The song's disco style was created as a response to Arista Records founder Clive Davis's request for "a club-friendly record", despite Ray Davies' hatred of disco.
[2] [3] As the song progresses and she goes on with life she continues to dream of Oklahoma and Hollywood ("She walks to work but she's still in a daze/ She's Rita Hayworth or Doris Day/ And Errol Flynn's gonna take her away/ To Oklahoma U.S.A."). The song opens and closes with the lyrics "All life we work, but work is a bore./
Dar Williams covered the song on her album End of the Summer. Fountains of Wayne covered the song on Late Night with Conan O'Brien ten days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Their version of the song later appeared on This Is Where I Belong - The Songs of Ray Davies & The Kinks, a tribute CD released on 2 April 2002.
[4] Cash Box and Billboard both considered it one of the best songs on Soap Opera. [5] [6] Music journalist Denise Sullivan felt that "Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)" "has the same pomp and swagger as the best glam tracks from the era," citing T. Rex's "20th Century Boy," David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" and Roxy Music's "Prairie Rose" as examples. [7]
"Come Dancing" is a tribute to Davies' older sister Rene. Living in Canada with her reportedly abusive husband, the 31-year-old Rene was visiting her childhood home in Fortis Green in London at the time of Ray Davies' 13th birthday—21 June 1957—on which she surprised him with a gift of the Spanish guitar he had tried to persuade his parents to buy him. [3]