(Credits: Bent Rej)
Tue 28 April 2026 6:20, UK
Sun-kissed cricket fields, well-kept village greens and gossiping neighbours, The Kinks were pioneers of weaving typically British subject matters into the raw vigour of American rock ‘n’ roll.
Amid the revolution of the 1960s, as a songwriter, Ray Davies figured it was important to also appraise the value of traditions. While the world was progressively racing ahead, banned from entering the States for a brief period due to a visa dispute, the surly Londoner was left to luxuriate on park benches, gazing out at Waterloo sunsets.
He believed that the pleasantries of such pastimes remained paramount. However, he also knew that recognising the value of the revolution at hand was equally vital. He was somewhere between equinimous and frustrated.
So, like many of his peers, he plugged into the rock ‘n’ roll coming out of America. The fuzz of an almost-fried amplifier became the conduit for tales from the outskirts of English cities, like a working man’s Wordsworth going through a big Buddy Holly phase.
“America was a source of inspiration to me when I was a kid,” he said. “Not just the music, but the culture of cowboys, Indians, good guys, bad guys, where the good guys were clearly, definitively different to the bad guys,” Davies explained.
(Credits: Far Out / Heikki Innanen /
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“There’s an obviousness about it that I found quite quaint really, and safe. But, of course, when I got here it was a good bit different,” he recalled. And even that murkiness inspired him, too, expanding his horizons. Davies was, essentially, open to everything. He wanted to blend things, all centred around his British storytelling.
As David Bowie said of ‘Waterloo Sunset’, “There is something so anchored about that song. It is so inherently English. It is as English as Peter Ackroyd is England. It is as London as Peter Ackroyd is London. There is something so deeply moving about the song, it is so timeless. It couldn’t be set in any other place or any other country in the world.” But that is only the case because Davies’ muse saw the wider the picture beyond Waterloo.
He might have been injured in a violent mugging and never returned to America, but he still held the inspiration dear to him. How could he not? Without being stirred to pursue art thanks the early raucous racket of the likes of Little Richard and The Big Bopper, Davies may never have went to art college. In fact, he may never have left Muswell Hill.
Alas, as he came of age, he might have been inspired, but he still needed the perfectly imperfect star to come along and show that rock ‘n’ roll was open to everyone. So, he also searched out rock ‘n’ roll with a strange sense of humility. Chuck Berry’s classic track ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ was one of the most vital on this front. Speaking about the 1958 hit, he told WNYC, “You’ve got two or three different rhythms going on at the same time.”
He added, “It’s a combination of great, great rhythms, separate them and they sound dramatically different. But put them together and it just roll along beautifully.”
This was exactly what a young Davies had been searching for. It made it clear that he could combine his beloved influences while retaining a singular directness. While the song might sound like typical rock ‘n’ roll, there is an open experimentation going on when you dissect it. This enamoured The Kinks, and soon they were randomly slicing amps with razor blades and inadvertently inventing distortion.
But it wasn’t Chuck Berry alone who moved Davies and his mates. Played forward, the revolution kept rolling, and the frontman remained open to inspiration. He found it with the Blondie cover ‘Hanging on the Telephone’, originally by The Nerves. “They made the Parallel Lines in the same studio we were recording Low Budget in at the time,” Davies explains. They became friendly as a result, and Davies was turned onto punk. “It was all around, it was part of a culture that was emerging, coming from CBGBs, which I found very energising and interesting.”
Lastly, what wows him about America is the incredible diversity of culture, and he claims that ‘Cissy Strut’ is the lick that encapsulates the sultry swagger of sweltering New Orleans in the dusky summer months. “It’s not a complicated song, but the groove is incredible,” he explains, “There’s no real tune to it; it’s just a riff, which is fantastic.”
There’s a coolness to it, devoid of any showing off, that also seems to typify the continued appeal of Ray Davies. It’s all about the feel of the music for Davies, and for the songsmith, when it comes to Americana, no tracks have captured that essence finer than the gems below.
Ray Davies’ favourite American songs:‘Cadillac’ – Bo Didley‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ – Chuck Berry‘Cissy Strut’ – The Meters‘Hanging on the Telephone’ – Blondie
