Halcyon Magazine

BY DANIEL HARJU

Mixing rhythm’n'blues with social satire, the Kinks wrote songs that were as quirky as they were brilliant pieces of Marxist commentary. Today, when that unregulated shit of free-market capitalism keeps hitting the fan and more and more people risk loosing all they’ve got, we all need some comforting confirmation of our anxieties. Ey? This might not be a better time for existential reflections than the less turbulent era of yesteryear but this song by Ray Davis can perhaps help us find some solid land to ground our feet on. That Dead End Street the Kinks sung of was located in England, but we all know this place. The video is really great too.

Dead End Street (by Ray Davies)

There’s a crack up in the ceiling, 
And the kitchen sink is leaking. 
Out of work and got no money, 
A Sunday joint of bread and honey. 

What are we living for? 
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor. 
No money coming in, 
The rent collector’s knocking, trying to get in. 

We are strictly second class, 
We don’t understand, 
(Dead end!) 
Why we should be on dead end street. 
(Dead end!) 
People are living on dead end street. 
(Dead end!) 
Gonna die on dead end street. 

Dead end street (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah) 

On a cold and frosty morning, 
Wipe my eyes and stop me yawning. 
And my feet are nearly frozen, 
Boil the tea and put some toast on. 

What are we living for? 
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor. 
No chance to emigrate, 
I’m deep in debt and now it’s much too late. 

We both want to work so hard, 
We can’t get the chance, 
(Dead end!) 
People live on dead end street. 
(Dead end!) 
People are dying on dead end street. 
(Dead end!) 
Gonna die on dead end street. 

Dead end street (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah) 

(Dead end!) 
People live on dead end street. 
(Dead end!) 
People are dying on dead end street. 
(Dead end!) 
Gonna die on dead end street. 

Dead end street (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah) 
Head to my feet (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah) 
How’s it feel? (yeah) 
How’s it feel? (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah) 
Dead end street (yeah)

Tags: Dead End Street, Kinks

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 24th, 2009 at 6:23 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.