Polly (The Kinks song)

Ray Davies composed "Polly" in reference to the character Polly Garter from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas's 1954 radio drama Under Milk Wood.{{harvnb|Miller|2003|p=112}}; {{harvnb|Rogan|1998|p=20}}; {{harvnb|Hinman|2004|p=111}}. Ray briefly planned to write a suite of songs inspired by Thomas's drama,{{sfn|Rogan|1998|p=20}} but the idea instead evolved into the Kinks' 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.{{sfn|Kitts|2002|p=134}} Later commentators write that the Polly in Ray's song bears little resemblance to Thomas's character beyond having the same name.{{harvnb|Rogan|2015|p=677}}; {{harvnb|Miller|2003|p=112}} In Thomas's drama, Polly Garter is a promiscuous unmarried woman who cares for her many illegitimate children,{{sfn|Kitts|2008|p=116}} while in Ray's song, she is a party girl.{{sfn|Hasted|2011|p=128}}

{{quote box|quote= I knew a girl who was like that. She ran [the Kinks'] first fan club. She died of junk.{{sfn|Miller|2003|pp=111–112}} |source=– Ray Davies on "Polly", 1984 |width=20%|align=left|salign=right|style=padding:8px;}}

Band biographer Andy Miller suggests Ray instead drew his idea for the character from the woman who ran the Kinks' fan club before she died of a heroin overdose. In addition, he writes that the name parallels Pretty Polly, an English brand of women's stockings.{{sfn|Miller|2003|p=112}}{{efn|Miller thinks the name may have been a subtle joke, because "[i]f Polly's are the legs on the advertising hoardings, it explains why{{nbsp}}... she is such a hit with the fellas".{{sfn|Miller|2003|p=112}}}} Author Nick Hasted connects "Polly" to the woman addressed in Ray's song "Starstruck",{{sfn|Hasted|2011|p=128}} while author Thomas M. Kitts writes the song is one of several by Ray about "crushed female innocence", including "Little Miss Queen of Darkness" (1966), "Big Black Smoke" (1966) and "Monica" (1968).{{sfn|Kitts|2008|p=116}} Author Patricia Gordon Sullivan characterises the song as another of Ray's written in the tradition of music hall.{{sfn|Sullivan|2002|p=99}}

{{clear|left}}

The Kinks likely recorded "Polly" in March{{nbsp}}1968 during the sessions for The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=111}}{{efn|In Doug Hinman and Jason Brabazon's 1994 self-published Kinks discography, they date the recording to late{{nbsp}}1967 or early{{nbsp}}1968.{{harvnb|Hinman|Brabazon|1994}}, quoted in {{harvnb|Miller|2003|pp=111, 146}}. Later authors like Miller (2003) cite Hinman & Brabazon's book to provide the same dating.{{sfn|Miller|2003|pp=111, 146}} In his 2004 book, Hinman updated his dating to "probably" March{{nbsp}}1968.{{sfn|Hinman|2004|pp=111, 112}}}} Recording took place in Pye Studio 2,{{sfn|Hinman|2004|pp=111, 121}} one of two basement studios at Pye Records' London offices.{{sfn|Miller|2003|pp=21, 76–77}} Ray is credited as the song's producer.{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=121}} The four-track mixing console was operated by one of Pye's in-house engineers,{{sfn|Miller|2003|p=21}} either Alan MacKenzie or Brian Humphires.{{sfn|Hinman|2004|pp=111, 112}} Supplementing the Kinks' regular line-up was Ray's wife Rasa Davies, who contributed backing vocals, and the band's regular session keyboard Nicky Hopkins, who played piano.{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=112}} "Polly" is one of a few songs recorded during the Village Green sessions to possibly feature a real string section,{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=112}} a rarity on the Kinks' late 1960s{{nbsp}}recordings since Pye executives saw the hiring of an arranger and string players as too expensive to warrant.{{sfn|Miller|2003|p=79n22}} English composer David Whitaker likely arranged the strings.{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=112}}

In the last week of March{{nbsp}}1968, Ray selected "Polly" to be the B-side of the Kinks' next single, "Wonderboy". Pye rush released the single in the UK on {{nowrap|5 April 1968}}. A reviewer in Record Mirror magazine wrote that in contrast to its A-side, "Polly" is "more rhythmic, maybe with moments of crashingness", and helped provide the single with value-for-money.{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=112}} Reprise Records issued the single in the US on 15 or {{nowrap|22 May 1968}}.{{sfn|Hinman|2004|pp=112, 114}} Both sides of the single failed to chart in either the US or UK. In the UK, it sold around 26,000 copies, roughly one-tenth of the Kinks' singles from the previous year, "Waterloo Sunset" and "Autumn Almanac".{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=112}}

Though Ray did not include "Polly" on Village Green, when the Kinks' US recording contract required them to submit a new album to Reprise in June{{nbsp}}1968,{{sfn|Hinman|2004|pp=115, 116}} it was among the fifteen tracks he sent to the label.{{sfn|Miller|2003|p=31n4}} The song featured on the label's test pressings of the album, planned for a late{{nbsp}}1968 release in the US as Four More Respected Gentlemen, though the project was ultimately abandoned.{{harvnb|Hinman|2004|p=116}}; {{harvnb|Miller|2003|p=31n4}}. It has since been included on compilation albums like The Kink Kronikles (1972) and Kollectables (1984) and as a bonus track on CD reissues of Something Else by the Kinks (1998) and Village Green (2004).{{harvnb|Jovanovic|2013|pp=311, 319}}; {{harvnb|Marten|Hudson|2007|pp=193, 275}}.

According to band researcher Doug Hinman:{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=112}}

The Kinks

• Ray Davies{{snd}} lead vocal, guitar
• Dave Davies{{snd}} backing vocal, electric guitar
• Pete Quaife{{snd}} backing vocal, bass
• Mick Avory{{snd}} drums

Additional musicians

• Rasa Davies{{snd}} backing vocal
• Nicky Hopkins{{snd}}piano
• David Whitaker{{snd}} string arrangement
• Unidentified session musicians{{snd}} string section

{{Notelist|40em}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin|indent=yes|35em}}

• {{cite book |last1=Hasted |first1=Nick |title=The Story of the Kinks: You Really Got Me |date=2011 |publisher=Omnibus Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-84938-660-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofkinksyour0000hast |url-access=registration }}
• {{cite book |last1=Hinman |first1=Doug |last2=Brabazon |first2=Jason |title=You Really Got Me: An Illustrated World Discography of the Kinks, 1964–1993 |date=1994 |publisher=Doug Hinman |location=Rumford, Rhode Island |isbn=978-0-9641005-1-0}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hinman |first1=Doug |title=The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night: Day by Day Concerts, Recordings, and Broadcasts, 1961–1996 |date=2004 |publisher=Backbeat Books |location=San Francisco, California |isbn=978-0-87930-765-3}}
• {{cite book |last1=Jovanovic |first1=Rob |author1-link=Rob Jovanovic |title=God Save the Kinks: A Biography |date=2013 |publisher=Aurum Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-84513-671-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/godsavekinksbiog0000jova |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Kitts |first=Thomas M. |editor1-last=Kitts |editor1-first=Thomas M. |title=Living on a Thin Line: Crossing Aesthetic Borders with The Kinks |date=2002 |publisher=Desolation Angel Books |location=Rumford, Rhode Island |isbn=0-9641005-4-1 |pages=131–142 |chapter='...{{nbsp}}in the grand [and not so grand] tradition': Film, Theatre, and the Triumph of 20th Century Man}}
• {{cite book |last1=Kitts |first1=Thomas M. |title=Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-415-97768-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/raydaviesnotlike0000kitt/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last1=Marten |first1=Neville |last2=Hudson |first2=Jeff |title=The Kinks: A Very English Band |date=2007 |publisher=Bobcat Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-8256-7351-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/kinksveryenglish0000mart/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Andy |author1-link=Andy Miller (writer) |title=The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society |date=2003 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |series=33⅓ series |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-8264-1498-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1yfUAwAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book |last1=Rogan |first1=Johnny |author1-link=Johnny Rogan |title=The Complete Guide to the Music of the Kinks |date=1998 |publisher=Omnibus Press |location=London |isbn=978-0-7119-6314-6}}
• {{cite book |last1=Rogan |first1=Johnny |title=Ray Davies: A Complicated Life |date=2015 |publisher=The Bodley Head |location=London |isbn=978-1-84792-317-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/raydaviescomplic0000roga |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Patricia Gordon |editor1-last=Kitts |editor1-first=Thomas M. |title=Living on a Thin Line: Crossing Aesthetic Borders with The Kinks |date=2002 |publisher=Desolation Angel Books |location=Rumford, Rhode Island |isbn=0-9641005-4-1 |pages=80–99 |chapter='Let's Have a Go at It': The British Musical Hall and The Kinks}}

{{Refend}}

• {{Discogs master|type=single|326166|name=Wonderboy" / "Polly}}

{{The Kinks singles}}

{{The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society|state=autoexpand}}

Category:1968 songs

Category:The Kinks songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Ray Davies

Category:Songs written by Ray Davies