Waterloo Sunset

File:Waterloo Sunset. - geograph.org.uk - 123522.jpg, taken from the Victoria Embankment in 2001]]

Interviewed in May 1967, Ray Davies stated that he wrote "Waterloo Sunset" having had "the actual melody line in my head for two or three years".{{cite journal |title="I should exploit Dave more..." |journal=The History of Rock: 1967 |date=September 2015 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/History-of-Rock/TheHistoryOfRock1967.pdf |access-date=4 December 2022}} He initially titled the song "Liverpool Sunset", but scrapped the Liverpool theme after the release of the Beatles' song "Penny Lane".{{cite web|title=Ray Davies: Waterloo Sunset was originally Liverpool Sunset|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2010/05/14/ray-davies-waterloo-sunset-was-originally-liverpool-sunset-100252-26442323/|author=Jade Wright|date=13 May 2010|work=liverpoolecho}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/indepth/waterloosunset1.shtml|title=BBC - Radio 2 - Sold On Song - TOP 100 - Number 19 - Waterloo Sunset}}{{refn|group=nb|In a 2010 interview with the Liverpool Echo, Davies elaborated: "Liverpool is my favourite city... ...I was inspired by Merseybeat. I'd fallen in love with Liverpool by that point. On every tour, that was the best reception. We played The Cavern, all those old places, and I couldn't get enough of it. I had a load of mates in bands up there, and that sound – not the Beatles but Merseybeat – that was unbelievable. It used to inspire me every time. So I wrote "Liverpool Sunset". Later it got changed to "Waterloo Sunset", but there's still that play on words with Waterloo. London was home, I'd grown up there, but I like to think I could be an adopted Scouser. My heart is definitely there."}}

The lyrics describe a solitary narrator watching (or imagining) two lovers passing over a bridge, with the observer reflecting on the couple, the Thames, and Waterloo station.{{cite web|title=Waterloo Sunset|publisher=Allmusic|url={{AllMusic|class=song|id=t5593941|pure_url=yes}}|last=Maginnis|first=Tom|access-date=27 November 2009}} Speaking in 2010, Davies commented "I didn't think to make it about Waterloo, initially, but I realised the place was so very significant in my life. I was in St Thomas' Hospital when I was really ill [when he had a tracheotomy aged 13] and the nurses would wheel me out on the balcony to look at the river. It was also about being taken down to the 1951 Festival of Britain. It's about the two characters – and the aspirations of my sisters' generation who grew up during the Second World War. It's about the world I wanted them to have. That, and then walking by the Thames with my first wife and all the dreams that we had."{{cite web |title=Ray Davies – How a lonely Londoner created one of the great Sixties |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/ray-davies--how-a-lonely-londoner-created-one-of-the-great-sixties-songs-2343826.html |date=23 October 2011|work=The Independent}} The two lovers in the lyric are named as Terry and Julie.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/02/03/sv_juliechristie.xml&page=2|title=Julie Christie: Still Our Darling|work=The Sunday Telegraph|date=3 February 2008|access-date=27 November 2009 |location=London |first=David |last=Jenkins}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Interviewed in May 1967, Davies stated in 1967 that "if you look at the song as a kind of film, I suppose Terry would be Terence Stamp and Julie would be Julie Christie", referring to the popular British film actors romantically linked at the time.Rogan, Johnny (1998). p. 18{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/profiles/people/Biography/29040/Julie+Christie.html?dataSet=1 |title=Variety biography of Julie Christie |access-date=27 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422201702/http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/Biography/29040/Julie+Christie.html?dataSet=1 |archive-date=22 April 2009}} Latterly, Davies has refuted this connection; in 2008, he described the song as "a fantasy about my sister going off with her boyfriend to a new world", referring to Rosy Davies, who moved to Australia in 1964.{{cite web |url=http://www.spinner.com/2008/03/27/the-kinks-ray-davies-serves-up-songs-at-the-working-mans-cafe/ |title=The Kinks' Ray Davies Serves Up Songs at the 'Working Man's Cafe' |author=Baltin, Steve |date=27 March 2008 |publisher=Spinner |access-date=8 December 2009}}{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-kinks-well-respected-man-545632.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422205942/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-kinks-well-respected-man-545632.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 April 2009|title=The Kinks: Well respected man|work=The Independent|date=10 September 2004|access-date=27 November 2009 |location=London}}

The song was the first Kinks recording produced solely by Ray Davies, without longtime producer Shel Talmy; Talmy's contract with the band had expired in spring 1967.{{cite book |last=Kitts |first=Thomas M. |title=Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else |date=2008 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781135867959 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RICQAgAAQBAJ |access-date=4 December 2022}} Despite its complex arrangement, the sessions for "Waterloo Sunset" lasted ten hours;Kitts, Thomas (2007). pp. 86–87 Dave Davies later commented on the recording: "We spent a lot of time trying to get a different guitar sound, to get a more unique feel for the record. In the end we used a tape-delay echo, but it sounded new because nobody had done it since the 1950s. I remember Steve Marriott of the Small Faces came up and asked me how we'd got that sound. We were almost trendy for a while."Savage, Jon (1984). p. 87.

The B-side "Act Nice and Gentle" was exclusive to this single, and has been described as a plea for "some civility".{{cite book|last=Hasted|first=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDv_AgAAQBAJ&q=Act+Nice+and+Gentle+The+Kinks&pg=PT127|title=You Really Got Me: The Story of The Kinks|date=2017-10-01|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-0-85712-991-8}} It has a "country-western influence" that foreshadowed Muswell Hillbillies, and later appeared on album as a bonus track with the 1998 reissue of Something Else by the Kinks.{{cite book|last=Fleiner|first=Carey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CIKHDQAAQBAJ&q=Act+Nice+and+Gentle+The+Kinks&pg=PA32|title=The Kinks: A Thoroughly English Phenomenon|date=2017-03-01|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-3542-7}}

File:Waterloo station main entrance.JPG, London]]

In Britain, the song is commonly considered to be Davies' most famous work, and it has been "regarded by many as the apogee of the swinging sixties".{{cite news |last=Laing |first=Allan |date=22 February 2001 |title=Waterloo sunset not so fine, says Davies |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23833806.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911125121/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23833806.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 September 2016 |newspaper=The Herald |location=Glasgow |access-date=24 June 2016 }} Highly esteemed for its musical and lyrical qualities, the song is commonly the subject of study in university arts courses. Davies largely dismisses such praise and has even suggested that he would like to go back and alter some of the lyrics; most professionals, however, generally side with the observation of Ken Garner, a lecturer at Caledonian University in Glasgow, who said: "Davies, like all the best singer-songwriters, is intensely self-critical."

Pop music journalist Robert Christgau has called the song "the most beautiful song in the English language".{{cite web |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=the+kinks|title= Robert Christgau, Consumer Guide: The Kinks|website=Robertchristgau.com}} Pete Townshend of the Who has called it "divine" and "a masterpiece".{{YouTube|-u3U2I84sGA|The Kinks - UK Music Hall of Fame 2005}} In 1972, Record World said that it "may be the best thing [the Kinks have] ever done."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=May 20, 1972|accessdate=2023-04-01|title=Single Picks|page=10|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/72/RW-1972-05-20.pdf}} Damon Albarn was similarly effusive, naming it the one song he wished he had written, and commenting that "It's the most perfect song I could ever hope to write, with my sort of voice."{{cite web |date=2023-03-21 |title=Blur's Damon Albarn wishes he wrote 'Waterloo Sunset |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-song-damon-albarn-wishes-he-wrote-its-the-most-perfect-song/ |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}} AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine concurred, citing it as "possibly the most beautiful song of the rock and roll era".{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|title=To the Bone - The Kinks {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/to-the-bone-mw0000071485|publisher=AllMusic}} In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 42 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time",{{cite magazine|date=11 December 2003|title=500 Greatest Songs of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-151127/the-kinks-waterloo-sunset-69046/|access-date=3 April 2021|magazine=Rolling Stone}} and was re-ranked at number 14 on the 2021 list.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/the-kinks-waterloo-sunset-2-1225324/|title=Waterloo Sunset ranked #14 on Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs List|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=15 September 2021 |access-date=16 September 2021}} Ray Davies performed "Waterloo Sunset" at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.{{cite news |last=Moreton |first=Cole |date=22 July 2016 |title=London 2012 Olympics: The perfect stage for Ray Davies's Waterloo Sunset |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9417179/London-2012-Olympics-The-perfect-stage-for-Ray-Daviess-Waterloo-Sunset.html |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=London |access-date=25 June 2016}} A subsequent reissue of the Kinks' original single entered the UK charts at #47.{{cite web |url=http://kluv.cbslocal.com/2012/08/22/the-olympic-effect-the-kinks-john-lennon-more-re-enter-uk-charts/ |title=The Olympic Effect: The Kinks, John Lennon & More Re-enter UK Charts |author=Mapes, Jillian |date=22 August 2012 |publisher=KLUV |website=Kluv.cbslocal.com/ |access-date=25 June 2016}}

According to band researcher Doug Hinman:{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=99}}

The Kinks

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

Additional musician

• Rasa Davies{{snd}} backing vocal

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Kinks|title=Waterloo Sunset|award=Platinum|relyear=2004|certyear=2024|id=14906-1446-1|access-date=9 October 2024}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|noshipments=true|streaming=true|nosales=true}}

• In the 1979 Barrie Keeffe Play for Today, "Waterloo Sunset", directed by Richard Eyre, the song is performed at the piano by Queenie Watts at the start of the play.
• In Bob Geldof's 1986 first solo album, Deep In the Heart of Nowhere, his song Love Like a Rocket is a cynical updating of the couple in the song. It begins "Terry still meets Julie every Friday night down Waterloo underground" but then describes how their relationship has deteriorated over time.
• In her 2000 novel, White Teeth, Zadie Smith references a central character fantasising herself "demanding 'Waterloo Sunset' be played at [her boyfriend's] funeral."{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZFlmid0HOYC&pg=PA30 |title=White Teeth - Zadie Smith - Google Books |via=Google Books|date=20 May 2003 |isbn=9781400075508 |access-date=13 June 2014|last1=Smith |first1=Zadie |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing }}
• In the 2018 film Love, Simon, the film's protagonist Simon chooses his username (frommywindow1) from lines of the song as he listens to the record.
• In the 2018 film Juliet, Naked, singer/songwriter Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke) plays the song and says he wishes he had written it.
• Okkervil River's 2018 album In the Rainbow Rain contains the song "Famous Tracheotomies," which tells the tales of several celebrities' brushes with tracheotomies, and ends with the story of Ray Davies's writing "Waterloo Sunset" (and references the song's melody.)
• In the second season of the Netflix show Green Eggs and Ham, the song is heard twice—in one episode as background music and in another episode with one of the characters, Looka, singing part of it.
• Plays during the closing credits of the movie BlackBerry.

{{Infobox song

| name = Waterloo Sunset

| cover = Cathy WS single.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Cathy Dennis

| album = Am I the Kinda Girl?

| B-side = Consolidation

| released = 1997

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

| length = 3:41

| label = Polydor

| writer = Ray Davies

| producer =

• Cathy Dennis
• Mark Saunders

| prev_title = West End Pad

| prev_year = 1996

| next_title = When Dreams Turn to Dust

| next_year = 1997

}}

British singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis recorded a version of the song that was released as the second single from her 1997 album, Am I the Kinda Girl?. Her version peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and number seven in Iceland. Both versions of the CD single feature a cover of another Kinks song: "Sunny Afternoon".

British magazine Music Week rated Dennis' version three out of five. The reviewer wrote, "The approval of Ray Davies — who appears in the video — will help the cause of this cover which captures the atmosphere and laziness of The Kinks' original. This could be the hit to kick off the album Am I The Kinda Girl?."{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1996/Music-Week-1996-10-05.pdf|first=|last=|title=Reviews: Singles|magazine=Music Week|date=5 October 1996|page=12|accessdate=6 September 2021}} In a 1997 review, the magazine gave it two out of five, adding, "Ray Davies's song is given an unremarkable treatment by the former dance chanteuse, but television exposure should help this reach the Top 40."{{cite magazine|first=|last=|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1997/Music-Week-1997-02-01.pdf|title=Reviews: Singles|magazine=Music Week|date=1 February 1997|page=27|accessdate=8 May 2022}}

The accompanying music video for "Waterloo Sunset" consists of Dennis singing the song whilst travelling alone in a taxi driven by Ray Davies in a cameo role. The scenes visible outside the taxi windows vary between the London of the 1990s and footage of various locations (e.g. driving up Piccadilly with Green Park tube station on the left, Knightsbridge tube station and the small domeon the corner of City Road and Tabernacle Street; as of 2020 this listed building is the Travelodge London Central City Road north of Finsbury Square) as they were in the 1960s.

• UK CD1{{cite AV media notes|title=Waterloo Sunset|others=Cathy Dennis|year=1997|type=UK CD1 liner notes|publisher=Polydor Records|id=575 961 2}}

1. "Waterloo Sunset"
2. "Consolation"
3. "Sunny Afternoon"
4. "I Just Love You"

• UK CD2{{cite AV media notes|title=Waterloo Sunset|others=Cathy Dennis|year=1997|type=UK CD2 liner notes|publisher=Polydor Records|id=575 963-2}}

1. "Waterloo Sunset"
2. "Consolation"
3. "Sunny Afternoon"
4. "West End Pad" (Alternative Supple 7-inch) – 3:41

• UK cassette single{{cite AV media notes|title=Waterloo Sunset|others=Cathy Dennis|year=1997|type=UK cassette single sleeve liner notes|publisher=Polydor Records|id=5759604}}

1. "Waterloo Sunset"
2. "Consolation"

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

The song has been recorded by many other artists, including the Jam,{{cite web | url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/waterloo-sunset-mt0039738874 | title=Waterloo Sunset by the Jam - Track Info | AllMusic | website=AllMusic }} Def Leppard,{{cite web | url=https://www.defleppard.com/song/waterloo-sunset/ | title=Waterloo Sunset | date=15 October 2015 }} Elliott Smith and David Bowie.{{cite web | url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/5-best-covers-of-the-kinks-waterloo-sunset/ | title=The 5 best covers of the Kinks' 'Waterloo Sunset' - Far Out Magazine | date=5 May 2021 }}

{{reflist|group=nb}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1=Andy |title='Village greens and terraced streets': Britpop and representations of 'Britishness' |journal=YOUNG |date=December 1997 |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=20–33 |doi=10.1177/110330889700500402 |s2cid=142998506 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/110330889700500402 |language=en |issn=1103-3088}}
• {{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=John |author1-link=John Harris (critic) |title=The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock |date=2003 |publisher=Fourth Estate |location=London |isbn=0-00-713472-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mI0wAQAAIAAJ |via=Google Books}}
• {{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 |editor1-last=Luhrssen |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Larson |editor2-first=Michael |title=Encyclopedia of Classic Rock |date=2017 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-1-4408-3514-8 |pages=195–197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phsIDgAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Kinks}}
• {{cite book |last1=Matijas-Mecca |first1=Christian |title=Listen to Psychedelic Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre |date=2020 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-1-4408-6198-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knTtDwAAQBAJ |language=en |via=Google Books}}
• {{cite book |last=Pegg |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Pegg |title=The Complete David Bowie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqFkDQAAQBAJ |publisher=Titan Books |location=London |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-78565-365-0 |edition=Revised and Updated }}

{{refend}}

{{The Kinks}}

{{The Kinks singles}}

{{Cathy Dennis}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:The Kinks songs

Category:1967 singles

Category:Dutch Top 40 number-one singles

Category:Song recordings produced by Shel Talmy

Category:1997 singles

Category:Cathy Dennis songs

Category:Songs about London

Category:Songs about loneliness

Category:Songs written by Ray Davies

Category:Culture associated with the River Thames

Category:Song recordings produced by Ray Davies

Category:Pye Records singles

Category:Psychedelic pop songs

Category:1967 songs

Category:Reprise Records singles

Category:Polydor Records singles

Category:Song recordings produced by Mark Saunders

Category:Pop ballads

Category:1960s ballads

Category:UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles