Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hey,North Idaho.
You're absolutely right brother.
Before he died my grandfather had nearly annual meet-ups with American chums he met fighting the Nazis during WW2.
Between them they lost plenty of comrades in the mud of Northern France and Germany.
Boy did they chew the fat over some liquid lunches and late nights.
He had immense respect for his American pals and he never forgot that without their intervention Europe would have been lost to Hitler.
We're wasting our time trying to educate keyboard warriors.
Right on.
My distant, distant ancestors came to what is now the US from what is now the UK - in the 1600s (and a few in the early 1700s) - that's a LONG time ago and yet even now, there is that "bond of brotherhood."
Get this - I have a couple of French and German ancestors, but even THEY had already moved to England and embraced an English mindset (not to mention the country) decades before they moved to the "New World."
What is even crazier is that when I visited Yorkshire a few years ago (much of my family is from Northern England and Scotland), the food, the people, EVERYTHING felt so familiar - it all reminded me of my grandmother so much. I kept thinking, "Wow, Grandmother would absolutely love it here. THESE ARE HER PEOPLE!"
Get this - I have a couple of French and German ancestors, but even THEY had already moved to England and embraced an English mindset (not to mention the country) decades before they moved to the "New World."
Are you sure its not Spanish? You share the same name as the first wife of Henry VIII.
Cue "Shrangri La" by the Kinks, the most English of English bands.
Come on Dave English, sing it with me!
Now that you've found your paradise
This is your kingdom to command
You can go outside and polish your car
Or sit by the fire in your Shangri-la
Here's your reward for working so hard
Gone on the lavatories in the back yard
Gone all the days when you dreamed of that car
You just want to sit in your shangri-la
Put on your slippers and sit by the fire
You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher
You're in your place and you know where you are
In your Shangri-la
Sit back in your old rocking chair
You need not worry, you need not care
You can't go anywhere
Shangri-la
Shangri-la
Shangri-la
The little man who gets the train
Has got a mortgage hanging over his head
But he's too scared to complain
'Cause he's conditioned that way
Time goes by and he pays off his debts
Got a T.V set and a radio
For seven Shillings a week
Shangri-la
Shangri-la
Shangri-la
Shangri-la
Shangri-la
Shangri-la
And Mr Davies was not singing about America Mr. English Dave.
You know Moth, I have never heard that song before. Very interesting lyrics. I read it was released in 1969, on an album. I didn't appreciate the Kinks back then........ I was into The Beatles, and general top 20 music. I do remember 'Lola' was a massive hit around that same time. Now, that record I knew!!
I was very aware of the little man catching the train. While I was in the army, me and my girlfriend Rosie would walk past Gillingham railway station on the way to go see a movie. It would be about 7pm, and I saw those little men coming out of the station, after riding the train from London at the end of their working day. The train ride was about an hour, so I guessed they had finished work about 5pm, and made their way to Waterloo Station, or Charing Cross, waited for the train, and then were crushed into packed carriages trying to get home. I swore I would never be a little man catching that train home, and I never was...... This was about in 1971.
I got out and about in those days, and had girlfriends from various social backgrounds. I had a girlfriend who lived in Mile End in a London council flat with her parents, and I also had a girlfriend who lived with her parents in a big detached house in Bognor Regis. Two very different worlds. Plus steady girl Rosie in Chatham. The girl I eventually married, came from Tonbridge Wells. The English here will know this is a posh town, or at least it was back then. No idea what it's like nowadays....... we got divorced......
So, I realised the world I had known until I joined the army, was very different to the world I discovered down in the south of England. London was an eyeopener. You could sniff the air, and smell the money. I had never seen rich people before. I saw them at the theatre, and coming out of fancy restaurants. Big cars waiting to pick them up. I knew then that my life as a boy in Oldham, a northern mill town, was very different to the life lived by many, in especially the south of England. The same is true today.
But,the change in lifestyle, even in the north of England was dramatic from one generation to the next. My dad was the youngest surviving son of my grandmother. He was born smack in the middle of the 1930s depression. Kids around him suffering from rickets because of malnutrition. Himself walking along the railway line looking for pieces of coal fallen from steam trains, to put in his sack, and take home for the fire in the living room. A toilet out back, and a tin bath hanging on a backdoor nail.
From that, he got married, and eventually a new council house with an indoor bathroom, on a new estate built on the outskirts of Oldham in 1952. I grew up knowing none of the hardships he had known, not just in the depression, but the war that followed it in 1939. His older brother a prisoner of the Germans, caught at Dunkirk. He was only 21 years older than me, but our life experience was totally different.
I grew up with my own bedroom, unconcerned with anything he had experienced. My dad went to work every day, and everybody I knew dad's did the same. It seemed the only way was up.The optimism was massive. When my dad was 24, he was grateful to have a modern council house, and a job. Two healthy children without any of what he had to endure growing up. I had all the time to watch the telly, and see American movies.
I watched The Graduate. Wow, look at that house and swimming pool. Look at Benjamin's red sports car. Look at that typical American girlfriend. Katherine Ross was a honey....... I used to read National Geographic magazine......... look at those ads for colour televisions!! I told my dad, "Americans have colour telly's dad!!" He smiled, and said, "America is a great place. Make sure you go see it one day David." So I did...... I felt right at home. Everything was so familiar. Times Square, yellow school buses, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. Hadn't I seen it in the Godfather Part 2?
I got to Las Vegas, outside the Four Queen's casino. I said to my wife, "this is where Sean Connery drove his car in Diamonds are Forever........" All so familiar, and so fabulous. Plus like I said, I never fell into the trap of living to work, just working to live. I have no regrets.
You know Moth, I have never heard that song before. Very interesting lyrics. I read it was released in 1969, on an album. I didn't appreciate the Kinks back then........ I was into The Beatles, and general top 20 music. I do remember 'Lola' was a massive hit around that same time. Now, that record I knew!!
I was very aware of the little man catching the train. While I was in the army, me and my girlfriend Rosie would walk past Gillingham railway station on the way to go see a movie. It would be about 7pm, and I saw those little men coming out of the station, after riding the train from London at the end of their working day. The train ride was about an hour, so I guessed they had finished work about 5pm, and made their way to Waterloo Station, or Charing Cross, waited for the train, and then were crushed into packed carriages trying to get home. I swore I would never be a little man catching that train home, and I never was...... This was about in 1971.
I got out and about in those days, and had girlfriends from various social backgrounds. I had a girlfriend who lived in Mile End in a London council flat with her parents, and I also had a girlfriend who lived with her parents in a big detached house in Bognor Regis. Two very different worlds. Plus steady girl Rosie in Chatham. The girl I eventually married, came from Tonbridge Wells. The English here will know this is a posh town, or at least it was back then. No idea what it's like nowadays....... we got divorced......
So, I realised the world I had known until I joined the army, was very different to the world I discovered down in the south of England. London was an eyeopener. You could sniff the air, and smell the money. I had never seen rich people before. I saw them at the theatre, and coming out of fancy restaurants. Big cars waiting to pick them up. I knew then that my life as a boy in Oldham, a northern mill town, was very different to the life lived by many, in especially the south of England. The same is true today.
But,the change in lifestyle, even in the north of England was dramatic from one generation to the next. My dad was the youngest surviving son of my grandmother. He was born smack in the middle of the 1930s depression. Kids around him suffering from rickets because of malnutrition. Himself walking along the railway line looking for pieces of coal fallen from steam trains, to put in his sack, and take home for the fire in the living room. A toilet out back, and a tin bath hanging on a backdoor nail.
From that, he got married, and eventually a new council house with an indoor bathroom, on a new estate built on the outskirts of Oldham in 1952. I grew up knowing none of the hardships he had known, not just in the depression, but the war that followed it in 1939. His older brother a prisoner of the Germans, caught at Dunkirk. He was only 21 years older than me, but our life experience was totally different.
I grew up with my own bedroom, unconcerned with anything he had experienced. My dad went to work every day, and everybody I knew dad's did the same. It seemed the only way was up.The optimism was massive. When my dad was 24, he was grateful to have a modern council house, and a job. Two healthy children without any of what he had to endure growing up. I had all the time to watch the telly, and see American movies.
I watched The Graduate. Wow, look at that house and swimming pool. Look at Benjamin's red sports car. Look at that typical American girlfriend. Katherine Ross was a honey....... I used to read National Geographic magazine......... look at those ads for colour televisions!! I told my dad, "Americans have colour telly's dad!!" He smiled, and said, "America is a great place. Make sure you go see it one day David." So I did...... I felt right at home. Everything was so familiar. Times Square, yellow school buses, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. Hadn't I seen it in the Godfather Part 2?
I got to Las Vegas, outside the Four Queen's casino. I said to my wife, "this is where Sean Connery drove his car in Diamonds are Forever........" All so familiar, and so fabulous. Plus like I said, I never fell into the trap of living to work, just working to live. I have no regrets.
Sing it man! He is talking about you. He is one of you.
It is from the album, "Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)" Fantastic record. Very witty observations of English life and culture. That and Village Green Preservation Society are great observations of the English soul.
Lola? Great tune, but with current .... sensibilities I reckon it will be banned on both sides of the Pond before too long.
Sing it man! He is talking about you. He is one of you.
It is from the album, "Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)" Fantastic record. Very witty observations of English life and culture. That and Village Green Preservation Society are great observations of the English soul.
Lola? Great tune, but with current .... sensibilities I reckon it will be banned on both sides of the Pond before too long.
The Kinks were a very working class London band. Like you say, really interesting lyrics in their records. Lola is a fine example of their work.
I was aware of them, but there was so much great music at that time. I got distracted by David Bowie..... One of my girlfriend's took me along to see him at the Hammersmith Odeon in the early 70s. He was a great 'live' performer. The Kinks just seemed to fade away in the 70s, and I forgot about them.
I had wide musical tastes. Well my girlfriends did. One dragged me to see Marlene Dietrich sing in a West End theatre. May have been the posh bird from Bognor Regis........I should have stuck with her longer than I did. Her dad was something in the city.......
The Kinks were a very working class London band. Like you say, really interesting lyrics in their records. Lola is a fine example of their work.
I was aware of them, but there was so much great music at that time. I got distracted by David Bowie..... One of my girlfriend's took me along to see him at the Hammersmith Odeon in the early 70s. He was a great 'live' performer. The Kinks just seemed to fade away in the 70s, and I forgot about them.
I had wide musical tastes. Well my girlfriends did. One dragged me to see Marlene Dietrich sing in a West End theatre. May have been the posh bird from Bognor Regis........I should have stuck with her longer than I did. Her dad was something in the city.......
Opportunities are available in all walks of life in Australia
So if you're young and if you're healthy
Why not get a boat and come to Australia
Australia, the chance of a lifetime
Australia, you get what you work for
Nobody has to be any better than what they want to be
Australia, no class distinction
Australia, no drug addiction
Nobody's got a chip on their shoulder
We'll surf like they do in the U.S.A.
We'll fly down to Sydney for our holiday
On sunny Christmas Day
Australia, Australia
No one hesitates at life or beats around the bush in Australia
So if you're young and if you're healthy
Why not get a boat and come to Australia
Australia sha-la-la-la sha-la-la-la
Australia sha-la-la-la…
The Kinks were a very working class London band. Like you say, really interesting lyrics in their records. Lola is a fine example of their work.
I was aware of them, but there was so much great music at that time. I got distracted by David Bowie..... One of my girlfriend's took me along to see him at the Hammersmith Odeon in the early 70s. He was a great 'live' performer. The Kinks just seemed to fade away in the 70s, and I forgot about them.
I had wide musical tastes. Well my girlfriends did. One dragged me to see Marlene Dietrich sing in a West End theatre. May have been the posh bird from Bognor Regis........I should have stuck with her longer than I did. Her dad was something in the city.......
Hey might as well make use of this thread for some useful discussion (the entire thread of course will probably be deleted once the mods find out OP is a banned user returnee):
KINKS ROCK! I saw them in concert circa early 80s when they had a semi-comeback. Molly Hatchet (that old southern rock band) was the warmup band, as much as a mismatch as can be. Anyways I still have "Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround" in LP form. No one appreaciates how diverse they are, very satirical, many of the albums conceptual in nature. It still irks me when people think "You Really Got Me" is a Van Halen song.
Hey might as well make use of this thread for some useful discussion (the entire thread of course will probably be deleted once the mods find out OP is a banned user returnee):
KINKS ROCK! I saw them in concert circa early 80s when they had a semi-comeback. Molly Hatchet (that old southern rock band) was the warmup band, as much as a mismatch as can be. Anyways I still have "Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround" in LP form. No one appreaciates how diverse they are, very satirical, many of the albums conceptual in nature. It still irks me when people think "You Really Got Me" is a Van Halen song.
I'm kinda thinking that if they haven't discovered that by 9 pages and ninety posts; they aren't likely to bother about it even if they do.
Opportunities are available in all walks of life in Australia
So if you're young and if you're healthy
Why not get a boat and come to Australia
Australia, the chance of a lifetime
Australia, you get what you work for
Nobody has to be any better than what they want to be
Australia, no class distinction
Australia, no drug addiction
Nobody's got a chip on their shoulder
We'll surf like they do in the U.S.A.
We'll fly down to Sydney for our holiday
On sunny Christmas Day
Australia, Australia
No one hesitates at life or beats around the bush in Australia
So if you're young and if you're healthy
Why not get a boat and come to Australia
Australia sha-la-la-la sha-la-la-la
Australia sha-la-la-la…
Another Kinks song I don't know....... My best friend emigrated to Australia in the late 60s, with his mother. Best move they ever made. It was the dream of many a '£10 Pom'......
Although, from what I read, it isn't the paradise it once was.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
One of my girlfriend's took me along to see him at the Hammersmith Odeon in the early 70s. He was a great 'live' performer. The Kinks just seemed to fade away in the 70s, and I forgot about them.
I should have stuck with her longer than I did. Her dad was something in the city.......
My best friend emigrated to Australia in the late 60s, with his mother. Best move they ever made. It was the dream of many a '£10 Pom'......
