This is a song that should have been a bigger hit. Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney were fans of this song. Dave Davies remembered Paul jokingly telling him “You bastards! How dare you! I should have made that record!”
This song is about the loss of Ray’s sister, who lived for a time in Ontario, Canada. Upon her return to England she developed a sickness and died while dancing at a night club. Just before she died she gave Ray his first guitar for his 13th birthday.
He wrote the song while traveling in India years later when he heard about the significance of the Ganges river in the Indian death ritual. Two years later he again used the metaphor of crossing a river in his beautiful song Waterloo Sunset.
The song peaked at #10 on the UK Charts in 1965.
Ray Davies: “A bit more care should have been taken with it. I think (producer) Shel Talmy went too far in trying to keep in the rough edges. Some of the double tracking on that is appalling. It had better songs on it than the first album, but it wasn’t executed in the right way. It was just far too rushed.”
Ray Davies: “It’s more about you’ve lost the female love of your life, therefore you only have your friends left. That little interchange – ‘She is gone’ – is the sound of someone who is completely distraught. It’s more about camaraderie than homosexuality. But then it borders on that. You go out for a pint with the blokes and then it gets to that moment… (whispery laughter) and they’re singing to one another pissed, and they hug one another.”
See My Friends
See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin’ ‘cross the river,
See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin’ ‘cross the river,
She is gone,
She is gone and now there’s no one left
‘cept my friends,
Layin’ ‘cross the river,
She just went,
She just went,
Went across the river.
Now she’s gone,
Now she’s gone,
Wish that I’d gone with her.
She is gone,
She is gone and now there’s no one left
‘cept my friends,
Layin’ ‘cross the river,
She is gone and now there’s no one else to take her place
She is gone and now there’s no one else to love
‘cept my friends,
Layin’ ‘cross the river,
See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin’ ‘cross the river,
See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin’ ‘cross the river,
…
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
I just love the ’60s Kinks – pretty much anything from that period makes me a happy camper. That tune is new to me. Unlike The Beatles, I never explored the Kinks’ albums in greater depth. Altogether, I know a good number of their songs from different albums throughout their career. While I also like tunes they recorded post-’60s, that decade remains my favorite.
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They are one band…even more than the Stones…that I liked every era they had.
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I thought I’d heard everything from the Kinks at least once but I don’t recall this song. It has a lot more meaning when you understand the context. Thanks Max.
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Thanks for reading Randy!
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I read that Ray Davies told his wife Rasa, “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be queer.”
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That would not surprise me with him
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Another pretty good song by them it seems many of us hadn’t heard. What do you think the chances are of a reunion? They’ve been talking of it for 5 years or more.
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I only hope…they were supposed to be working on an album…I hope they still are
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The Davies older sisters were a big influence in their lives. Cool pick Max. Diggin Dave’s boots on the cover.
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They were fashionable correct no doubt. You know CB…. There wasn’t really anyone like them. Hard to compare them because they sounded so original and different.
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There was something down to earth (stealing a line from you) real about their songs and music. They resonated with with me. The Who from that British side had some of that also. Cool thing about music, it hits us and moves us in different ways. The Kinks do that to me in a big way.
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You know…nothing alike sound wise but Springsteen has that quality also with me with his song content. Yes it does move all of us to different places…but places all the same
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Bruce is in the same league with me also. The lyrics move me. I think it’s the personal connection the writer has with the story. It spills over to us.
‘Kung Foo Fighting’ moves me in a different way. If you didnt buy it Max, and I didnt buy it, who the …..
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LOL…my sister that is who! My unreformed sister unlike yours.
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Don’t even mention Kung Fu Fighting to me. 😉
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One more comment Max. Another one of those Kinks songs that just gets better with time for me is ‘Art Lover’. I dedicate that one to you fella. You come up with these gems that just set me off. I’m a music lover.
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Thanks man!
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After reading the info you provided and listening I hear a “sitar influence” to the music and the lyrics makes sense. I have The Best of the Kinks 1964-71 and it’s on there. Great album and still amazes me how many stellar songs they’ve written. Mind-boggling how Ray puts it down as it could have been better or something. Cmon dude, it’s perfect!
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They are an endless supply of good songs. They are hard to compare to anyone because Ray writes songs that are so unique
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It has a wistful feel to it, certainly for a song with sp spare lyrics. It’s all about the mood.
As for ‘Kung Foo Fighting/ Nothing to say but ‘ooh? hah?’
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“Everybody was…” oh the pain
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In some ways it does a better job of putting an Indian melody into a pop song than any of Harrison’s Beatles stuff.
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Especially compared to Norwegian Wood.
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The rolling intro is very Kinks, it was their version of the Chuck Berry riff that starts so many of their songs. It must have been one of the very first pop songs to use a sitar, even before The Beatles.
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Yes it was…and it was made for sitar more than the Beatles song.
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Wow, never know the backstory to this tune Max. Sad really. I wonder if the Waterloo Sunset has anything to do with their sister living in Waterloo Ontario?
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I just checked…it was Waterloo London but I thought you were probably right when you mentioned it.
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Close but no cigar!
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