Kinks Weeks – Kinky, Romantic, & Purple? …mojohorizon.home.blog

I’ve been visiting Cork’s site for years and it’s one of my favorite blogs to visit. I’ve read posts about Eric Clapton, Sasquatch, Frozen Pizza, Iron Maiden, movies, blues songs, and many more. Take a visit to his site at https://mojohorizon.home.blog/ it’s totally worth it. 

Made you look! This isn’t an exploration of the erotic — sorry, if you’re disappointed. It’s a comparison of recordings. The song is called “She’s Got Everything”. It’s a pretty generic title, but it’s definitely in the hidden gem category. I came to know The Romantics’ version of this song when I was a college student. (You might be more familiar with “What I Like About You” which precedes it on their self-titled release.) Both songs are in the world of three-chord-or-so garage rock. I used to hear the songs back-to-back at college parties when enough people were feeling loose enough to dance.

If I had a time machine, I’d go back and yell, “It’s a TWIN SPIN!!” in the middle of them. I can honestly say I actually saw people doing “the monkey” to this song in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The song rocks! It’s got a great feel to it. Loud, fast, raucous. What more could you want?

If I’m not mistaken, I had The Romantics album on vinyl and discovered “She’s Got Everything” was actually written and sung by The Kinks’ Ray Davies from the liner notes. It took me awhile to find it or find it in a collection I wanted. It was apparently the B side to “Days.” The original version of “She’s Got Everything” by The Kinks is worth a listen.

I’m biased towards The Romantics version, but I love The Kinks and the songwriting of Ray Davies. Naturally, Ray’s brother Dave Davies plays an aggressive-sounding lead guitar solo on the track. “Pretty ringlets in her hair” is my favorite line from this song. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word ringlets used in song outside of this example. (I always pictured a ringlet as a ribbon or something, but it’s a style of “princess curls” a la Shirley Temple.)

I recently listened to The Kinks’ tune again and dialed in the little instrumental bit around the 1:30 mark. When I listened to it, I heard the first few seconds of Deep Purple’s “Woman from Tokyo.” Listen to the DP tune around 8 seconds into it.

Deep Purple’s song didn’t come out until 1973. Did they own a copy of the 1968 Kinks release “She’s Got Everything”? I don’t know, but it’s just what I hear. The two songs are in different keys, but both feature the same chord changes of I to V, which is a distinct feature.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

28 thoughts on “Kinks Weeks – Kinky, Romantic, & Purple? …mojohorizon.home.blog”

  2. Great writeup as always man…and damn… I DID hear Woman From Tokyo in the Kinks version. I’ll add this to my playlist…never heard this one.

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      1. It’s crazy how you hear something way after the fact and it is soooo obvious now. Gotta check out, its 2AM and I have no idea why I’m still up. I’ll do as Ray Davies tells me. ‘I Go To Sleep.’

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      1. I had just looked it up… I love that concept for the video….I remember reading about her when that accident happened.

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  6. Another great song by the Kinks! I will say though, due to a deep love for the Romantics, I like their version a little better, it’s just got a bit more of a kick to it! That being said, the Kinks were soooo ahead of their time and they absolutely paved the way for bands like the Romantics!

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      2. I like this a lot. I hadn’t heard either version either. When he first sent it to me…I thought…this is really good.

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  8. Great song! I neither knew the rendition by The Romantics nor the original by The Kinks. Also, you have a very good ear picking up the similarity between the riff in Deep Purple’s “My Woman From Tokyo” and Dave Davies’ guitar work!

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