| "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" | |
|---|---|
| Song by the Kinks | |
| from the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society | |
| Released | 22 November 1968 |
| Recorded | c. 12 October 1968 |
| Studio | Pye, London |
| Genre | |
| Length | 4:03 |
| Label | Pye |
| Songwriter(s) | Ray Davies |
| Producer(s) | Ray Davies |
| Official audio | |
| "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" on YouTube | |
"Last of the Steam-Powered Trains"[nb 1] is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in October 1968 and was among the final tracks completed for the album. Variously described as a blues, R&B or rock number, the song describes a steam train that has outlived its usefulness and has since moved to a museum.
Recorded two months after steam trains were retired from passenger service in the UK, the song relates to Village Green's themes of preservation and the reconciling of past and present. Davies based the song's distinctive guitar-riff on the 1956 song "Smokestack Lightning" by the American blues artist Howlin' Wolf, a song the Kinks and their contemporaries regularly covered. Commentators often regard the song as Davies's criticism of early British R&B groups for being inauthentic compared to the American blues artists who wrote many of the songs they recorded. Others consider the song as relating to Davies's feelings of disconnect from contemporary culture. The song became a regular in the band's 1969 and 1970 live set list.
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