| "The Village Green Preservation Society" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Danish single picture sleeve | ||||
| Song by the Kinks | ||||
| from the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society | ||||
| Released | 22 November 1968 | |||
| Recorded | c. 12 August 1968 | |||
| Studio | Pye, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:49 | |||
| Label | Pye | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ray Davies | |||
| Producer(s) | Ray Davies | |||
| The Kinks US chronology | ||||
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| Official audio | ||||
| "The Village Green Preservation Society" on YouTube | ||||
"The Village Green Preservation Society"[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 the band's principal songwriter Ray Davies, the song is a nostalgic reflection where the band state their intention to "preserve" British things for posterity. As the opening track, the song introduces many of the LP's themes, and Ray subsequently described it as the album's "national anthem".[4]
Ray was inspired to write "The Village Green Preservation Society" after he heard someone express that the Kinks had been preserving "nice things from the past".[5] Written and recorded in August 1968 as sessions for the band's next album neared completion, the song was intended to be a new title track after he remained unsatisfied with the album's working title Village Green. The song pairs pop and rock music with elements of English music hall, indicating Ray's continued interest in the genre. It has received generally favourable reviews from critics, but later commentators dispute how much of its lyrics were to be considered ironic; some consider them reactionary and others find the tone partially parodic. Coinciding with the band's "God Save the Kinks" promotional campaign, the song was issued as a US single in July 1969, though it failed to chart. The Kinks regularly included the song in their live set list in the 1970s, '80s and '90s.
- ^ Miller 2003, p. 42.
- ^ Anon.(a) 1968.
- ^ Doggett 1998; Miller & Sandoval 2004; Neill 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
national anthemwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^
- The Kinks (2014). The Anthology: 1964–1971: "Interview: Ray Davies Talks About Village Green Preservation Society" (CD). Sanctuary, Legacy. Event occurs at 0:17. 88875021542.
- Himes, Geoffrey (11 February 2019). "The Curmudgeon: Ray Davies – Preserving Old, Rural Ways as a Kind of Rebellion". Paste. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022.
- Miller 2003, pp. 46, 148.
Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).