Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Songs I've Just Realized I Can't Live Without (An Occasional Series)

From 1965 (and the only-in-America compilation album Kinkdom), please enjoy The Kinks, featuring Dave Davies on lead vocals, and the oh-so-sad-and-beautiful folk-rock ballad "Wait Till the Summer Comes Along."




I've adored that song (Dave's first writers credit on a Kinks record, if memory serves) since buying the LP above in a crappy reprocessed stereo version at Sam Goody in Paramus, New Jersey. But I hadn't listened to it in a while, and on revisiting it (and still finding it deeply touching, I hasten to add) I was immediately struck by a) how slapdash the Shel Talmy production is and b) what a wonderfully pretentious Sorrows of Young Werther kid's blues it is.

"I've been crying all the winter," Dave all but sobs in the song's opening line, and the clear implication is that his life has been nothing but endless heartache, self-lacerating guilt and tragedy, and frankly what's the point of going on?

Just to put things in perspective, its popstar composer was all of 17 when he wrote and recorded it.

12 comments:

FD13NYC said...

Hey Steve, where's the divShare?

DeepKarma said...

Never heard this one...a fantastic tune. And, as always, thanks for pointing out the youth of the person who created this fine piece of music. At the age of 17 I was still having trouble tieing my sneakers and remembering to breath at the same time.

steve simels said...

Is there a problem with the divshare? Somebody else said it wasn't playing last night.

On my end, it's there and it plays -- I'm listening to it right now, actually.

FD13NYC said...

Would love to listen to the song. All I get is a blank strip where the DivShare should be, strange. Never happened before.

Anonymous said...

Dave must of gotten a total of 10 minutes at the end of a recording session to get this down, and he pulls it off wonderfully.


ROTP(lumber)

steve simels said...

I'm gonna put the divshare link in again. I'm must have screwed something up the first time...

FD13NYC said...

Works now. Good song. I haven't listened to that LP in who knows how long. Couple that with Nesmith's Papa Gene's Blues and you're all set.

Wendy said...

I guess talent has no age associated with it.

steve simels said...

Let's just say I find it more believable and heartfelt than anything Taylor Swift has written to date.
:-)

Gummo said...

Not so strange -- I think we all felt more deeply at that age, when everything was new.

Of course, not all of us could translate it into art.

MJConroy said...

Dave Davies is playing a few shows in February 2010.

Date and Venue :

- Anthology, 4th Feb, San Diego
- El Rey Theatre, 5th Feb, LA
- The Sellersville Theatre PA. 9th Feb
- BB Kings Feb 10th NY
- Bull Run Inn (Shirley, MA) Feb 12th
- Mohegan Sun Feb 13th

dabball said...

I've always loved this Dave song from the first moment I heard it.

KINKDOM was the first Kinks album I ever bought. Brand new. Early 1966.

Thank you for loving it, too.