The Kinks release their finest Pop single “Waterloo Sunset” in 1967
The song was not originally about London
The Kinks release their finest Pop single “Waterloo Sunset” in 1967
Composed and produced by frontman Ray Davies, “Waterloo Sunset” remains one of The Kinks most popular songs to this day and an indisputable Rock and Pop classic. Released on May 5, 1967 on the Pye label backed with “Act Nice and Gentle” on the U.K and European pressing and “Two Sisters” on the American, this was the band’s first single to be released in true stereo, in a time where FM radio was beginning the domain over the AM. The song lyrics describe a solitary narrator watching two lovers passing over a bridge, with the melancholic observer reflecting on the couple, the Thames, and Waterloo station. What many people don’t know is that the song was originally entitled “Liverpool Sunset”, and inspired by Liverpool’s Merseybeat and not by London. The single reached number 2 on the British charts in mid-1967 but it failed to dislodge the Tremeloes’ “Silence Is Golden” from the number 1 position. It was also a top 10 hit in Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe. In North America, “Waterloo Sunset” was released as a single but it failed to chart. It was also included on The Kinks 1967 album “Something Else by The Kinks”, one of their best Pop albums that also features “Death of a Clown”. “Waterloo Sunset” ranked number 42 on “Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
Look back at The Kinks performing “Waterloo Sunset” in 1967 at the Beat Club show
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