Songs frequently represent specific moments in a band’s career. Naturally, these moments alternate between good and bad, but few serve as a goodbye. Arguably, writing a song knowing it will be one of your last can be one of the most difficult tasks a songwriter faces. However, with declining fan interest and a lack of passion for what they were creating, The Kinks wrote a goodbye with little regard for how it was perceived. This lack of pressure resulted in one of their most famous songs to date.
The song ‘Days’ was originally written for The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, a concept album released in 1968. The band worked on the album but lost faith in the creative process after Wonderboy, their previous release, was a commercial failure. When the record was released, it only reached number 12 on the UK album charts and did not chart in the United States.
Following the failure of Wonderboy, the band decided to rush the release of ‘Days’. They released it as a single rather than an album feature. Ray Davies commented on his lack of interest in the track at the time, saying, “I didn’t care anymore. So I thought, “Say goodbye nicely,” and wrote “Days.”
When looking for inspiration for the track, he looked back on his career. But the overall concept of saying thank you and goodbye served as the primary inspiration for the song. First, he considered his sister, who had recently left for Australia. “She said, ‘Say goodbye, my loving brother,’ and I said, ‘Thank you for being my sister,’…” So the song is primarily for her and her generation.
He also reflected on lost loves while writing, recalling a risky phone call during the creative process. “I wrote some of it in a phone box while I was calling someone I shouldn’t be calling,” Davies explained. “The song wasn’t about the person on the other end of the line. Well, not really. But I suppose it’s the ultimate kiss-off, isn’t it?”
The song didn’t do badly, and a cover by Kirsty MacColl reached number 12 on the UK charts, but it eventually became one of Davies’ most poignant and well-received songs. The reasons for this are numerous, but his ability to say goodbye to something larger than himself while focusing on the human aspects of parting ways created something that people could easily relate to.
It has evolved into something new and completely different from when it was first written. Davies admitted, “The song has grown in intensity over time. I didn’t put much thought into the song when I wrote it. Songs like this do happen on occasion. You don’t think about it, but it has accumulated quite a bit of mystique over the years. It certainly left me. It belongs to the world now.”
