Search - Ray Davies :: Thanksgiving Day

British songwriting icon Ray Davies' Thanksgiving Day EP precedes the eagerly anticipated release of the ex-Kinks great's first-ever solo album, Other People's Lives, slated to land on February 7, 2006. Part of a group of songs written to express Davies' newfound desire to "discover America," the EP's title track is very much in keeping with the songwriter's famously brilliant knack for subtle character studies. Davies explains the song's inception:"After recording my first batch of demos for my solo album, I visited the U.S in 1999 and started writing more songs for the project. I had been invited to several Thanksgiving dinners in this time, one of which was with a family in New England. What struck me was that it was more like the family Christmas I enjoyed as a child growing up in London. Thanksgiving is a time for sharing and even though they throw up their eyes as though it were a chore, family members traditionally gather for a reunion at the house of the oldest relative. In the song 'Papa looks over at the small gathering' and wonders how many of the children are going to make it for the dinner. During the story, we see how one by one, they try to make it home. The Thanksgiving Day holiday was originally 'a day of unity' and it occurred to me that it might be an idea for Great Britain to adopt a similar day.""During my last visits to America I spent the last two Thanksgiving holidays in New Orleans. I noticed that for a 'party town' New Orleans is at its bleakest at this time. The particular people I was with seemed 'estranged' from their country rather than being part of it. On these occasions the 'party' was somewhere else. I started writing a Dickensian parable about a young criminal who has no family to celebrate with. I decided to take the song off my album and incorporate it into a longer musical piece for a special fund raising event for young local musicians in New Orleans. Due to recent events, this will obviously not happen in the foreseeable future. This special EP release goes part of the way to raise funds for that charity."Along with two unique mixes of the title track, Thanksgiving Day features a second new Davies composition, "Yours Truly, Confused N10," originally recorded in 2002 with Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. "I actually wrote this song for my daughter's punk band," Davies recently told the Guardian, "and they turned it down." Also included is a new mix of "London Song," a song which first saw the light of day on Davies' 1998 The Storyteller, as well as that album's title track.