Chords for Ray Davies Interview Sleepwalker March 8, 1977

[B] _ _ [Ebm] _ _ [Ab] _ [Eb] _ _ _
[Db] _ [Eb] This [Abm] gentleman's name is Ray Davies. _
[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I want to show your album to camera.
This is comparatively new, isn't it?
Yeah, that was me on a good night.
Turn it around.
Turn it around, see a bad night.
That's me on a bad night.
_ _ How's it doing?
_ _ Famously, I think.
Is it really?
Yeah.
I'm not doing too good, though.
Did you compose most of the music on that album?
Most of the stuff. _
Since 64.
You do it alone or do you have any help?
Well, sometimes I get help.
I'm told you have a brother in the group.
Yeah, him. _
_ _ _ _ _ We're divorced at the moment.
_ Music has changed a great [B] deal since you've come to America, hasn't it?
[Bb] _ Since I've come to America [C] with the band?
Well, we first [A] really came over here in 69 [G] for a tour.
We'd had records out in the 60s.
But from the 60s to now there's been quite a change, I would say.
I went to a Bay City Rollers concert in _ L.A.
and it was just like when we started and the Beatles started.
That hasn't really changed much.
The kids making all the same music.
I think [Em] the music's technically [Ab] better. _
_ I wanted to ask you, most of the time when you perform,
the kids scream through most of what you're doing.
Not really.
Well, when the Bay City _ _ _ Rollers were here,
that's what we got through most of their performance.
Yeah, that's part of the film set.
Can you [A] still hear what you're doing up there?
Oh, yeah.
It's different now.
We've gone through different [G] things in music.
[A] _ [Ab] We've got a listening audience and a drinking audience
and an audience who wants to listen to [N] quieter songs.
They really know our material and they give us a chance. _ _
You tend to keep more of a low profile than guys like Mick Jagger.
_ _ Is that by choice?
They're much better looking than I am.
_ _ He's prettier than me. _
Is that your choosing to _ _ _ keep a low profile?
_ Not really.
I'm not the showy type. _ _ _ _ _ _
You still have the original memory.
You came over here in the 60s, I was told.
You said the late 60s.
I came here, we were doing a world tour.
It was our first hit.
I said, get on a plane, you're going around the [Bb] world.
And we flew over [N] from Taiwan or somewhere like that.
I'd been bitten by an animal in the foot.
_ And we arrived at New York, got off the plane,
I had this blown up ankle.
They said, right, come to the studio, you've got a tap dance.
We had to go to the studio and [G] rehearse all these dance routines.
_ What was it that bit you?
I'm curious.
It was an animal, a real animal.
You don't know what kind? _
Four legs.
Four-legged animal.
Was it a boar, a wild boar, something like that?
It was boring. _
_ You really don't know what bit you?
They have ants and things, huge things.
[Eb] They crawl around this [Abm] way.
You'd like it.
_ Creepy crawlies. _ _
Who are some of your_
We're dedicating this week of shows to [G] famous composers.
Yesterday it was Duke Ellington, today it's Harold Arlen.
Who are some of your favorite non-rock composers?
When I started out playing the guitar, I wanted to be Cal Farlow.
I don't [E] know if you've heard of him.
He was a [G] guitar player.
[Bb] Do you know him?
Yes.
He retired, didn't he?
He [N] married a rich lady, I think.
_ That's a good reason to retire.
I like people like Cole Porter and _ Noel Coward.
It's really tight [G] songs.
Are you people much aware of people like Rodgers and Hammerstein?
Of course.
Rodgers and Harkin.
[N] We see the movies on TV at Christmas all the time.
_ _ _ They write some great songs.
_ Jed's Dad in Oklahoma. _
It's a good song.
_ _ San Francisco is good.
_ Great song.
_ _ Have you heard the Jeanette MacDonald version?
No, not yet.
That one, yes.
Judy Garland.
_ That's from another picture.
_ _ _ You wrote, I'm told, a rock opera for British television.
Was _ that before Tommy?
I was commissioned to write this thing by Gwinarda [G] Television.
It's a little station in Manchester, England.
They said, you know, we'd like you to write a rock opera.
I said, thank you very [A] much.
How much am I going to be paid?
They said, nothing.
I said, all right, I'll do it.
And two years later I came up with an album.
And _ that was it.
The show didn't go on.
Are you usually that difficult to deal with in financial matters?
Terrible, absolutely dreadful.
Are you a poor businessman, really?
Yeah, look at this suit. _ _
[N] _ Julie liked it.
I love your suit.
I think we look like ice cream flavors.
Kind of like 31 Flavors.
I'm strawberry and you're sherbet.
Oh, yeah.
_ Are you into movies?
Are you a movie fan, Ray?
Oh, yeah.
_ _ What have you seen lately that you like?
Old movies.
Tell me about some of those. _ _
You know, going to _ Los Angeles and on tour in America, we see lots of the old ones. _ _
_ [G] I _ _ [N] _ _ _
_ _ _ love _ California and all the film.
I wouldn't like to live there, though.
Why not?
I wouldn't be very productive there.
Because of the climate and you fall into a different way of life.
Yeah, I get fat and strawberry milkshakes and things I eat.
_ That's all right for a while.
Yeah, I like Philadelphia, though, because it's spread out.
There aren't so many people here.
_ _ For a while, we were closed.
Oh, really?
_ _ _ _ When the storm_
Is this the place W.C. Fields did one of his films?
He said, I came to Philadelphia one time, it was closed.
We had a storm recently and, boy, I've had a feeling we were closed for a while.
The next tune that you're going to do _ _ _ is about movies.
Is that true?
Yeah, it's a song called Celluloid Heroes.
I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard, as all the tourists do.
And I _ felt that they had sort of lost a lot of prestige.
Because, you know, the 30s and the 40s, they were the people.
You know, they were untouchable. _
[B] Now I [Bb] think stars are [A] there because they're accessible.
_ And [Abm] they're like people [N] next door.
You can touch them.
You like it better the other way.
Well, I don't know.
They had their time.
And sometimes it goes round again like the cycle in rock music.
_ It's pretty for pretty faces, good faces.
And you get the rugged look.
And then you get people like _ me, which you know we're.
_ _ _ Anyway, this tune is called Celluloid Heroes and it features the Kinks. _
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