Small Town Honesty
Do You Remember Walter - The Kinks (Blast from the Past Tuesday)
There was a time in my life when I was stuck playing The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society over and over. Despite my excessive listen-throughs, I don’t regret it — in fact, I still regard it as one of my favorites of all time. It’s this unique romp through a small town (at least how I imagined it), and has one of the most “regular person” perspectives an album can have. However, no song on there was more interesting to me than “Do You Remember Walter”.
The lyrical switch-up on this track is one of the craziest I’ve ever heard. It starts with these sweet lyrics, as if the narrator of the song is just reminiscing on days spent with their friend, Walter. You start to get a sense that it’s not too happy once you hear “but Walter my old friend/where are you now?”, but then it all comes crashing down on “Walter, if you saw me now/you wouldn’t even know my name”, which segways into “I bet you’re fat and married/and you’re always in bed by half past 8”, which is honestly pretty harsh if you ask me! The way those lines are sung is perfect for highlighting their toughness, with the most harrowing parts having a softer emphasis. The best line is saved for last, punched upon with a classic staccato slowdown that declares “people often change/but memories of people can remain”.
The tune definitely sounds more optimistic than the lyrics are. It’s a piano driven song, with chords that are steadily pounded throughout its entirety. The chorus always sounds like it really breaks down, but after listening several times, I think a majority of that is due to both the drums and the bass collaborating to let it all go, with the snare being hit harder than ever before, combining with these crazy bass licks to make a pretty darn awesome sound (though I never expect any less from The Kinks!)
Village Green is a terrific album, and “Do You Remember Walter?” is just one example of how amazing it truly is. This is a song that is a little tough to swallow, but honest and real in a way that I think really cements it as an all time great.
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