S koje god strane posmatrali muzičku scenu na Ostrvu i njeno formiranje tokom šezdesetih, lako ćemo da utvrdimo da, kao dobar i stabilan sto, počiva na četiri čvrsta oslonca (The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks). Gledajući njihove bogate opuse, ne mogu da se otmem utisku da su The Kinks nekako uvek bili u senci ostale trojke – nisu bili inovativni kao The Beatles, niti popularni u širokim narodnim masama kao Stonesi ili Who. Ali su najengleskiji od svih.
Ray Davies je inspiraciju za svoje pesme često pronalazio u zvucima tradicionalnog music halla i otuda njegova opsednutost operama, mjuziklima i sličnim muzičko-scenskim formama.
Tokom šezdesetih, The Kinks su imali veliki broj hit singlova i nekoliko antologijskih albuma. No, nikada nisu postigli tako veliki uspeh na najvećem tržištu na svetu, u Americi, poput svojih savremenika. Prilika da se ovakva situacija promeni ukazala se početkom sedamdesetih.
Nova diskografska kuća RCA Records bila je galantna: za pet narednih albuma isporučila je avans od nekoliko miliona dolara. Kako se Amerikancima nije mogla prodavati kabaetska i tipično britanska muzika, Ray Davies je posegao u njihovo muzičko nasleđe ubacujući prizvuke countryja. To je razlog što, inače odličan album, Muswell Hillbillies (1971) zvuči malo drugačije od prethodnih. Publika ga je prihvatila, a Daviesova podvala se ogleda u tematici pesama. Bavio se životom radničke klase na satiričan i humorističan način. A uprkos velikom novcu koji je dobio (poznat je kao najveći tvrdica među muzičarima), nečim nije bio zadovoljan. Već u uvodnoj pesmi on kaže: I’m a 20th century man, but I don’t want to be here.
Očigledno je da novac nije doticao onom brzinom kako je RCA očekivala, pa je naredni album Everybody’s in Showbiz (1973) čudno koncipiran kao dvostruki. Na jednoj ploči su se nalazile nove pesme, a na drugoj snimci sa koncerta. Britanci su ga ignorisali, smatrajući da je slepo crevo u diskografiji Kinksa, a Amerikanci su zadovoljno trljali ruke, jer je prodaja albuma bila sasvim dobra. Tematski, pesme su govorile o životu na turnejama. Davies doživljava putovanja kao gnjavažu i monotoniju – beskrajno smenjivanje identičnih hotela, pijančenje, prolaženje kroz nepoznate gradove… U nekoliko pesama se žali na hranu koja mu nikako ne prija. Za divno čudo, nema ni spomena o doživljajima sa devojkama.
Najbolja pesma na albumu je, svakako, “Celuloid Heroes“, pa je valja citirati:
Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in movies, it doesn’t matter who you are
There are starts in every city
In every house and on every street
And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Their names are written in concreteDon’t step on Greta Garbo as you walk down the Boulevard
She looks so weak and fragile that’s why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne
But she turned her back on stardom
Because she wanted to be aloneYou can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vainRudolph Valentino looks very much alive
And he looks up ladies dresses as they sadly pass him by
Avoid stepping on Bela Lugosi
‘Cause he’s liable to turn and bite
But stand close by Bette Davis
Because hers was such a lonely lifeIf you covered him with garbage
George Sanders would still have style
And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney
He would still turn round and smile
But please don’t tread on dearest Marilyn
Cause she’s not very tough
She should have been made of iron or steel
But she was only made of flesh and bloodYou can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vainEverybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are
And those who are successful
Be always on your guard
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along Hollywood BoulevardI wish my life was non-stop Hollywood movie show
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really dieYou can see all the stars as you walk along…
You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vainOh, celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh, celluloid heroes never really die
I wish my life was non-stop Hollywood movie show
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die
Pesma zatvara album i, praktično, sumira celu priču. Šetanja holivudskim Bulevarom slavnih u Daviesu izaziva nostalgiju za zvezdama koje pominje, a istovremeno i priziva preispitivanje šta su u svemu tome stereotipi koje gledamo na ekranima, a šta stvarni život koji se odvija oko nas. Svi bi, normalno, želeli da budu filmske zvezde – u njegovom slučaju ne radi se o tome da se oproba kao glumac, već da bude lik u filmu. Na taj način se, kako misli, postaje besmrtnim.
Vreme je pokazalo da je ova pesma postala jedna od najpopularnijih koje su The Kinks snimili. Nije mi poznato da li je Davies zaigrao u nekom filmu, ali znam da je ispred vlastitog imena dodao titulu Sir. Čini mi se da je to bolje rešenje nego zvezda na pločniku Holivuda.