In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Long ago life was clean
Sex was bad, called obscene
And the rich were so mean
Stately homes for the Lords
Croquet lawns, village greens
Victoria was my queen
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
I was born, lucky me
In a land that I love
Though I am poor, I am free
When I grow I shall fight
For this land I shall die
Let her sun never set
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
Land of hope and gloria
Land of my Victoria
Land of hope and gloria
Land of my Victoria
Victoria, 'toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
Canada to India
Australia to Cornwall
Singapore to Hong Kong
From the West to the East
From to the rich to the poor
Victoria loved them all
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria
Sex was bad, called obscene
And the rich were so mean
Stately homes for the Lords
Croquet lawns, village greens
Victoria was my queen
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
I was born, lucky me
In a land that I love
Though I am poor, I am free
When I grow I shall fight
For this land I shall die
Let her sun never set
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
Land of hope and gloria
Land of my Victoria
Land of hope and gloria
Land of my Victoria
Victoria, 'toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
Canada to India
Australia to Cornwall
Singapore to Hong Kong
From the West to the East
From to the rich to the poor
Victoria loved them all
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Didn't read through all the comments, so sorry if this has been pointed out already but I think he chose to have the chorus 'Victoooooria' because it's a bit like 'victooooooory-a' and of course the obvious meaning, Queen Victoria. It's apt and quite clever :)
I've always dug "Victoria" but I'd never paid attention to the lyrics. I thought it was just another 'girl's name' song (like Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue", Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" or the Monkees' "Valleri"). Was I surprised to see it's really about the legacy of British imperialism and the class system. A little research showed "Victoria" is from the Kink's "Arthur, or..." album (intended as score of a TV program that didn't work out, a rock opera that was overshadowed by the Who's "Tommy" ).
Just wanted to point out that The Beach Boys only covered Barbara Ann; it's not their song. It was written by Fred Fassert and first recorded by The Regents in 1961.
I always thought it was a song that went both ways.
I think it is maybe a little sarcastic, but inspite of "the rich being so mean", the narrator still loves his country. The song looks at both sides of it, yes back then life was clean but sex was "obscene".
Davies is really great at writing songs that express a fondness for something gone by without being completely reactionary conservative. You really can hear that best in "Village Green Preservation Society".
Yeah, it's basically about the Victorian era in England; croquet lawns, etc. starched collars, everything prim & proper. I love this song. makes me want to dance.
I think this song encapsulates pretty well the two attitudes that many of Ray Davies' most distinctly "British" songs often seemed to vacillate between.
To say that he's just making some sarcastic or denuncitory satirical statements about Britain would be a mistake, I think. He obviously has a lot of affection for the England of "Victoria." Some people look at:
I was born, lucky me In a land that I love Though I am poor, I am free When I grow I shall fight For this land I shall die Let her sun never set
...and assume that the message is completely negative, as in, "Look at the poor ignorant peasant tricked into dying for foolhardy British patriotism."
I don't think that's the right way to look at it. I think Davies, while mindful of the drawbacks that Empire and the Victorian culture bring with them, is at least somewhat fondly disposed towards them.
You can discern the same sensibilities in Muswell Hillbillies and Village Green Preservation Society, to name just two.
@jonpalin I think you're right to say the song vascillates between two attitudes. It's not meant as serious criticism of what went on<br /> <br /> However, i do think when he says" i shall fight... I shall die" it is meant to be ironic. People had no choice whether they went and fought. It isn't " i will fight, i would die if i had to". You have no choice and will probably die. I'm not sure if i can see the positive side of dying really. How can people be free if they have no choice?
It sure sounds like Ray trails off with ... Victoria fucked them all, and not Loved them all. I think Mr. Davies loved, was critical and protective of his home turf.
That little turn of the music, "Land of hope and Gloria"(a bridge?) makes me want to be British.
The song really ISN'T sarcastic. The reason why a 60's band would 'endorse' (if you like) the British Empire, is because being born in the 1940's like most of the Kinks were, meant that their parents and grandparents and other close relatives, would have stood up, spilled their blood and fought for a country that was once great.
The song is more of a lament of the romantic aspect of Queen Victoria and her Empire, which was long gone, the romanticism of a generation which was prepared to spill its blood for the country they loved so dearly.
In short, rather than thinking of the politics of attitudes to colonisation, or more appropriately de-colonisation and post-imperial Britain (being the 1960's) it is a sort of patriotic and romantic love song, for an era that had disappeared forever.
This is one of the hit-songs from Arthur (or the decline and fall of the British Empire), the other one is Shangri-La.
It is a concept album - liner notes: "Arthur Morgan ... lives in a London suburb in a house called Shangri-La, with a garden and a car and a wife called Rose and a son called Derek who's married to Liz, and they have these two very nice kids, Terry and Marilyn. Derek and Liz and Terry and Marilyn are emigrating to Australia. Arthur did have another son, called Eddie. He was named for Arthur's brother, who was killed in the battle of the Somme. Arthur's Eddie was killed, too—in Korea"
So this song is very satirical and expresses how the working class should be proud of the Queen and The Empire - all falling apart during the 20th century.
Excellent lyrics!
This is brilliant, I'd really love to cover this live at Glastonbury. A cracking rock song.
At first I also thought this was a song about a girl, until I actually listened to the lyrics. When I heard "Canada" and "Singapore" I finally figured out it was about England. I love this song, the guitar is awesome.