Happy Birthday, Ray

Where o where would we be without Ray Davies? Without him, there would be no Village Green Preservation Society, no Muswell Hillbillies, no Lola…there would be entirely less biting musical social commentary from Engerland, and that would be an utter and total shame.

From the early days of The Kinks, Davies had that band doing very, very special things indeed. You can bet your sweet bippy that there’s thousands of young musician pups who wish they were Ray Davies at any given moment. Hell, as I sit here listening to “All Day and All of The Night”, even I wanna be Ray. He’s one heck of a songwriter, that Davies, and his voice ain’t too shabby, either.

So many happy returns to Mister Ray Davies, CBE!

mp3: Lola (The Kinks from Lola Versus The Powerman & The Money-Go-Round Pt. 1)

It's Covered: I Go To Sleep

I'm afraid you're only getting a quickie today, kids. Before you can respond, "that's what she said," the truth of the matter is I'm plum tuckered out today. The old man back has returned in all it's wonky glory, so the trip to the doctor yesterday resulted in me now ingesting a variety of pills that are making it hard to keep my eyes open. Now, kids, I don't want any of you getting the wrong idea here. Your good, ol' Uncle Chris wants you all to know that he firmly endorses pharmaceuticals. Better living through chemistry, I always say. Don't let my currently overwhelming desire for a nap keep any of you from hours and hours of wonderful experimentation.

As such, it's only apropos that today's tune is "I Go To Sleep." Written by Ray Davies and originally recorded by Peggy Lee, it's since been covered by everyone from the Pretenders to Cher on her debut solo album. According the the Interwebs, who we all know would never lie to us, Davies wrote the song while waiting in the hospital for the imminent birth of his daughter. My first encounter with the track was with the ever lovable pixie, Sia, but I'm not sure that has anything to do with the price of potatoes, so do with it what you will.

For today's special, we're offering the following versions by Sia, Samantha Jones, The Kinks, Celine Mastrorelli, Works Progress Administration and Zero 7. Yes, Sia is singing in that version, too, but that's hardly a bad thing, now is it?

mp3: I Go To Sleep (Sia from Sounds Eclectic: The Cover Project)

mp3: I Go To Sleep (Samantha Jones from A Girl Named Sam)

mp3: I Go To Sleep (The Kinks, demo version, from Kinda Kinks)

mp3: I Go To Sleep (Celine Mastrorelli, unreleased demo)

mp3: I Go To Sleep (Works Progress Administration from WPA)

mp3: I Go To Sleep (Zero 7 from The Saturday Sessions)