12/14/06: The Kinks Christmas Concert (1977)

VH1 Classic has pretty much turned into the Home Shopping Channel this month. Guitar Hero II seems to be the main product, but there’s also a sad episode of Hangin’ With… where Mick Jones relentlessly pitches a new box set of Clash singles. His old partner would be proud.

And yet the network has redeemed itself with frequent showings of The Kinks Christmas Concert. This 1977 production—shot as part of the music series The Old Grey Whistle Test—has the band playing on Christmas Eve at London’s Rainbow Theater. Everybody’s in fine form, and frontman Ray Davies doesn’t miss a chance to be nicely contrary with a performance of “Get Back In The Line.”

Davies begins by announcing that the song is about “unions which kept [the band] from working in America for about three years.” Then he launches into the heartbreaking tale of a guy who’s blacklisted from the workforce. In fact, it’s the most touching right-to-work song that you’ll ever hear from a wealthy rock musician complaining about being oppressed by the little people:

        Facing the world ain’t easy when there isn't anything going
        Standing at the corner waiting, watching time go by
        Will I go to work today or shall I bide my time
        ’Cause when I see that union man walking down the street
        He's the man who decides if I live or I die, if I starve, or I eat
        Then he walks up to me and the sun begins to shine
        Then he walks right past and I know that
        I’ve got to get back in the line

It’s like hearing Ebenezer Scrooge complaining about Bob Cratchit on Christmas Eve—and Scrooge would have a point. Davies’ audience is certainly receptive. They also get a kick out of him coming out to do “Father Christmas” while dressed as Santa Claus. That one’s a plea about how we should “remember the kids who got nothing”—which is a lesson that Davies’ narrator learns after being beaten to a bloody pulp by a gang of disadvantaged youths. There’s your reality-based Christmas.

Make it your own: Record your own copy as The Kinks Christmas Concert makes its final scheduled appearance. That would be Monday, December 18th, at 5 pm EST on VH1 Classic. The original recording of “Get Back In The Line” is on 1970’s Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Pt. 1. There was no Pt. 2.

 

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