The Kinks‘ Ray Davies has admitted he still finds the enduring popularity of his former band’s classic 1967 single ‘Waterloo Sunset‘ puzzling, and that he would like to re-write a part of the track’s lyrics.
Speaking in the London Evening Standard amid speculation he will perform the song during Sunday’s (August 12th) Olympics closing ceremony, Davies remarks:
“It’s a nice tune. I don’t get why it’s considered my best work. I still want to rewrite the words ‘And I don’t need no friends’. It sounds like a Marlon Brando line.”
“Waterloo has been an emotional terminus in my life. My dad took me there during the Festival of Britain, I was in hospital at St Thomas’, and I used to walk there with the woman who became my first wife, but it’s not me in the song. It’s them holding hands together walking across the bridge into the future. I’m the outsider, which I still am — the perennial outsider.”
That enduring popularity has led to countless accolades for the record since its original release in the May of 1967, which include being placed at #42 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time, and being dubbed the ultimate ‘Anthem Of London’ by Time Out.