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A Well Respected Man
"A Well Respected Man" is a song by the British band the Kinks, written by the group's lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ray Davies, and originally released in the United Kingdom on the EP '' Kwyet Kinks'' in September 1965. The song was released on the album '' Kinkdom'' in the United States. It was also released as a single in the US and Continental Europe. "A Well Respected Man" remains one of the band's most popular and best known songs. It is one of four Kinks songs included on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll along with "You Really Got Me," " Waterloo Sunset," and "Lola". Background Davies composed the song based on a negative experience with upper class guests at a luxury resort where he was staying in 1965. He crafted the song to mock what he perceived as their condescension and self-satisfaction. '' Pye'' refused to release "A Well Respected Man" as a single in the UK because the record company wanted a song more simila ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defiance (TV Series)
''Defiance'' is an American science fiction western drama television series developed by Rockne S. O'Bannon, Kevin Murphy and Michael Taylor; the series is produced by Universal Cable Productions. The show takes place in a post-apocalyptic future on a radically transformed Earth containing new species, some having arrived from space, many others the result of haphazard contamination by the terraforming technology used by the alien race the Votans, which has transformed native flora and fauna in unforeseen ways. The story begins in the year 2046 when Earth has been considerably changed, with new topography, the extinction of plant and animal species and the emergence of new species. The series follows Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler), his adopted alien daughter Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas), and the town's new mayor, Amanda Rosewater ( Julie Benz) in addition to an ensemble of actors portraying different characters in the growing town in the city-state of Defiance, built on the ruins o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterloo Sunset
"Waterloo Sunset" is a song by British rock band the Kinks. It was released as a single in 1967, and featured on their album '' Something Else by the Kinks''. Composed and produced by Kinks frontman Ray Davies, "Waterloo Sunset" is one of the band's best known and most acclaimed songs, and is ranked number 14 on ''Rolling Stone''s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was also their first single that was available in true stereo. The record reached number 2 on the British charts in mid 1967. It was a top 10 hit in Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe. "Waterloo Sunset" was also released as a single in North America but failed to chart there. History Interviewed in May 1967, Ray Davies stated he wrote "Waterloo Sunset" having had "the actual melody line in my head for two or three years". He initially titled the song "Liverpool Sunset", but scrapped the Liverpool theme after the release of the Beatles' song "Penny Lane". The lyrics describe a solitary narrator watching ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extended Play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.Official Charts Company , access-date=March 21, 2017 Contemporary EPs generally contain four or five tracks, and are considered "less expensive and time-consuming" for an artist to produce than an album. An EP originally referred to specific types of other than 78 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Language
French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. French was also substratum, influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic languages, Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Franks, Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's French colonial empire, past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole language, Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petula Clark
Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the Second World War as a child entertainer on BBC Radio. In 1954 she charted with "The Little Shoemaker", the first of her big UK hits, and within two years she began recording in French. Her international successes have included " ''Prends mon coeur''", "Sailor" (a UK number one), "Romeo", and "Chariot". Hits in German, Italian and Spanish followed. In late 1964 Clark's success extended to the United States with a four-year run of career-defining, often upbeat singles, many written or co-written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent. These songs include her signature song "Downtown", " I Know a Place", " My Love", " A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Who Am I", " Colour My World", " This Is My Song" (by Charles Chaplin), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Common definitions for the middle class range from the middle fifth of individuals on a nation's income ladder, to everyone but the poorest and wealthiest 20%. Theories like "Paradox of Interest" use decile groups and wealth distribution data to determine the size and wealth share of the middle class. From a Marxist standpoint, middle class initially referred to the ' bourgeoisie,' as distinct from nobility. With the development of capitalist societies and further inclusion of the bourgeoisie into the ruling class, middle class has been more closely identified by Marxist scholars with the term 'petite bourgeoisie.' There has been significant global middle-class growth over time. In February 2009, ''The Economist'' asserted that over half of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upper Class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is generally distinguished by immense wealth which is passed on from generation to generation. Prior to the 20th century, the emphasis was on ''aristocracy'', which emphasized generations of inherited noble status, not just recent wealth. Because the upper classes of a society may no longer rule the society in which they are living, they are often referred to as the old upper classes, and they are often culturally distinct from the newly rich middle classes that tend to dominate public life in modern social democracies. According to the latter view held by the traditional upper classes, no amount of individual wealth or fame would make a person from an undistinguished background into a member of the upper class as one must be born into a famil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or exposing the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. A feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm —"in satire, irony is militant", according to literary critic Northrop Frye— but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist wishes to question. Satire is found in many a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Class System
The social structure of the United Kingdom has historically been highly influenced by the concept of social class, which continues to affect British society today. British society, like its European neighbours and most societies in world history, was traditionally (before the Industrial Revolution) divided hierarchically within a system that involved the hereditary transmission of occupation, social status and political influence. Since the advent of industrialisation, this system has been in a constant state of revision, and new factors other than birth (for example, education) are now a greater part of creating identity in Britain. Although definitions of social class in the United Kingdom vary and are highly controversial, most are influenced by factors of wealth, occupation, and education. Until the Life Peerages Act 1958, the Parliament of the United Kingdom was organised on a class basis, with the House of Lords representing the hereditary upper class and the House of Commons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mister Pleasant
"Mister Pleasant" (sometimes written as "Mr. Pleasant") is a song recorded by British rock group the Kinks in 1967, written by Ray Davies. Background "Mister Pleasant" is lyrically somewhat similar to the earlier track " A Well Respected Man", as it satirises the heedless complacency of a ''nouveau riche'' who, for all his newfound worldly success, is but a foolish cuckold. Musically, the song has strong English Music Hall influences and a "trad jazz" backing that features a trombone and ragtime-style piano (played by Nicky Hopkins). ''Billboard'' described the single as "clever novelty material penned by Ray Davies with an easy dance beat in strong support." Chart performance It was released as the A-side of a single in the USA and mainland Europe but not in the UK. It was released in the UK six months later as the B-side to " Autumn Almanac". The song is now available as a bonus track to their album '' Face to Face'', and an alternate version was also released as a bonus trac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
"Dedicated Follower of Fashion" is a 1966 song by British band the Kinks. It lampoons the contemporary British fashion scene and mod culture in general. Originally released as a single, it has been included on many of the band's later albums. Musically, it and "A Well Respected Man" marked the beginning of an expansion in the Kinks' inspirations, drawing as much from British music hall traditions as from American rhythm and blues, the inspiration for breakthrough Kinks songs like "You Really Got Me". While it was quite scornful toward them, many of the fashionistas the song mocks would later take its title to heart. Background In the mid-1960s fashion in Britain was becoming increasingly daring and outrageous, driven by the youth-oriented culture of Swinging London. Boutiques such as Biba, designers like Mary Quant, and the television personalities like Cathy McGowan who popularised them became celebrated as much as the entertainers who wore their mod clothes. Fashion tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Britain between bold and scandalous ''Music Hall'' and subsequent, more respectable '' Variety'' differ. Music hall involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. In North America vaudeville was in some ways analogous to British music hall, featuring rousing songs and comic acts. Originating in saloon bars within public houses during the 1830s, music hall entertainment became increasingly popular with audiences. So much so, that during the 1850s some public houses were demolished, and specialised music hall theatres developed in their place. These theatres were designed chiefly so that people could consume f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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