"Picture Book" is a song by the English rock band

the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...

from their 1968 album '' The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society''. Written and sung by

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing voca ...

, the song's lyrics describe the experience of an ageing narrator flipping through a

photo album A photographic album or photo album, is a series of photographic prints collected by an individual person or family in the form of a book. Some book-form photo albums have compartments which the photos may be slipped into; other albums have heavy ...

reflecting on happy memories from "a long time ago". Recorded in , its cheerful sound is defined by the

jangle Jangle or jingle-jangle is a sound typically characterized by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars (particularly 12-strings) played in a droning chordal style (by strumming or arpeggiating). The sound is mainly associated with pop m ...

of an acoustic

twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

and a disengaged

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...

. In

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

, the song was issued as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of the album's lead single, " Starstruck", in November1968. The same single was issued in the United States in January1969, though it failed to appear in any charts. While "Picture Book" remained obscure in the decades after its release, the song has subsequently become one of the Kinks' most popular songs, due in part to its usage in a 2004 advertisement for

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

and

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

featuring the riff in their 2000 single " Warning". Retrospective commentators have described the song in favourable terms and consider it one of the song's central to ''Village Green''

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

. The song was covered by

the Young Fresh Fellows The Young Fresh Fellows are an American alternative rock group, that was formed in 1981 in Seattle, Washington, United States, by Scott McCaughey and Chuck Carroll. Tad Hutchison, Chuck Carroll's first cousin, joined for the recording of the grou ...

in 1989.

Background and composition

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...

' principal songwriter

reflected in 2002 that when he wrote "Picture Book" he did not initially intend for the track to be a Kinks song given the personal content. It describes the singer's experience flipping through a

reflecting on happy memories. Musically, "Picture Book" is a pop song, and while its arrangement is cheerful, the lyrics do not directly describe happy memories, but instead the experience of a lonely ageing narrator looking at photographs from "a long time ago". The song features barbershop-like harmonies for a wordless vocal. Ray sings "scooby dooby doo" in reference to

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

's 1966 single "

Strangers in the Night "Strangers in the Night" is a song composed by Bert Kaempfert with English lyrics by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. Kaempfert originally used it under the title "Beddy Bye" as part of the instrumental score for the movie ''A Man Could Get ...

", an improvisation

Dave Davies David Russell Gordon Davies (born 3 February 1947) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the English rock band the Kinks, which also featured his elder brother Ray Davies. He was ind ...

remembered arising while the band worked on the song's harmonies and his brother Ray mocked his suggestion of a

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop music singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classi ...

-like

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

improvisation. The melody employs a four-note ascending guitar

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

of E, A, D and G. Later commentators typically compare "Picture Book" with "

People Take Pictures of Each Other "People Take Pictures of Each Other" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, '' The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society'' (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in July19 ...

", another track on '' The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society'' about photography. Author Thomas M. Kitts writes that "Picture Book" conveys ambiguity due to the discordance between its cheerful sound and the lyrics which instead recall "when you were just a baby, those days when you were happy, a long time ago". Kitts thinks the singer's suggestion that happiness is located in the past is a theme running throughout ''Village Green'', and author

Jon Savage Jon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage; 2 September 1953 in Paddington, London) is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, ''England's Dreaming'', published in 1991. ...

considers the song one of the album's central statements, focusing around a wistful theme.

Recording

The Kinks recorded "Picture Book" in May1968 in Pye Studio 2, one of two basement studios at

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhoo ...

' London offices. Ray is credited as the song's producer, while Pye's in-house

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

Brian Humphries operated the four-track

mixing console A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals from electric or electronic inst ...

.: (operated four-track); : (Humphries). The riff is played by electric, acoustic and bass guitar, and the song's distinct

-sound was achieved by Ray playing a twelve-string acoustic guitar.

Mick Avory Michael Charles Avory (born 15 February 1944) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and percussionist for the English rock band the Kinks. He joined them shortly after their formation in 1964 and remained with them until 1984, ...

altered his drum sound by disengaging the

snare SNARE proteins – " SNAP REceptor" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts, more than 60 members in mammalian cells, and some numbers in plants. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to mediate vesicle fu ...

. Ray later said he had a defined sound in mind when he composed the song, and bassist

Pete Quaife Peter Alexander Greenlaw Quaife (born Kinnes; 31 December 1943 – 23 June 2010) was an English musician, artist and author. He was a founding member and the original bass guitarist for the Kinks, from 1963 until 1969. He also sang backing voca ...

recalled the band recording multiple takes as Ray searched for his desired result. Unlike most of the album's songs, its mix emphasises the low-end, particularly Quaife's bass and Avory's drums, which critic Stewart Mason terms "cleverly sloppy".

Release and legacy

"Picture Book" was among the tracks Ray sent to

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

in June1968 for ''

Four More Respected Gentlemen ''Four More Respected Gentlemen'' is an unreleased album by the English rock band the Kinks. The project arose out of the band's different American contract schedule, which obligated them to submit a new LP to Reprise Records in June1968. As ...

'', a US-only album planned for late1968, though the project was aborted before its release. While the sessions for ''The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society'' persisted through the summer of 1968, the Kinks mimed a performance of "Picture Book" for the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

programme ''

Colour Me Pop ''Colour Me Pop'' was a British music TV programme broadcast on BBC2 from 1968–1969. It was a spin-off from the BBC 2 arts magazine show '' Late Night Line-Up''. Designed to celebrate the new introduction of colour to British television, i ...

'' on 22 July. "Picture Book" was featured on both the twelve- and fifteen-track editions of ''Village Green'', sequenced as the third track in both cases, and Pye released the fifteen-track edition in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1968. In his preview of the album for ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' magazine, critic Keith Altham described "Picture Book" as a good example of the band's ability to extract a tinny' texture" from a guitar sound. Accompanying ''Village Green'' release, " Starstruck" was issued as a single in

backed with "Picture Book" in November1968. As the

, "Picture Book" did not chart, but did appear on the

Ultratip Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...

bubbling under chart in Belgium's French-speaking region of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

. In the lead-up to the album's American release, Reprise issued the same single in the United States, possibly on , though it may have been delayed a week. The single failed to chart in the US. The American alternative rock band

covered "Picture Book" on their 1989 album '' This One's for the Ladies'', a version Stewart Mason of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

calls "endearingly sloppy". "Picture Book" remained an obscure song until its use in a 2004 commercial for

advertising digital cameras and their accessories. The song subsequently became one of the Kinks' most popular songs, something journalist Andy Price thinks was furthered by the American band

using its opening

in their 2000 single " Warning". In a retrospective assessment for AllMusic, Mason wrote the song's newfound attention is well deserved since its melody is one of Ray's best from that period, and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' critic

Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at ''Blen ...

called it "the best photo-album song of the pre-

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

era", while acknowledging the darker undertone of the lyrics. In his ranking of the songs on ''Village Green'', ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' critic Morgan Enos placed it first in his list.

Personnel

According to band researcher Doug Hinman: The Kinks *

lead vocal, twelve-string acoustic guitar; producer *

backing vocal, electric guitar *

backing vocal, bass *

drums Additional production * Brian Humphries

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society , state=autoexpand 1968 songs Songs written by Ray Davies The Kinks songs Pye Records singles Song recordings produced by Ray Davies Reprise Records singles Songs about nostalgia