Turntable handle

Give The People What They Want

The Kinks 1981

Give The People What They Want

A side songs

Title Lyrics Song Credits Duration Plays
play_circle_filled Around The Dial (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

4:48 3
play_circle_filled Give The People What They Want (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

3:43 2
play_circle_filled Killer's Eyes (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

4:36 1
play_circle_filled Predictable (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

3:20 0
play_circle_filled Add It Up (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

3:12 0

B side songs

Title Lyrics Song Credits Duration Plays
play_circle_filled Destroyer (clip preview) menu_book 3:44 0
play_circle_filled Yo-Yo (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

4:09 0
play_circle_filled Back To Front (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

3:18 0
play_circle_filled Art Lover (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

3:31 0
play_circle_filled A Little Bit Of Abuse (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

3:45 1
play_circle_filled Better Things (clip preview) menu_book
supervisor_account

All songs written and produced by Ray Davies

2:44 2
About

Give the People What They Want is the 19th studio album by The Kinks. It was released in August 1981 in the US, but not until January 1982 in Europe. It was delayed because lead singer Ray Davies wanted to produce a full-length video for the album but financing fell through. Also scrapped were plans to remix the album for the European market. It was initially aimed to be a statement on the media.

Lyrics

Title Lyrics
Around The Dial

Radios of the world are tuning in tonight,
Are you on the dial, are you tuned in right?
One of our D.J.'s is missing.
Are you listening?
Are you listening to me?
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me clearly?
Around the dial.

I've been around the dial so many times,
But you're not there.
Somebody tells me that you've been taken off the air.
Well, you were my favorite D.J.,
Since I can't remember when.
You always played the best records,
You never followed any trend.
F.M., A.M. where are you?
You gotta be out there somewhere on the dial.
On the dial.

(Are you ready) We're going 'round the dial,
(Are you listening) Around the dial,
(Are you tuned in) Around the dial,
(Are you searchin') Around the dial.
...

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Give The People What They Want
Hey, hey, hey...
Give the people what they want

Well, it's been said before, the world is a stage
A different performance with every age
Open the history book to any old page
Bring on the lions and open the cage

Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please

The Roman promoters really did things right
...

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(1409623739512)
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Killer's Eyes
I see so little hope in you,
So much despair,
As I look in your eyes I wonder,
What thoughts linger there.
Life means nothing to you,
At least that's what they say,
But it doesn't mean that you have the right to take life away.

How were we to know what was going on inside your mind.
You never let it show what was going on behind
Those killer's eyes
Killer's eyes

You've seen your picture in the paper.
You're little sister's pinned it on the wall.
She thinks you're in some kind of movie.
Imagine her surprise when she saw you on the news.
Reporters came around and asked for interviews.
So little compassion, so icy cool.
They say you were a poor boy, you know that life can be cruel.
Hate builds up from childhood, your world was a slum
...

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Predictable
Don't know why I'm even bothering.
(Predictable)
Yeah, that's the mood I'm in.
Go out for a walk then I come back in.
(Predictable)
Yeah, the mood that I'm in.
(Predictable)
Every day of my life
Can't even communicate with my wife
(Predictable)
That's the word of the year
(Predictable)
All I see, all I hear.

Go to my office, sit at my desk,
Predictably just like all of the rest.
I sit and I dream about far away places,
Away from the people with frowns on their faces.
All of my life is monotony
I'd go out for a walk but I know it would be
(Predictable)
Sure as the nose on my face
...

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Add It Up
The first time that I saw you, you were modestly waiting for a bus
Now you're driving around in hired limousines
And you talk so upper class.

The cost is high, but it's not the only price you ultimately pay
Add it up, you might have got some money
But you lost me on the way

Add it up, oh
Add it up, oh
Add it up, oh
Add it up, oh

Ah, Gucci, Gucci, Gucci
...

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(1409623739512)
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Destroyer
Met a girl called Lola and I took her back to my place
Feeling guilty, feeling scared, hidden cameras everywhere
Stop! Hold on, stay in control

Girl, I want you here with me
But I'm really not as cool as I'd like to be
'Cause there's a red under my bed
And there's a little yellow man in my head
And there's a true blue inside of me
That keeps stopping me, touching ya, watching ya, loving ya

Paranoia, the destroyer
Paranoia, the destroyer

Well I fell asleep, then I woke feeling kinda queer
Lola looked at me and said, "Ooh, you look so weird"
She said, "Man, there's really something wrong with you
One day you're gonna self-destruct"
You're up, you're down, I can't work you out
You get a good thing going, then you blow yourself out
...

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(1409623739512)
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Yo-Yo
There are many different people,
Livin' double lives.
One for the office,
And one that they take home to their wives.
He sits in the armchair, watching channel 4,
With his brains not expected home for an hour or more.
He's still drifting to and fro, like a yo-yo.

His wife is in the kitchen, fixin' her old man's tea
She's thinking to herself,
"He's not the man that married me, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."
They used to laugh together, now he's never at home.
Now she's fighting back the tears, she can't even laugh alone.
She's just sitting by the telephone, like a yo-yo.

You needed me when you were crying,
But now you're laughing I'm the last thing on your mind.
First you love me, then you don't.
...

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(1409623739512)
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Back To Front
Just come back where I came from,
Looks the same as something's wrong.
And all my friends that used to be,
Have gone and turned their backs on me.
Everyone's got different views,
Now I'm all shook up and all confused.

East is West, left is right,
Up is down, and black is white,
Inside-out, wrong is right,
It's back to front and I'm all uptight.

I've just come back from fantasy,
Right back to reality.
Stayed away too long but now I've found,
...

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Art Lover
Sunday afternoon there's something special
It's just like another world
Jogging in the park is my excuse
To look at all the little girls

I'm not a flasher in a rain coat
I'm not a dirty old man
I'm not gonna snatch you from your mother

I'm an art lover
Come to daddy
Ah, come to daddy
Come to daddy

Pretty little legs, I want to draw them
...

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A Little Bit Of Abuse
One on the nose, one on the chin,
You bruise so easy, so why stay with him?
He uses you just like a human punching bag.
But you don't complain, you're too scared to speak.
Anyway, it only really hurts you when you laugh,
And when you eat.
But you can't break the pattern, week after week.
The bruises show,
But he must be special otherwise you'd just get up and go.
You'll never let us know
Exactly how you feel.
What's the use, the cynics say it's no excuse,
You keep running back just to get a little bit of abuse.
...

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Better Things
Here's wishing you the bluest sky
And hoping something better comes tomorrow
Hoping all the verses rhyme
And the very best of choruses too
Follow all the doubt and sadness
I know that better things are on the way

Here's hoping all the days ahead
Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you
Be an optimist instead
And somehow happiness will find you
...

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(1409623739512)
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Album Credits

  • Bass - Jim Rodford
  • Drums - Mick Avory
  • Keyboards - Ian Gibbons
  • Lead Guitar, Vocals - Dave Davies
  • Rhythm Guitar, Synthesizer, Piano, Lead Vocals - Ray Davies

Mastered By - Bob Ludwig

Typography [Inner Sleeve Lettering] - Hal Fiedler

Design [Album Design] - Neal Pozner

Photography By - Robert Ellis

Band Management - Renaissance Management