(Pye, 1970)If it’s praise for “Apeman” that you seek, seek elsewhere, PAL, because I don’t have many kind things to say about a single that takes Ray Davies’ dead-horse themes of dislocation and escape and forces them into a cloying, dunderheaded novelty entirely lacking in wit. Sure, I can appreciate new-guy John Gosling, who continues to make his presence felt with a pronounced piano/keys oom-pah that adds extra weight to the music, but, as on “Lola,” what’s up with Ray’s “in-character” vocals? That weak, tip-toe style of enunciating that he employs is EXTREMELY irritating, not to mention mildly racist during his terrible “reggae-man” spoken bit. Lousy lyrics (“I’m an apeman, I’m an ape-apeman, oh I’m an apeman / I’m a King Kong man, I’m a voodoo man / Oh I’m an apeman”) compound the problem, making “Apeman” a record that hardly ranks among the finer moments from ol’ Ray, a guy who likes to fancy himself the thinking-fellow’s pop star. Pfft. Clunker though it is, feel free to flip the thing over and enjoy “Rats,” a typically serviceable Dave Davies rawker. While the Kinks aren’t quite capable of running with the Heavy crowd of the early ’70s, this one makes a noble, noisy go of it and actually ain’t half bad. We’ll never see eye to eye on the whole alien-visitation thing, but I think we can at least agree that you did a swell job here, Dave! Common ground, my friend.
4 comments:
Jeeze, lighten up. This song is fun! Listen to how Ray sings "coconut tree," and if you can't laugh at "I'm think I'm so educated and I'm so civilized, 'cos I'm a strict vegetarian," well then, maybe you ain't eyeballing those borough brats with sufficient ape man scorn. And as mindless sing-alongs go (try it on a roadtrip with kids) "i'm an ape man, I'm an ape-ape-man" can be energizing. It's also funny thinking of Ray, who was man-handled by a cross-dresser in "Lola," suddenly declaring his Tarzan / Jane ethic.
A friend's dad insisted it said "keeps fucking up my eyes" and wouldn't let him play the song.
The song is fun? It's highly racist! There is a strong suggestion that the Occident is more civilized than Africa, and yes I understand that the lyrics are not flattering about civilization the point still stands. The lyrics are grounded in a rhetoric and ideology that is offensive to people of colour and was used to justify the oppression and enslavement of their ancestors. It was a different time and I think it's often unfair to judge purely by today's standards but I don't think the song should be celebrated. Same with Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc. And the video to that! I mean, it could have been made by the Thatcher government as a campaign video.
Paul - in today's context, very questionable on the race relations front I agree. But what many commenters seem to fail to take into account is which part of the past a song was written / recorded / released in, and this example seems no different. In 1970, no-one would have shouted "racist!" for the lyrics put together in this tune by Ray Davies. So, if this is a racist song, what is "Barbados" by Typically Tropical? It really is all about time context, and less about right-on modern correctness. And, as mentioned, it's just a fun fun record, a throwaway of its time, and I personally will continue to enjoy it, as I did in 1970/71.
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