Moving Pictures (The Kinks song)

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Moving Pictures (The Kinks song) - Wikipedia

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"Moving Pictures"

Single by The Kinks

from the album Low Budget

B-side

"In a Space"

Released

28 September 1979 (UK)^[1]

Recorded

January – June 1979

Genre

Pop rock, disco

Length

3:47

The Kinks singles chronology

"(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman"
(1979)

"Moving Pictures"
(1979)

"Pressure"
(1979)

Low Budget track listing

11 tracks

Side one

Side two

"Low Budget"
"In a Space"
"Little Bit of Emotion"
"A Gallon of Gas"
"Misery"
"Moving Pictures"

"Moving Pictures" is the final track on The Kinks' 1979 album Low Budget. Like the other ten tracks on the album, it was written by Ray Davies.

Lyrics and music

The lyrics of "Moving Pictures" focus on how life passes people by. It laments on how life is "always moving" and that "nothing in life is a permanent fixture". It then goes on to analyze life in general, with lines such as "we live, we die, no one knows why" and " life can sometimes not be very nice, but then you make your choice so you must pay the price." It then warns that "Life is only what you make out so make the verses rhyme and all the pieces fit, there isn't any time to make much sense of it, it soon fades away." It also makes mention of racial problems, with the line "black girls, white girls oh what a mixture, looking as pretty as a picture."

The track, like "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" (the lead single from Low Budget), attempts a disco feel, with a steady drum beat opening the song. Also, like most Kinks tracks, Ray Davies handles the lead vocal, which is double tracked at certain points during the track. Like the bulk of the album, Moving Pictures was recorded at the Power Station, a studio located in New York City.^[2]

Personnel

As per the credits given on Low Budget.^[2]

Ray Davies - lead vocals, synthesizer, piano
Dave Davies - lead guitar, backing vocals
Jim Rodford - bass guitar, backing vocals
Mick Avory - drums

Release and reception

"Moving Pictures" was released as the second U.K. single from Low Budget, backed with "In a Space", a track also from Low Budget.^[3]^{[deprecated source]} It was not considered commercially successful, as it did not make a dent in the charts.^{[citation needed]} The single was not released in either the United States or Continental Europe.

The track was considered "blandly reflective" by Rolling Stone.^[4] According to author Johnny Rogan, he described the track as a perspective of life seen through the eyes of an “impermanent film”.^[5] When released, Melody Maker described the track as "an amiable, proficient shuffle, but the lyrics hardly approach the timeless elliptical acuity of 1960s material like 'Fancy' or 'Wonder Boy'".^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Hinman, Doug. The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night. Backbeat Books. p. 233.
^ ^a ^b Hinman, Doug (2004). The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0-87930-765-3.
^ "Moving Pictures single on rateyourmusic.com".
^ "Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ Rogan, Johnny (5 March 2015). Ray Davies: A Complicated Life. Random House. ISBN 978-1-84792-331-8.

v t e The Kinks singles discography
1960s singles (UK & US)	1964 "Long Tall Sally" "You Still Want Me" "You Really Got Me" "All Day and All of the Night" 1965 "Tired of Waiting for You" "Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy" "Set Me Free" "See My Friends" "Who'll Be the Next in Line" "A Well Respected Man" "Till the End of the Day" 1966 "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" "Sunny Afternoon" "Dead End Street" 1967 "Mister Pleasant" "Waterloo Sunset" "Death of a Clown" (Dave Davies solo) "Autumn Almanac" "Susannah's Still Alive" (Dave Davies solo) 1968 "Wonderboy" "Days" "Lincoln County" (Dave Davies solo) 1969 "Starstruck" "Hold My Hand" (Dave Davies solo) "Plastic Man" "Drivin'" "The Village Green Preservation Society" "Shangri-La" "Victoria"
1970s singles (UK & US)	1970 "Lola" "Apeman" 1971 "God's Children" "20th Century Man" 1972 "Supersonic Rocket Ship" "Celluloid Heroes" 1973 "One of the Survivors" "Sitting in the Midday Sun" "Sweet Lady Genevieve" "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" 1974 "Money Talks" "Mirror of Love" "Mirror of Love" (band version) "Holiday Romance" "Preservation" 1975 "Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)" "Ducks on the Wall" "You Can't Stop the Music" 1976 "I'm in Disgrace" "No More Looking Back" 1977 "Sleepwalker" "Juke Box Music" "Father Christmas" 1978 "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" "Live Life" "Black Messiah" 1979 "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" "A Gallon of Gas" "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" "Moving Pictures" "Pressure"
1980s singles (UK & US)	1980 "Lola" (live) "You Really Got Me" (live) 1981 "Better Things" "Destroyer" "Predictable" 1982 "Come Dancing" 1983 "Don't Forget to Dance" 1984 "Good Day" "Do It Again" 1985 "Living on a Thin Line" (radio promo only) "Summer's Gone" 1986 "Rock 'n' Roll Cities" "How Are You" 1987 "Lost and Found" 1988 "The Road" 1989 "Down All the Days (Till 1992)"
1990s singles (UK & US)	1990 "How Do I Get Close" 1993 "Only a Dream" "Scattered"
Other singles (non-UK/US)	1966 "Dandy" (Europe) 1969 "Picture Book" (Australia) "Australia" (Australia) 1983 "State of Confusion" (Germany) 1991 "Did Ya" (Europe)
Other songs	"So Mystifying" "Bald Headed Woman" "Stop Your Sobbing" "Dancing in the Street" "I Need You" "I Go to Sleep" "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" "Big Black Smoke" "Party Line" "Rosy Won't You Please Come Home" "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" "David Watts" "Two Sisters" "Polly" "She's Got Everything" "Do You Remember Walter?" "Johnny Thunder" "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" "Big Sky" "Sitting by the Riverside" "Animal Farm" "Village Green" "Phenomenal Cat" "All of My Friends Were There" "Wicked Annabella" "Monica" "People Take Pictures of Each Other" "Berkeley Mews" "Mr. Churchill Says" "Strangers" "This Time Tomorrow" "Rats" "Got to Be Free" "Have a Cuppa Tea" "Oklahoma U.S.A." "Muswell Hillbilly" "Sitting in My Hotel" "The Hard Way" "Life Goes On" "Misfits" "Attitude" "Low Budget" "Give the People What They Want" "Heart of Gold"

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