K Recommends: “Come on Now” by The Kinks

Gotta have this song on your dance party playlist! If you like a feel-good tune that starts an instant shimmy, I highly suggest “Come on Now” by The Kinks! It has never failed me whether I have turned it up in someone’s living room after a potluck or when I put it on numerous mixtapes to fill the void exactly where a fun beat should be.

Early Kinks music was one of my favorite to explore when I first started growing my record collection. I was familiar with a lot of their 80s music and some earlier stuff. I had just stepped out of my indie rock comfort zone and sought out more garage rock of the 60s: The Sonics, The Shadows of Knight, The Remains. I was increasingly curious about the beginnings of bands I knew mostly by their hit single(s) or their incarnation in more recent times. Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and The Kinks were a few bands whose 1960s presence was fascinating and essential in my reverse-order music education.

The overall sound and exciting energy of “Come On Now” is intoxicating. I used to have this vintage dress with mushrooms all over it. This was a party dress and perfect accompaniment to this song and at these Mod/60s/Britpop dance nights I attended with friends.

It amazes me as I write this that the lyrics never stuck. Other than the title lines and “It’s getting late and we better go,” I only knew partial lyrics. Reading those lyrics today I am thinking “What is this song even about?” Either a couple is on the way to or leaving from a party. Either the lyrics are tongue-in-cheek or are meant to rib the girl being told repeatedly to “come on.” I won’t try to analyze but isn’t it interesting how we can love a song and hear it an infinite amount of times and still have no idea what it’s about?

At least dancing around in that mushroom dress left me oblivious, but loving this catchy track so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWD9K58GQB4(Song recommendation by K Weber)