3 June, 1966.

Whilst here may not be any sunshine, and there definitely won’t be any lazing about on this particular afternoon, it’s still a groovy enough way to start the day and for now, that will just have to do.

This was the first song written by Ray Davies after taking a break from the band, mainly due to fatherhood but also because of tensions within the band, trouble with their management and dealing with their sudden stardom in general. Davies recalled that he had just bought a new upright piano and was at home, watching his one-year-old daughter crawling on the floor, when he wrote the opening riff of the song.

At a time when Harold Wilson’s government was imposing high levels of tax, Davies created the alter ego of a sad, ageing, Conservative aristocrat but not wanting people to sympathise with this character, made him “a scoundrel who fought with his girlfriend after a night of drunkenness and cruelty.“

On its release the song was a global success, reaching number one in Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and here in the UK, where it spent thirteen weeks on the chart and knocked The Beatles’ Paperback Writer off the top spot before staying there for two weeks.