Days (The Kinks song)



"Days" is a song by The Kinks, written by lead singer Ray Davies, released as a single in 1968. It also appeared on an early version of the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (released only in continental Europe and New Zealand), and now appears as a bonus track of the remastered CD. On the original Pye 7N 17573 label, the name of the song is "Day's" due to a grammatical error.

Release and reception
The song was an important single for Davies and the Kinks, coming in a year of declining commercial fortunes for the band. The song had been intended as an album track but after the relative failure of the previous single "Wonderboy" (which only reached No. 36 in the UK), "Days" was rushed out as a single with an old unreleased track "She's Got Everything" (recorded in February 1966 in the same session as "Dedicated Follower of Fashion") as the B-side. It reached No. 12 on the UK chart, but failed to chart in the U.S. This did not help future releases however as the next four Kinks singles failed to reach the top 30 (two of them failing to chart altogether) in the UK.

The song appeared on an advertisement for the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet in 2011 and, in the 2013 comedy film, The Harry Hill Movie when Hill saves Abu the Hamster from being killed by a crazy vet.

Charts

 * UK: No. 12
 * Bel: No. 17
 * Ger: No. 28
 * NL: No. 7
 * NZ: No. 11

Kirsty MacColl version
Kirsty MacColl covered "Days" on her 1989 album Kite. It was released as a single and reached No. 12 on the UK singles chart, the same position achieved by The Kinks in 1968. It was re-released in 1995, charting much lower, only reaching No. 42 in the UK. It was one of MacColl's most popular singles.

Music video
The video features MacColl in old fashioned clothing sitting on a meadow and riding in a boat whilst encountering animated animals.

Track listing
The single was released in multiple formats. Each featured "Days" and "Happy", and all bar the 7" and cassette featured "Still Life". Both CD formats (the standard case and the Kite-shaped case) had "Please Help Me, I'm Falling", whilst "El Paso" was only available on the 10".
 * 1) "Days"
 * 2) "Happy"
 * 3) "El Paso"
 * 4) "Still Life"
 * 5) "Please Help Me, I'm Falling"

Other versions
The song was covered by a number of artists at the time including Petula Clark on her 1968 album Petula, The Hillsiders as a B-side to their 1969 single "Kentucky Woman" (RCA 1804) and James Last in an instrumental version on Non-Stop Dancing No. 7 (also 1969).

It was also covered by Luke Kelly of The Dubliners.

A version of the song recorded by Elvis Costello appeared on the soundtrack of the 1991 Wim Wenders film, Until the End of the World. It is also featured on his 1995 covers album Kojak Variety.

"Days/This Time Tomorrow" - Ray Davies and Mumford & Sons is featured on Ray Davies solo album See My Friends.

The song was also covered by Flo & Eddie on the album "Flo & Eddie," which was originally released in 1974 and was re-released in 2008 as a double CD with "The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie," which was originally released in 1972.

It is covered by Colin Meloy on Colin Meloy Sings The Kinks (2013).