Tired of Waiting

Fantasy Bob reads with interest that Ray Davies is trying to reassemble the Kinks.  Great.  FB has long been an admirer of Davies and the Kinks, and shares the view that Davies is one of the most important songwriters of the post war period. 

1973 Album cover

However it wasn't until recently that FB discovered that, although Davies' batting and bowling averages are not available to public view, he wrote and recorded a song called Cricket.  Possibly the only pop/rock song on this subject. It features on the 1973 album Preservation Act 1, a concept/rock opera type work as was the vogue in those days of flares and tank tops.  The album was not particularly well received as the Kinks began to lose popularity from the high days of Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset.  |In FB's view the song Cricket is not a Davies' great (hear it yourself on this link)- it purports to be sung by 'The Vicar' and presents the laws and structure of cricket in a moralistic context - eg the demon googly bowler is the servant of Satan (as is well known).  The strongest and most enduring Davies' song on Preservation Act 1 is Sweet Genevieve.  It is not about cricket.  But it is Test Match Quality.

Ray Davies in recent action

Some other Davies' songs could be about cricket:

End of the Season  - a lament in August - actually the lyric for this song mentions a rugby scrum perhaps the only pop song to do so
Tired of Waiting - the non-striking batsman expresses his impatience at the over cautious calling of his partner 
Village Green - obviously 
All the Day and All of the Night - a meditation on the day-night match format
You Really Got Me - the batsman walks and in a gentlemanly way applauds the bowler for his skill in dismissing him.

FB's all time Ray Davies favourite? No competition - Waterloo Sunset.  Try the link from last year's Glastonbury performance.  Every day I look at the world from my window.  Test Match Quality.