Ray Davies on Moz

[Uncleskinny]

Missed this snippet from this month's Uncut:

Q: Apparrently, Morrissey was going to cover your song "Harry Rag". Did he ever contact you about it, and what do you think of Morrissey as an English Songwriter? (Pete James, Bromley, Kent)

A: I've never thought of him as English. I think he's a superb cabaret singer, in the great tradition of Jacques Brel and Marc Almond. He didn't contact me. Think I said hello to him once.

 

[Helvissa]

Oh you arse, Mr Davies! Now, I have to say first of all, that I adore the Kinks, and they're my favourite band from the 1960s (yes, even more than the crappy Beatles, and more interesting than the Rolling Stones, to my ear at least), but for Ray to call Moz a cabaret singer is a bit low.

Moz and Davies have many similarities - why Ray seems to think he has cornered the market on "singing Englishness" is rather mean of him! And where do we start? Oh, the sexual ambiguity of "See My Friends", songs about the end of the British Empire, songs about tea....

Maybe Moz needs to wear a hat like Anthony Eden, because it makes him feel like a Lord?