'I miss the village green. With all the simple people . I miss the village green. The church. The clock. the steeple.....'
Nostalgia's not what it used to be. It probably never has been. Or will be again. The Kinks were always very good on its comforts and tiger traps. Look out your window. That's what I'm doing as I type this. I sit at my desk on the second floor of a picturesque listed Georgian building of flats near the Central Station . It's a lovely day and I have a glorious view of the street below .I glance down at the pavement opposite my flat and can watch as people pass by below and can speculate on where they're coming from and where they're heading to. And what are the thoughts in their heads. .
And all the time as I do so Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks spins on the turntable in the corner of my flat, It's an album whuch came out when I was three years old and had little awareness of the existence of the UK. I was born in Zimbabwe . We all came back when I was 60 yo the land where my parents had grown up .
I've never forgotten that I was not born here. That I was born somehwere else and that some might consider me an immigrant. An outsider. As they do others. Now at 60 I'm more aware of this strange and troubled country. In many ways I'd prefer to be somewhere else. But this is where I've made my home and I love Newcastle.
I also love The Kinks and Village Green Preservation Society. It has 14 songs. Not a dud amongst them. Sweet pop songs wuth hodden depths. About railway trains and village greens. And sitting by the riverside and staring at the sky and dreaming of escape .
Nostalgia's not what it used to be. But the people are still prone to being rather simple from where I sit. I do not except myself from that judgement We're easily swept by simple narratives and easy solutions to complicated problems. But so long as we like the Kinks !
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