The Kinks’ Shangri-La: A Satirical Exploration of Cultural Modernity.
Shangri-La was released by the Kinks in 1969. It was a somewhat fitting commentary to the end of a decade which was arguably the most culturally and socially diverse of any that had come before. In 1968, for instance, protest ripped through the Western World, and John Lennon sang of Revolution. According to E.P. Thompson, the revolutionary support in 1968 was the product of “a generation nourished on Animal Farm and 1984” who “think it necessary to watch the politicians”. Indeed, the political shift “out of apathy” was emphasised by the youth movements in 1968. Why, then, did the Kinks write a song so overtly satirical of modernised society? The music critic Hugh Fielder suggested that “if George Orwell wrote songs… he’d be writing Ray Davies’ songs”. Indeed, The Kinks’ frontman wrote an array of politically satirical songs, many of which feature on the 1969 concept album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), in which Shangri-La features. The album was written as an accompaniment to a “rock opera” proposed by Granada Television, suggesting that Shangri-La’s audience would have been – primarily – TV owners. By 1961, 75% of houses in England and Wales owned a black and white television. However, the album wasn’t immediately popular, evidenced by its failure to immediately appear in the ‘Top 40’.
According to the historian Keith Gildart, Shangri-La is a commentary on “developing suburban identities”. To this end, it subverts traditional definitions of affluence by presenting a satirical expression of suburbia. The 1946 New Towns Act was revised in 1965 and facilitated the rapid growth of suburban housing. Alongside increased wages, earnings and higher purchase, an affordable ‘utopia’ was created.
The title ‘Shangri–La’ is an immediate indication of the satirical and critical nature of the song. The traditional Shangri-La was based on the “utopian” Shambhala from ancient Tibetan Buddhism. According to legend, “this was a place of peace and prosperity”. British suburbs were presented as a utopia, which Gildart suggests “brainwashed” suburbanites who wanted a “more economically liberal and socially authoritarian Britain”.
Young and Willmott documented the “exodus into the inner suburbs” in their book Family and Kinship. This is referenced in the first line of Shangri-La, where Davies sings “Now that you’ve found your paradise”. It could thus be argued that Shangri-La is about the perception and search of a better life. Andrew Palmer concurs and suggests that Shangri-La “considers suburban contentment”. Conversely, Fischer disagrees and highlights a “prejudice against suburbs, often perceived as subtopian”. Although Shangri-La is critical of the new suburban lifestyles, Davies maintains that Shangri-La expressed “an underlying sympathy for the role played by middle-class Britain” rather than channeling an attack on suburbia.
Shangri-La contemplates affluence during the 1960s. Certainly, Davies’ lyrics evoke rising living standards alongside increased spending power, emphasised by Arthur’s material wealth. For instance, “you can go outside and polish your car”. Increased spending power helped categorise the working classes under the “embourgeoisement” thesis, which explored flexible class-consciousness. Indeed, “you need not worry, you need not care; you can’t go anywhere”.
Shangri-La portrays ‘paradise’ through suburban uniformity and consumerism. To this end, the second verse of the song features the lyric “you’ve reached your top and you just can’t get any higher, you’re in your place and you know where you are, in your Shangri-La”. It could be interpreted that suburban life is maintained through an Orwellian ‘doublethink’ mentality, or self-deception. For instance, Arthur is trapped at “his top” because he is content with what he has and is “too scared to complain; ‘cos he’s conditioned that way”. This relates to the sympathy Davies’ has for the “brainwashed” suburbanites, who believe in their own paradise despite Arthur’s neighbours living in “another Shangri-La” – or another paradise.
Shangri-La opposes the contemporary orthodox worldview and is thus a facet of counterculture. However, it would be too simplistic to evaluate Shangri-La as an explicitly counterculture song. The album does not subscribe to any single ideology. Whilst Shangri-La explores the uniformity of suburbia where “all the houses in the street, they look the same”, Victoria (another song from the album Arthur) explores patriotism. As Gildart acknowledged, Ray Davies’ politics were often ambiguous, and rather than providing a political or social critique of the working-classes, Shangri-La could be an expression of Davies’ anger at affluence.
Richard Hoggart’s The Uses of Literacy can help to underpin the source. It must be considered, as Gildart surmised, that “Davies shared Hoggart’s awareness of the cultural dangers that accompanied social change and… he aimed to preserve aspects of working-class culture through his songs”.
Shangri-La considers a superficial paradise – juxtaposing comfort and consumerism with uniformity and entrapment which – when situated within the context of Britain under classically Conservative governments – elucidates Gildart’s description of an “economically liberal and socially authoritarian Britain”. Therefore, Shangri-La is an important historical source in examining suburban attitudes. Although it can be argued that Davies’ lyrics are highly opinionated and therefore somewhat unreliable – he grew up in a suburb – they nonetheless posit a satirical examination of affluence, suburbanisation and working-class lifestyles in the post-war world.
Contemporary commentaries and responses to cultural and societal shifts are excellent indicators in better understanding human culture. Shangri-La is a microcosm of the generic trend in which artists capture cultural, political and societal shifts. This was evident in 1968, when The Beatles rejected violent revolution, instead endorsing peaceful societal engagement and discussion. John Lennon suggested that by ‘carrying pictures of Chairman Mao’, political and cultural change would not appeal to people outside of that political sphere:
You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that its evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out (in)
Overall, art sits as a medium of cultural expression. Ray Davies expressed an element of anger at affluence and modern living through Shangri-La, much like Lennon voiced his frustration at the methods employed by students in Paris, London and the United States during 1968.
Bibliography
Campbell, Felicia F., ‘Shangri-La: Utopian Bridge Between Cultures’, Utopian Studies, 3, (1991), pp. 86-91
Davies, Dave, Kink: An Autobiography, (London: Boxtree, 1996)
Davies, Ray, ‘Shangri-La (12th September, 1969)’, The Kinks, <https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kinks/shangrila.html> [Accessed 21/20/2019]
Fischer, Fiona, ‘Kenneth Wood: Modern Surrey Houses of the 1950s and 1960s’, Twentieth Century Architecture, 12, (2015), pp. 156-171
Gildart, Keith, ‘From ‘Dead End Streets’ to ‘Shangri-Las’: Negotiating Social Class and Post-War Politics with Ray Davies and the Kinks’, Contemporary British History, 26, 3 (2012), pp. 273-298
Izabella Curyllo-Klag, ‘Utopia, Dystopia and the “Heretic Streak”: The Orwellian Aesthetic in Ray Davies’ Song Writing and Other Creative Projects’, Studia Humanistyczne AGH, 15, 2 (2016), pp. 7-15
Martin, Mike W., ‘Demystifying Doublethink: Self-Deception, Truth, and Freedom in 1984’, Social Theory and Practise, 10, 3 (1984), pp. 319-331.
Offer, Avner, ‘The Challenge of Affluence: Self-Control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950’, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)
Official Charts, ‘Chart Archive (13 September, 1969)’ , The Official Charts Company, <https://web.archive.org/web/20110309210851/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/1/1969-09-13> [Accessed 05/11/2019]
Palmer, Andrew, ‘In a Land that I Love: Working-Class Identity and the End of the Empire in Ray Davies’ ‘Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire’, Popular Music and Society, 37, 2 (2014), pp. 210-232
Trungpa, Chogyam, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, (Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 1984)