This Kinks obscurity caught my ear on the CD deluxe edition of their great album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). I like it because it reminds me of T. Rex, which in 1969 was still the fey Tyrannosaurus Rex. It’s possible the song had some influence on T. Rex honcho Marc Bolan—he probably would have heard it, right? Although he would have had to be a fan. It was released as the b-side of “Plastic Man,” a hippie-like screed about convention and hypocrisy and such (compare the spoken-word interlude on Jimi Hendrix’s “If 6 Was 9,” compare The Graduate). “Plastic Man” fizzled because the BBC had a strict policy they would not play any song that included the word “bum.” “Plastic Man” and “King Kong,” widely considered inferior Kinks songs anyway at a time when the band was verging on moribund, were thus relegated to album homeless status, only appearing later on expanded editions of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, and elsewhere. Fair enough—“King Kong” qualifies as dum and stoopid in many ways, with a primitive stomping attack, chiming guitars, monotonous bass, and obvious regard for a rampaging movie monster. I happen to have some affection for that movie monster myself (and for T. Rex too), which I guess makes it more of a natural for me. And even when songwriter Ray Davies goes primitive his deepest instincts remain musical. “La-la-la” and “doo-doo-doo” once again sweeten the pot nicely. The opening line, “I’m King Kong and I’m ten feet long,” may be all you need to know, but note that the next line—“Got a big six-gun and everybody is scared”—suggests some unhappiness with the US. Who, in 1969, could blame them (indeed who, in 2026, could blame them?)?
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