In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Hello you, hello me, hello people we used to be
Isn’t it strange, we never changed
We’ve been through it all yet we’re still the same
And I know it’s a miracle, we still go, and for all we know
We might still have a way to go
Hello me, hello you, you say you want out
Want to start anew, throw in your hand
Break up the band, start a new life, be a new man
But for all we know, we might still have a way to go
Before you go, there’s something you ought to know
There’s a guy in my block, he lives for rock
He plays records day and night
And when he feels down, he puts some rock ’n’ roll on
And it makes him feel alright
And when he feels the world is closing in
He turns his stereo way up high
He just spends his life, living in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living on the edge of reality
He just spends his life, in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living on the edge of reality
He just spends his life, in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, livingt in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
Look at me, look at you
You say you’ve got nothing left to prove
The king is dead, rock is done
You might be through but I’ve just begun
I don’t know, I feel free and I won’t let go
Before you go, there’s something you ought to know
Dan is a fan and he lives for our music
It’s the only thing that gets him by
He’s watched us grow and he’s seen all our shows
He’s seen us low and he’s seen us high
Oh, but you and me keep thinking
That the world’s just passing us by
Dont’ want to spend my life, living in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
Don’t want to spend my life living on the edge of reality
Don’t want to waste my life, hiding away anymore
Don’t want to spend my life, living in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy...
Isn’t it strange, we never changed
We’ve been through it all yet we’re still the same
And I know it’s a miracle, we still go, and for all we know
We might still have a way to go
Hello me, hello you, you say you want out
Want to start anew, throw in your hand
Break up the band, start a new life, be a new man
But for all we know, we might still have a way to go
Before you go, there’s something you ought to know
There’s a guy in my block, he lives for rock
He plays records day and night
And when he feels down, he puts some rock ’n’ roll on
And it makes him feel alright
And when he feels the world is closing in
He turns his stereo way up high
He just spends his life, living in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living on the edge of reality
He just spends his life, in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living on the edge of reality
He just spends his life, in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, livingt in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
Look at me, look at you
You say you’ve got nothing left to prove
The king is dead, rock is done
You might be through but I’ve just begun
I don’t know, I feel free and I won’t let go
Before you go, there’s something you ought to know
Dan is a fan and he lives for our music
It’s the only thing that gets him by
He’s watched us grow and he’s seen all our shows
He’s seen us low and he’s seen us high
Oh, but you and me keep thinking
That the world’s just passing us by
Dont’ want to spend my life, living in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy
Don’t want to spend my life living on the edge of reality
Don’t want to waste my life, hiding away anymore
Don’t want to spend my life, living in a rock ’n’ roll fantasy...
Lyrics submitted by wcr94
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It's a plea from Ray Davies to his brother Dave not to leave the band.
Dave is apparently thinking that there's no point in carrying on, but Ray says "you might be through but I’ve just begun". He then goes on to tell him about Dan, a loyal fan, illustrating that their continuing to make music is not for nothing, that "it’s the only thing that gets him by".
Incidentally, the song came out on the Misfits album in 1978, just a year after Elvis Presley died - hence the relevance of "the king is dead".
i think it's Ray arguing with himself whether it's time to chuck it all in or keep the band going.
I think it's about a member of a band who doesn't want to be in the band anymore.
desperation, sadness..realizing that it's over and not having anything to replace it
I think it's about the band about to break up, but before they do they should consider the consequences for their fans. In the end they decide that if they indeed need to break up they need to inevitably do so otherwise they would be just like their fans listening to their music, living a fantasy.
@webmasterdee What Ray calls “Fantasy” is really just a person’s “Coping mechanism”, the subject of the song, be it Dave or Ray himself, disparages what he does for a living because he feels he’s just a case of “arrested development”, and that if he’d just put down playing this ‘childish’ rock n roll he’d be able to “move forward” with his life...<br /> <br /> But as JohnLennon said, “Life” is what happens to you while you’re busy making OTHER plans. The singer of AR&RF seems to understand, better than the person he’s singing TO, this concept, and that the music the band makes is goddamned IMPORTANT to their fans. <br /> <br /> A Rock n Roll Fantasy is concerned with the “Inner” life...
"Dan is a fan and he lives for our music It’s the only thing that gets him by...Oh, but you and me keep thinking That the world’s just passing us by"
He's telling his brother that while things seem to be boring and monotonous, as I'm sure they are in that business, when you only have a limited selection of songs to play at every gig, some of the people listening to you are living on every word, and their world will come crashing down on them if you end it all.
In other words, the world is bigger than Ray and Dave, and they owe the world the best music they can provide. And, thankfully, the song did seem to get through to Dave.
It is a plea from Ray Davis to his brother not to leave the band. "Dan" is symbolic for all the people that love their music and the fact that it makes a difference because it gets them through the day through the mundane. He is trying to tell his brother who wants to break the band up that their music is still important and that they still have a way to go. They are not done yet. You must understand this was a time in the US and the UK that was very difficult on many rock and roll bands period music was taking a really weird Direction and many bands threw in the towel. As many songs are story in this particular story we find that Ray Davis has tried to convince his brother over and again that their music is still meaningful however his brother is done. And lyrics "the king is dead rock is done you might be through but I've just begun" once again shows that even Elvis is dead and Brock is done Ray Davis is still determined and is clear that their music is still meaningful," I don't know I feel free and I Won't Let Go"- it's not just breaking up the band it's ending the relationship of two brothers. This is something impossible to explain unless you are a person that has a sibling and you both have gone your Separate Ways. In the end we find closure in the lyric I don't want to spend my life living in a Rock and Roll Fantasy I don't want to hide anymore. Ray Davis finally comes to acceptance and realizes the matter what he says that his brother does not wish to go on with the band and it's over. It's sad but everything that is beautiful ends in a sad way. Hey you can burn out if you're not on fire
This is a song I could have taken or left for ages. Now, I see and hear the brilliance of it. Ray and the band do a good job of summing up the rock n roll band-rock n roll fan symbiosis. As others have said, it’s a plea from Ray to Dave to please don’t leave the band. Ray’s probably talking to himself a bit as well. But, the plea includes “evidence”, he’s trying to show a tired and melancholy musician that, contrary to what they may believe, they make a huge difference in the lives of their fans and vice versa:
The opening (2 verses and change) states the problem, somebody wants to leave the group. They’ve lost their faith or they feel they don’t make much difference anymore. They want change because we ALL sometimes fall into that trap: “Somethibg’s gotta change”, but Ray asks his indulgence as he tells a story, then he can leave if he still wants to.
BRIDGE 1: Ray tells Dave of someone he knows personally who truly feels he couldn’t get by without The Kinks/Rock n Roll. An example of what THEY DO FOR THE FANS, in case Dave can’t see it, which Ray believes is the case, obviously.
CHORUS: We get the title, but what Ray is saying here is that this guy needs and uses RnR/The Kinks as his dose of sanity in an insane world. We all, absolutely, NEED escape from Society, which is a construct of man. “No live organism can exist for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream”. This sums it up, I think, how the word “fantasy” is used by Ray here.
BRIDGE 2: An example of WHAT THE FANS DO FOR THEM, again, in case Dave (and/or Ray himself) can’t see it. “DAN the Fan” may not play an instrument or sing but he (and she, let’s not forget the women), is what REALLY makes it work, the fans who “get it”. “He’s watched us grow and he’s seen all our shows, he’s seen us low and he’s seen us high”. If someone is truly lucky to find one friend that good in their lifetime, someone who has your back even on a bad night because they know what you can do on a good one, if you finding a single friend that good in your entire life, then who’s luckier than US?!? , Ray seems to be saying. And the line “But you and me keep thinking that the world is just passing us by”, that you feel like you’re living in a “rock n fantasy” except “fantasy” is used pejoratively here to express Dave’s (and Ray’s) misgivings and misunderstandings about how they impact the lives of their fans and vice versa. So Ray shows him that the situation they are in, with fans that ADORE THEM, couldn’t be any better, that they HAVE what they want, what every band wants, and going off their separate ways is t going to get them closer to what they believe they want, it’d be taking them away from it. Ray shows him that the power of the music and the fans love of the music ???? and the IMPACT this has on all their lives is very real, not a “fantasy” at all, only “Fanastic” insofar as it’s an AMAZING PHENOMENON.
To sum it up, I realize that I am The “fans” in this song, especially fan number 1, and this song just hits me in the gut, it unlike the way I feel when I hear ‘Drift Away’ by Dobie Gray. Really really POWERFUL STUFF, because I really do “believe” in rock n’ roll, certainly on a personal level, if not quite so powerful it could “change the world”, i.e., Stop the Wars, as Bono once sang. I find nothing as inspirational as great rock n roll. Nothing. And trust me, I need inspiration these days. as much, if not more, than most.