The Kinks – Victoria

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  General Comment:Didn't read through all the comments, so sorry if this has been pointed out already but I think he chose to have the chorus 'Victoooooria' because it's a bit like 'victooooooory-a' and of course the obvious meaning, Queen Victoria. It's apt and quite clever :)

  Flag ManicMelon April 08, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:The song really ISN'T sarcastic. The reason why a 60's band would 'endorse' (if you like) the British Empire, is because being born in the 1940's like most of the Kinks were, meant that their parents and grandparents and other close relatives, would have stood up, spilled their blood and fought for a country that was once great.
  
  The song is more of a lament of the romantic aspect of Queen Victoria and her Empire, which was long gone, the romanticism of a generation which was prepared to spill its blood for the country they loved so dearly.
  
  In short, rather than thinking of the politics of attitudes to colonisation, or more appropriately de-colonisation and post-imperial Britain (being the 1960's) it is a sort of patriotic and romantic love song, for an era that had disappeared forever.

  Flag MisterMagpieon February 22, 2011   Link

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  My Interpretation:It sure sounds like Ray trails off with ... Victoria fucked them all, and not Loved them all. I think Mr. Davies loved, was critical and protective of his home turf.
  
  That little turn of the music, "Land of hope and Gloria"(a bridge?) makes me want to be British.

  Flag TYROCRITon February 02, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I would have agreed it was sarcastic if it wasn't for the line 'Though I am poor, I am free'. Although many who have only known freedom may not understand it, freedom is something to truly be grateful for. I think he is being sincere and understands that life is not fair - there will always be those with money and there will always be the poor. Davies seems to love his country and his Queen.

  Flag Victoria65on January 17, 2011   Link

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    That's a nice way of looking at it, and I tend to agree you could be correct.
    
    However, another possibility is this: the singer of the song is a young boy: "When I grow, I shall fight". Therefore, he's at that age where he's being indoctrinated by day at school and by night by parents. That's why he expresses some confusion in his lyrics: "And the rich were so mean" coexists with "I was born, lucky me, In a land that I love, Though I am poor, I am free"...
    
    If (indeed) the rich Lords in their stately homes playing croquet are mean; and our writer is a boy who is poor and has no chance to occupy such homes (except as a servant) then one can conclude that our writer is a simpleton.

    Flag KPRyanon July 17, 2012  
• +1
  General Comment:The song is certainly sarcastic and it serves its point within the Arthur narrative as such. However, it's also easily the most self contained song on the album... it doesn't mesh with the story's timeframe (it's set some 60 years after Victoria's death and deals with a man in his 50s) and while the first two verses mesh with the albums overall theme, they have almost nothing to do with the actual plot. The last verse is a bit more complicated... Ray Davies is an old Tory at heart, his love for Victorian and Edwardian Britain knows no bounds and has been demonstrated in song on many, many occasions. It's easy to read it as both a lead in to the next two (decidedly anti-war, anti-military) songs and as a statement of Davies' personal feelings.

  Flag brodie734on December 22, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:Victoria is not sarcastic at all but taken from the point of view of a young, naive individual. Check out the whole "Arthur" album to get the total picture.

  Flag robsunon July 08, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:The Australian Tourist Commission is looking for a new advertisement but really I'm surprised that the Victorian Tourist Board hasn't ripped off a few lines of this song!

  Flag chrisb1on May 12, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:There may be a degree of sarcasm in the song... not much though... its not a celebration of empire or the Victorian era... I think its a 50s 60s post war comment.. At the time there were popular series of war comics sold at railway stations, bus stations, newsagents etc read by every small boy and adolescent into their late teens... its not even a celebration of these more a social comment on attitudes as the concept of empire faded away.

  Flag MJ007on September 01, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:The song was written shortly after the birth of his daughter, Victoria. Personally, I think the song was as much about what he wants for her as it is about Queen Victoria

  Flag pumpkinsheepon August 29, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:I don't think the song is sarcastic. Though Ray wasn't born into the victorian era, I agree with jonpalin in saying that he may actually have some affection for Queen Victoria.
  'I was born, lucky me
  In a land that I love
  Though I am poor, I am free
  When I grow I shall fight
  For this land I shall die
  Let her sun never set'
  I agree with the point that, to some people it could seem somewhat pathetic to be that patriotic - though Victoria's gone, and so is almost all of the British Empire (although some still remained when this song was wrote) Ray still remains so - but in my opinion it's a good thing. And i love the song :D.

  Flag comedancingon September 20, 2008   Link

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    Of course it's sarcastic. The song was (as previously mentioned) written for a TV series that didn't work out, about this bloke Arthur from who's perspective this song was basically written. He was happily indoctrinated and oppressed because that's the way things are supposed to be, and in exchange he only expected to get a decent life. Which of course, if you've listened to the album, he didn't, ending up stuck in "Shangri-La" buying hats like Anthony Eden's and having nothing to say.
    
    Even in the next two songs on the album the whole romantic "When I grow I shall fight, for this land I shall die" is completely shattered in two great anti-war and anti-military song, Yes Sir, No Sir and Some Mother's Son.
    Really, it is not possible to even begin to understand any song on this album without first understanding the album as a whole. After the Preservation era albums, this is the most titly knit concept album The Kinks ever did.
    
    
    

    Flag GeneralAppoon April 12, 2009  

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    I agree GeneralAppo, but on this song and this song Ray is not sarcastic. This, being the first song on the album, is when Arthur was a naive young lad so he sees only the best about Queen Victoria and his country. He would do anything for England. As the album goes on things happen and later he is not so enamored with his home of England.
    
    The culmination is Young and Innocent Days which explains how Arthur wants his view of the world and England to be as it was when he was younger, but it can not be because he learned about how the world works.
    
    So Victoria is not a sarcastic song at all but a look at England from a young, naive point of view.

    Flag robsunon July 08, 2010  

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