Lyric discussion by shaft_10 

Like a lot of The Kinks work their is an element of story telling, irony, humour and genius. The narrative is set as a group (society) telling everyone their mission statement while the undercurrent makes you think that the writer holds these values close to their heart too.

The Villiage Green he talks about is an actual place where they grew up by the way. I have seen him revisit it on TV and describe the influence it had on the album.

And another point on the lyrics. I've been listening to this song for years and a few weeks back we noticed another of his clever tricks in his writting.....

'God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties' immediately followed by 'Preserving the old ways from being abused'

Maybe I should have noticed it earlier but 'stawberry jam' then 'preserving' GENIUS!!!

'genius' may be a bit of a stretch....

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