‘Postcards from London’: The awkward backstory of Ray Davies’ duet with Chrissie Hynde
It’s not that you can’t make music with your partner, it’s more that you probably shouldn’t. I mean, if you’re absolutely certain that they are the best person for the job and your relationship won’t get in the way, then fill your boots. That was, after all, the driving force of Sonic Youth until it really, really wasn’t, ditto Siouxsie and the Banshees on both counts, and we are well aware of the Fleetwood Mac lore. Nevertheless, in 2009, Ray Davies showed you could make great music not just with a partner, but with an ex-partner.
This sounds like a nightmare, right? You take two people with intense, complicated and probably pretty negative feelings towards each other. Then, you don’t just coop them up together for an extended period of time. You don’t just get them to work on something complex and time-consuming together; you also make them work on something that could be informed by their relationship? Surely there can be no example of this being seen through successfully?
Well, you’d be surprised. The White Stripes made their best music after Jack and Meg divorced. Rumours could only be made by both relationships within Fleetwood Mac being on the rocks at the time. The Kinks’ mainman’s 2009 song, ‘Postcards From London’, isn’t quite on the level of those previously mentioned classics; however, it is a lovely, melancholic view of a London set to change dramatically at the time of its writing.
Fairly soon into the process, Davies realised that the song would really work as a duet. In fact, going into his past for his collaborator wasn’t his first choice. In an interview with The Independent, he talked about who the song was originally written for. “I wanted Dame Vera Lynn,” Davies said, “Because the song has the sort of melody that she would handle rather well.” When she was unavailable, he turned to a singer he didn’t just have a relationship with, but a child with, too.
Which ex-partner did Ray Davies sing with?
In fact, it was that child who acted as the go-between for both parties, as Davies and The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde hadn’t communicated for years. Their daughter Natalie made it happen, though, and eventually, Hynde was making her way down to Davies’ Crouch End studio to add her vocals to the finished song. Those hoping for an emotional reunion or, at the very least, a shouting match, will be disappointed. Davies chickened out and left Hynde to it.
In the interview, Ray Davies recounted, “I wasn’t there at the time, and of course our relationship history adds yet another texture to the song. But it wasn’t recorded around a log fire or anything. We weren’t toasting marshmallows and cracking nuts. My girlfriend Karen sang on the demo, and with Chrissie, it was quite clear what the vocal parts were. Some artists are happy to let the writer direct things. There was no real discussion, which surprised me.”
The song has since become a fondly received part of Davies’ live shows today. However, anyone hoping for an emotionally charged onstage reunion will also be left disappointed. A version with Kate Nash duetting with The Kinks’ frontman was recorded fairly soon afterwards and seems to be the version Davies wants people to remember over anything to do with his ex. A shame, perhaps, but with emotions this intense, understandable.
