Sunny Afternoon Lyrics

[Instrumental Intro]

[Verse 1]
The tax man's taken all my dough
And left me in my stately home
Lazin' on a sunny afternoon
And I can't sail my yacht
He's taken everything I've got

All I've got's this sunny afternoon

[Chorus]
Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze
I got a big fat mama tryna break me
And I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury

Lazin' on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime

[Verse 2]
My girlfriend's run off with my car
And gone back to her ma and pa
Tellin' tales of drunkenness and cruelty
Now I'm sittin' here
Sippin' at my ice-cold beer

Lazin' on a sunny afternoon
[Chorus]
Help me, help me, help me sail away
Well, give me two good reasons why I oughta stay
'Cause I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazin' on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime

[Chorus]
Oh, save me, save me, save me from this squeeze
I got a big fat mama tryna break me
And I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazin' on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime

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About

Genius Annotation

The Kinks' biggest hit (with Apologies to Lola’s advocates) from 1966, one of a long string of satirical hits – in this case criticizing the privileged ones who “suffered” from the imposition of the new progressive tax in England.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did The Kinks say about "Sunny Afternoon"?
Genius Answer

‘Sunny Afternoon’ was made very quickly, in the morning, it was one of our most atmospheric sessions. I still like to keep tapes of the few minutes before the final take, things that happen before the session. Maybe it’s superstitious, but I believe if I had done things differently—if I had walked around the studio or gone out—it wouldn’t have turned out that way. The bass player went off and started playing funny little classical things on the bass, more like a lead guitar: and Nicky Hopkins, who was playing piano on that session, was playing ‘Liza'—we always used to play that song—little things like that helped us get into the feeling of the song. At the time I wrote 'Sunny Afternoon’ I couldn’t listen to anything. I was only playing The Greatest Hits of Frank Sinatra and Dylan’s ‘Maggie’s Farm’—I just liked its whole presence, I was playing the Bringing It All Back Home LP along with my Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller and Bach—it was a strange time. I thought they all helped one another, they went into the chromatic part that’s in the back of the song. I once made a drawing of my voice on ‘Sunny Afternoon.’ It was a leaf with a very thick outline—a big blob in the background—the leaf just cutting through it

-Ray Davies

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