They were soon joined by a third manager. This guy was amost as tall as
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they were. His name was Larry. And Larry spoke in a very slow deliberate
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way. And Larry always smokes his long Havana cigar. He always had one
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lit. And he always refered to me as cock. No no. Cock is a London
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expression for mate, chum.
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"Hello cock. How are you cock? How's your cock, cock, alright?".
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But Larry was crucial. Larry was very important. Because he knew people
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in the music industry. Robert and Grenville had failed to get us a recording
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contract. But Larry knew a man who knew a man. Larry said
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"Now we gotta be opportunistic. We gotta find you a name".
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One evening we were having a drink in pub with Larry and somebody
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commented on the fake leather caps that Dave and Pete were wearing.
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Someone else said that we were wearing kinky boots. A few days later
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Larry showed us the mock-up of the artwork for the advertisement.
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And there we were. We were called: The Kinks. And I hated it.
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But Larry's eyes were glowing with excitement. "Kinks, cock, Kinks.
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"Kinks, cock, Kinks. It's short, five letters. You'll be bottom of the bill,
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but you need something that will stand out and Kinks will stand out.
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I can see it. The curiousity value will be incredible. That's a gimmic,
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me old cocker. We'll all dress in leather with whips and riding boots,
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very kinky. We'll put the pictures in the trades, they'll love it. Maybe we
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got to get a new stage gear, my boys, lots of buckles and leather strips".
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I hated the name Kinks, but what did I know.
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But Larry knew a man who knew a man, and this man got us a three
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single deal with Pye Records. The first record was a cover of Little
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Richard's Long tall Sally, but it died a death. The follow-up was significant
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in that it was the first song I had composed for The Kinks, a very naive
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optimistic song called You still want me. Unfortunately nobody did.
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The third record had to be hit, otherwise we'd get kicked off the label.
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It's Alright (Havana Version - The Kinks Name Dialogue)
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Ray Davies |