It's a memorable song. A tourist walking down Hollywood Boulevard, eulogizing these beloved stars with a smile on his face and a tear in his eye.
Which makes it a little weird when you remember that in the early 70s when the song was written, half these people were still alive. I mean, unless Ray and Dave can motivate themselves to get out there again, I think it's safe to say that Mickey Rooney outlived the Kinks.
So I think Ray Davies is writing in character here. What sort of character is open to question, but there's at least another level here.
2 comments:
okay: i don’t especially want to diss on this particular musical selection. but i gotta be honest:
weirdly enough, ‘celluloid heroes’ might be my most (only?) disliked kink song. & i think i’ve disliked it from the moment i first heard it. for me, it basically comes cross as a self-indulgent, overwrought ‘variation on a theme’ already expressed in a far more eloquent & endearing, not to mention existential, earlier kink song, ‘oklahoma u.s.a.’. with the difference being that, whereas ‘heroes’ is a reflection on fame/mortality as seen through the eyes of an aging rock star, oklahoma is a reflection on the concept of life itself, & the question ‘is simply living the same thing as being truly alive?”, as experienced through the eyes of a day-dreaming working girl…
‘oklahoma u.s.a.’ is’a a song that’s never failed to move me. it’s a song that perfectly embodies ray davies’ extraordinary gift of understanding & appreciating the world we commoners live in, without ever coming across as condescending or at a remove. he’s just always seemed to genuinely enjoy being amongst us…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKWckkQ1GbQ
i mean, obviously, ‘celluloid heroes’ is also a song that’s also never failed to move me. just in an entirely different direction (i admit i like the line about valentino & ladies’ dresses). but a currently living immortal himself name-checking other immortals (some of whom were also currently living)? it’s all just a bit… un-kinky to my ears…
‘well, you can see all the stars as you walk through the rock’n’roll hall of fame…’
Moving you in one direction or another is an accomplishment of sorts. :)
"Celluloid Heroes" is a song I hadn't thought too much about until recently. Relatively recently. The more I did think about it the more I thought it must be more about reactions to fame than just about a bunch of random famous people. And on that basis I thought it was pretty clever. I'd agree with you that "Oklahoma USA" is a better song, in that it feels more grounded in someone's life. But that's a high standard. Sad that more people aren't familiar with it.
The Rock 'n' Roll hall of fame? Hard to begrudge Cleveland the tourist draw and no institution that has seen David Byrne induct David Bowie can be all bad, but it's not something that really needed a Hall of Fame.
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