I’m a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century.

[Dr Fate]

This is the age of machinery,
A mechanical nightmare,
The wonderful world of technology,
Napalm hydrogen bombs biological warfare,

This is the twentieth century,
But too much aggravation
It’s the age of insanity,
What has become of the green pleasant fields of jerusalem.

Ain’t got no ambition, I’m just disillusioned
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.
My mama said she can’t understand me
She can’t see my motivation
Just give me some security,
I’m a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century.

You keep all your smart modern writers
Give me william shakespeare
You keep all your smart modern painters
I’ll take rembrandt, titian, da vinci and gainsborough,

Girl we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t want to die here.

I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy got no liberty
Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.

Don’t wanna get myself shot down
By some trigger happy policeman,
Gotta keep a hold on my sanity
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna die here.

My mama says she can’t understand me
She can’t see my motivation
Ain’t got no security,
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.

This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
This is the edge of insanity
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.

Yeah, I know- Ray Davies is a genius.

[Fenris]

1. My favorite Kinks song.

"Muswell Hillbillies" is an underrated gem.

[Dr Fate]

2. Possibly their very best LP.

Plenty of choices to argue over-that's the great thing! They only made about THREE THOUSAND albums.

[Fenris]

4. I've "inherited" most of them...

And I certainly haven't listened to them all. It's a goal, though!

[MN ChimpH8R]

3. Definitely

There's something so sad about the title song.

Davies is a great observer of the human condition.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Cat’s foot iron claw

Neuro-surgeons scream for more
At paranoia’s poison door.
Twenty first century schizoid man.

Blood rack barbed wire
Polititians’ funeral pyre
Innocents raped with napalm fire
Twenty first century schizoid man.

Death seed blind man’s greed
Poets’ starving children bleed
Nothing he’s got he really needs
Twenty first century schizoid man.


KingCrimson 1969.