Star Don’t rule out reunion

was no plan. When I wrote You Really Got Me, I thought I was writing a southern Mississippi blues song.”

Although they were ostensibly in the swing of the 60s, Ray was always more interested in the changes going on around him.

He said: “It was a real social upheaval, sort of like a workers’ revolt. For the first time, it was working class people having a voice – that was the great thing about it.

“Suddenly you had people such as Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay in films who were working class.

“It was exhilarating in that respect because I could write songs like Dead End Street, which was kind of my impression of what was happening in Britain at that time. It wasn’t so sweet. There is a line in the show which says the only thing swinging in London is the handbags.

“They used to say if you wanted to send a message, use a telegram. I tried to camouf lage my songs. Sunny Afternoon and Dead End Street are quite political songs but you’re not beating people over the head with the message.”

Ray’s focus on the minutiae of British life produced some of his greatest songs, including Waterloo Sunset, but he didn’t really have a choice. After their first tour of the States in 1965, the American Federation of Musicians trade union barred them from entering the country.

He was 21, married and a father – and his fledgling career was grinding to a halt in a flurry of lawsuits from contract disputes.

Even now, 47 years later, Ray still doesn’t know for sure why.

He said: “I have no answers. We were on the verge of breaking up with our managers as we left. I was 20, my brother was 18, we were thrown into it without any support on tour.

“This was a period when America was more conservative than it is now. My brother stayed on English time – stupid things like that.

“It also goes back to an interview I did when I stupidly said, ‘I always want to sing in an English accent, I don’t want to sound like a phoney American.’ Americans take that as saying you think Americans are phoney.

“We upset people. I don’t want to spoil anything but it’s a crucial, pivotal moment in the show when I say, ‘ Why us? What did we do that other people didn’t do?’ You have to remember we were very young. They took away four of the best years of our lives when we were making great records.

“I went through a terrible time with depression because of it. I was 21, suddenly found myself with a young family to support, the band weren’t making enough money to survive, we had lawsuits coming out of ouro ears and legal bills butbu we just had to keep on going.

“I looked within and wrotew some of my most BrBrit ish songs in that peperiod.

“I wrote Sunny Afternoon becbecause it is the most bittbittersweet song. It is about somsomeone who apparently has everything and it’s all been taken away from him and yet he sees hope in a sunnsunny afternoon. That’s all he’s gotg but he can treasure somesomething like that.

“ThThat was about the only thing that was kind of plannplanned. I said to the record compacompany that we have to get this ouout because it’s summer, it’s going to be hot and England are going to win the World Cup final – and that’s the absolute truth. That scene is quite pivotal in the show.”

The Kinks’ fightback was crowned when the US ban was lifted in 1969, although their eventual return was in more subdued circumstances. No longer on the crest of a wave, they had to start from the bottom up.

He said: “Before we were banned, we played venues like the Hollywood Bowl. When we went back, we played clubs and supported people in colleges. We had to start again.

“It was a really humbling experience but we made it back to Madison Square Garden after eight years. That was thrilling. Like I say, it’s a journey.”

The Kinks’ journey came to an end in 1996 when they went their separate ways. Pete died in 2010 and a reunion has never seemed likely because of the relationship between Ray and Dave.

But they are speaking now and Ray won’t rule it out. He added: “It will depend on the music. If we can make interesting new music, I would do something.

“Dave’s a canny guy. He’s smarter than I am. He lives for now, which is wonderful, and if I had a good idea, he would come into the studio at the drop of the hat – as long as he owned the hat. Are we speaking? Email is a wonderful thing.”

Ray is delighted Sunny Afternoon is coming to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen later this year. He has fond memories of playing here with The Kinks and as a solo artist.

He played the Edinburgh Fringe with his autobiographical solo shows, X-Ray and Storyteller, which are the basis for the narrative of Sunny Afternoon.

But his strongest memory is of The Barrowland in Glasgow, where somebody stole his shoes.

He said: “I did three weeks at the Assembly Rooms in the late 90s and returned for another fortnight a few years later.

“I loved the place and people. At Barrowland, there was no backstage area and they built a bridge for us to walk over the audience – and someone stole my shoes. If you are out there, give them back.”