My Top 1000 Songs #443: Sitting In My Hotel

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

"Sitting In My Hotel" is not exactly the most well-known of Kinks tracks. It's a quiet little ballad tucked onto 1973's Everybody's In Showbiz, an (underrated) transitional record that, like Muswell Hillbillies before it, was a loose concept album of sorts--focused on life on the road--before Ray Davies kicked off his divisive fully-theatrical period. It ended up as the b-side of "Sweet Lady Genevieve" (off 1973's Preservation), a great song which, inexplicably, got little traction.

But it's a wonderful little tune, one of the band's loveliest melodies, an intimate moment with Ray that still builds to soaring showmanship. It's a sequel of sorts to another personal favorite, "This Time Tomorrow" (from 1970's Lola vs. Powerman), Davies again bemoaning the tiresome life of the touring band, but the feeling of isolation and weariness is relatable for anyone far from home. The specific observations are highly idiosyncratic, classic Davies storytelling and world-building, but who hasn't stared out their hotel window wondering how they got there?

Ironically, the band never road-tested the song, but here's a performance by a Kinks tribute band: