Holiday Romance

"Holiday Romance"
Single by The Kinks
from the album Soap Opera
B-side "Shepherds of the Nation"
Released October 11, 1974
Format 7" single 45 RPM
Recorded August - October 1974 at Konk Studios, London
Genre Symphonic rock, music hall, jazz rock
Length 3:12
Label RCA
Writer(s) Ray Davies
Producer(s) Ray Davies
The Kinks singles chronology
"Mirror of Love" (Band version)
(1974)
"Holiday Romance"
(UK, 1974)
"Ducks on the Wall"
(UK, 1975)
---
"Preservation"
(US, 1974)

"Holiday Romance" is a song by the British rock band the Kinks. The song, making an appearance on the band's 1975 album Soap Opera, was written by Ray Davies, the band's main songwriter.

Lyrics

The lyrics of "Holiday Romance" featured this text, describing the song's importance in the plot of Soap Opera:

"On the subway train he sees adverts for holidays in Jamaica, a weekend in Rome, a cruise round the Mediterranean, and dreams of a quiet week in a little seaside resort away from his wife, the ducks on the wall, the soap operas, the office and his friends - and who knows, he might encounter a holiday romance."[1]

Release

"Holiday Romance" first saw release as a British and Japanese single, released in October 1974 (months before its album debut in May of the next year.) The single was not released in America. Backed with "Shepherds of the Nation (from the band's 1974 album, Preservation Act 2), the single, like many Kinks singles prior and after "Holiday Romance", was a flop, not charting in any countries that it was released in. Two more British singles from Soap Opera ("Ducks on the Wall" and "You Can't Stop the Music") and one American single from the same album ("Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)") followed the release of "Holiday Romance", but they also failed to generate any popularity.

"Holiday Romance" also was released on the Soap Opera album after its single appearance, where it was the eighth track. It also appeared on the compilation album, Picture Book.

References

  1. Emlen, Dave. "Lyrics".