Song · The Kinks
“Shangri-La” by The Kinks
From the album Arthur (or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969)
“Shangri-La” by The Kinks appears on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2009 and 2023. It was first released in 1969 on the album Arthur (or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire). Its best result is #344 on The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #7,585 indie & aaa song of all time.
"Shangri-La" is Ray Davies's song, written and produced by him, and it sits on Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), the Kinks' 1969 concept album. The spark came on a family visit: the band called on the Davies brothers' sister Rose and her family in Australia, and the planned community they lived in gave Ray his first idea for the words.
What came out is a sharply ironic look at the British class system through Arthur, the album's doomed hero, and his empty suburban life, with the music shifting to mirror and needle the words. Pye released it in Britain as Arthur's second single, backed with "This Man He Weeps Tonight", and it flopped everywhere but the Netherlands. The band thought the world of it anyway; Dave Davies and John Dalton both singled it out for praise.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 812 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2020 | 1771 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2023 | 344 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places | 800 |
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