All of My Friends Were There - 2018 Stereo Remaster

This lighthearted Music Hall style song written by Ray Davies carries a very sad theme: a performer shows up drunk for an important gig, against the advice of his manager, where he is scorned to the point where he is too embarrassed to show his face in public. For days, he goes around in disguise before he recovers and starts performing again. The Kinks did not have as many problems with drugs or alcohol as other bands of the '60s did, although Ray Davies later admitted to taking drugs when he was in art college and going through a period of alcoholism around 2001.

This song uses two time signatures: 6/8 time for the jumpy verse sections, and 3/4 for the slower choruses.

The song was inspired by a real event that happened to Ray Davies. In Andy Miller's Thirty Three and a Third book about Village Green, Davies recalled a concert at which he performed with a temperature of 104. "I had lots and lots to drink, and I thought, 'It doesn't matter,'" he said. "The curtains opened, and all my friends were there in the front row. It was a terrible night and I thought I would write a song about it."