Ducks on the Wall

"Ducks on the Wall" is a song by the British rock band the Kinks. The song, appearing on the band's 1975 album Soap Opera, was written by the band's principal songwriter, Ray Davies.

The lyrics of "Ducks on the Wall" relate the singer's (Starmaker) dismay at his wife's love for her decorative ducks which she hangs on the wall.^[1] Ray Davies' biographer Thomas M. Kitts describes the song as being in the vein of Davies' sexual humor, as with songs such as "Lola" and "When I Turn Off the Living Room Light".^[2] Kitts describes the music as "1950s rock and roll."^[2] Montreal Gazette critic Bill Mann remarked on the song's humor, particularly highlighting the line "I love you, baby but I can't ball / When I see those ducks on the wall."^[3]

Kinks' drummer Mick Avory's quacking noises on the song represent his only released vocal contribution to a Kinks song (although he did sing a song called "Lilacs and Daffodils" in the Face to Face sessions).^[4]

Release

"Ducks on the Wall" was first released as the follow-up single to "Holiday Romance" (both of which would appear on the Soap Opera album). However, like "Holiday Romance" before it, the single did not chart. It was included on the Soap Opera album, but not in the Star Maker teleplay on which the album was based.^[5] Davies had wanted to include "Ducks on the Wall" in the teleplay but was forced to edit it out so reduce the length of the teleplay and because the producers felt that the visual effects Davies planned of breaking the ducks up was too violent.^[4]

"Ducks on the Wall" also appeared in May 1975 on Soap Opera, where it was the tenth track in the line-up.^[6]

Reception

NME said of the single release that "Ducks on the Wall" has a weak tune and unsubtle satire, but praised the guitar and piano parts.^[5] Melody Maker panned the song, stating that the "Kinks come back with a lame duck."^[5] On the other hand music critic Dave Lewis' contemporary review of the single found it to be "witty and tuneful," saying that "it starts off with a quack and then breaks into a rollicking boogie."^[7]

Rolling Stone critic John Mendelsohn called it an "otherwise undistinguished Larry Williams-derived rocker" but claimed that it had the "funniest first line in the history of Western pop music in 'My baby's got the most deplorable taste."^[4] Music critic Johnny Rogan called it an "amusing rock 'n' roll romp complete with duck noises," comparing it to the music of 10cc and concluding that it was the most commercial song on the Soap Opera album.^[1] Kitts called it a "comic gem."^[2] Kinks' biographer Nick Hasted described it as "the funniest lyric" on the album, comparing the protagonist's nightmare of the ducks coming after him to "a suburban variant on Hitchcock's birds."^[8] Hartford Courant critic Henry McNulty called it a "standout cut" on Soap Opera, saying that "it's a real rocker and behind the crashing guitars of Dave Davies and drums of Mick Avory is a sort of electronic quacking that adds to the general absurdity."^[9] Boston Globe critic Nathan Cobb called it "an absolute gem, a hilarious poke at middle class values."^[10]

"Ducks on the Wall" was chosen as a highlight from Soap Opera by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic.^[6]

Kink guitarist Dave Davies considered "Ducks on the Wall" to be one of the "best-realized songs" on Soap Opera.^[11]

References

1 2 Rogan, Johnny (1998). The Complete Guide to the Music of the Kinks. Omnibus Press. p. 109. ISBN 0711963142.
1 2 3 Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else. Routledge. 2008. pp. 19, 79, 242–243. ISBN 9780415977692.
↑ Mann, Bill (31 May 1975). "Kinks ragged, but 'soap' sudses". Montreal Gazette. p. 49. Retrieved 17 March 2022 – via newspapers.com.
1 2 3 Mendelssohn, John (1984). The Kinks Kronikles. William Morrow. pp. 150–154. ISBN 0688029833.
1 2 3 Hinman, Doug (2004). The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night. Backbeat Books. pp. 191–195. ISBN 9780879307653.
1 2 Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "The Kinks Present a Soap Opera - The Kinks | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
↑ Lewis, Dave (29 May 1975). "Singles". Acton Gazette. p. 12. Retrieved 17 March 2022 – via newspapers.com.
↑ Hasted, Nick (2011). You Really Got Me: The Story of the Kinks. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9781849386609.
↑ McNulty, Henry (8 June 1975). "Kinks' 'Soap Opera' Glorifies Common Man". Hartford Courant. p. 25F. Retrieved 17 March 2022 – via newspapers.com.
↑ Cobb, Nathan (17 July 1975). "England's Kinks in comeback with 'Soap Opera'". Boston Globe. p. 13. Retrieved 17 March 2022 – via newspapers.com.
↑ Sullivan, Denise (2001). Rip it Up!: Rock & Roll Rulebreakers. Backbeat Books. p. 38. ISBN 9780879306359.

v t e The Kinks
Ray Davies Dave Davies Mick Avory Pete Quaife John Dalton John Gosling Andy Pyle Jim Rodford Ian Gibbons Bob Henrit
Studio albums	Kinks (1964) Kinks-Size (1965; US-only) Kinda Kinks (1965) Kinkdom (1965; US-only) The Kink Kontroversy (1965) Face to Face (1966) Something Else (1967) Village Green Preservation Society (1968) Arthur (1969) Lola Versus Powerman (1970) Percy (1971) Muswell Hillbillies (1971) Everybody's in Show-Biz (1972) Preservation Act 1 (1973) Preservation Act 2 (1974) Soap Opera (1975) Schoolboys in Disgrace (1975) Sleepwalker (1977) Misfits (1978) Low Budget (1979) Give the People What They Want (1981) State of Confusion (1983) Word of Mouth (1984) Think Visual (1986) UK Jive (1989) Phobia (1993)
Live albums	Live at Kelvin Hall (1968) One for the Road (1980) Live: The Road (1988) To the Bone (1994/1996) BBC Sessions: 1964–1977 (2001)
EPs	Kinksize Session (1964) Kwyet Kinks (1965)
Compilations	The Kinks Greatest Hits! (1966) Well Respected Kinks (1966) Sunny Afternoon (1967) Then Now and Inbetween (1969) The Kink Kronikles (1972) The Great Lost Kinks Album (1973) Come Dancing with The Kinks (1986) The Kinks Are Well Respected Men (1987) The Ultimate Collection (2002) Picture Book (2008) The Kinks in Mono (2012) Waterloo Sunset: The Very Best of The Kinks & Ray Davies (2012) The Essential Kinks (2014) The Journey, Pt. 1 (2023) The Journey, Pt. 2 (2023) The Journey, Pt. 3 (2025)
Unreleased projects	Four More Respected Gentlemen A Hole in the Sock of (Dave Davies)
Concert tours	1965 UK tour 1965 US tour
Related articles	Discography Band members Konk The Kast Off Kinks Argent X-Ray Do It Again Give the People What We Want: Songs of The Kinks This Is Where I Belong – The Songs of Ray Davies & The Kinks Sunny Afternoon (musical)
Category

v t e The Kinks singles discography
1960s singles (UK & US)	1964 "Long Tall Sally" "You Still Want Me" "You Really Got Me" "All Day and All of the Night" 1965 "Tired of Waiting for You" "Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy" "Set Me Free" "See My Friends" "Who'll Be the Next in Line" "A Well Respected Man" "Till the End of the Day" 1966 "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" "Sunny Afternoon" "Dead End Street" 1967 "Mister Pleasant" "Waterloo Sunset" "Death of a Clown" (Dave Davies solo) "Autumn Almanac" "Susannah's Still Alive" (Dave Davies solo) 1968 "Wonderboy" "Days" "Lincoln County" (Dave Davies solo) 1969 "Starstruck" "Hold My Hand" (Dave Davies solo) "Plastic Man" "Drivin'" "The Village Green Preservation Society" "Shangri-La" "Victoria"
1970s singles (UK & US)	1970 "Lola" "Apeman" 1971 "God's Children" "20th Century Man" 1972 "Supersonic Rocket Ship" "Celluloid Heroes" 1973 "One of the Survivors" "Sitting in the Midday Sun" "Sweet Lady Genevieve" "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" 1974 "Money Talks" "Mirror of Love" "Mirror of Love" (band version) "Holiday Romance" "Preservation" 1975 "Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)" "Ducks on the Wall" "You Can't Stop the Music" 1976 "I'm in Disgrace" "No More Looking Back" 1977 "Sleepwalker" "Juke Box Music" "Father Christmas" 1978 "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" "Live Life" "Black Messiah" 1979 "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" "A Gallon of Gas" "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" "Moving Pictures" "Pressure"
1980s singles (UK & US)	1980 "Lola" (live) "You Really Got Me" (live) 1981 "Better Things" "Destroyer" "Predictable" 1982 "Come Dancing" 1983 "Don't Forget to Dance" 1984 "Good Day" "Do It Again" 1985 "Living on a Thin Line" (radio promo only) "Summer's Gone" 1986 "Rock 'n' Roll Cities" "How Are You" 1987 "Lost and Found" 1988 "The Road" 1989 "Down All the Days (Till 1992)"
1990s singles (UK & US)	1990 "How Do I Get Close" 1993 "Only a Dream" "Scattered"
Other singles (non-UK/US)	1966 "Dandy" (Europe) 1969 "Picture Book" (Australia) "Australia" (Australia) 1983 "State of Confusion" (Germany) 1991 "Did Ya" (Europe)
Other songs	"This Strange Effect" "So Mystifying" "Bald Headed Woman" "Stop Your Sobbing" "Dancing in the Street" "I Need You" "I Go to Sleep" "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" "Big Black Smoke" "Party Line" "Rosy Won't You Please Come Home" "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" "David Watts" "Two Sisters" "Polly" "She's Got Everything" "Do You Remember Walter?" "Johnny Thunder" "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" "Big Sky" "Sitting by the Riverside" "Animal Farm" "Village Green" "Phenomenal Cat" "All of My Friends Were There" "Wicked Annabella" "Monica" "People Take Pictures of Each Other" "Berkeley Mews" "Mr. Churchill Says" "Strangers" "This Time Tomorrow" "Rats" "Got to Be Free" "Have a Cuppa Tea" "Oklahoma U.S.A." "Muswell Hillbilly" "Sitting in My Hotel" "The Hard Way" "Life Goes On" "Misfits" "Attitude" "Low Budget" "Give the People What They Want" "Heart of Gold"

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