HE was awarded the CBE and then shot by an American hoodlum. Now a rock legend is returning to Liverpool, a city where he is loved. THE dentures of grandfathers leapt in their jars, mothers in curlers bumped ceilings with mop handles and pimples shone on teenage chins, as bedrooms across the land trembled to the riffs thundering through the basket-weave speakers of Dansette gramophones. Yes, 40 years ago pop became rock music and millions of mirrors reflected the images of boys posing with their air guitars. You Really Got Me soared to the top of the charts and the Kinks had arrived to challenge the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. More remarkably still, Ray Davies, composer of that song, is still on the road, a troubadour in the age of jets, whose lop-sided, gap-toothed smile remains one of the most endearing sights in popular entertainment. Of course, it's different these days. The audiences are more demure, aware that they are watching the man now almost routinely declared to be one of the finest song writers of the 20th century. For, from the rocking days of You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night, he advanced to the series of songs which secured his place in our affection. Just the mention of each one will sound a melody in your head and flutter the memories - Tired of Waiting, A Well Respected Man, See My Friend, Dedicated Follower of Fashion, Sunny Afternoon, Dead End Street, Death of A Clown, Waterloo Sunset, Autumn Almanac, Days, Lola, Ape Man, Celluloid Heroes, Come Dancing. So when Davies arrives at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on September 24, 40 years and 14 days after You Really Got Me was issued, he travels as a true star. And, even by the standards of Davies, who has known some highs and lows along the way, this has been an extraordinary year. There was the CBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List and then a few days later he was shot in New Orleans while chasing one of two robbers who had seized his girlfriend's handbag. In March, he limped to Buckingham Palace with his young daughter, Eva, to receive the award. "All I can say is, like everybody else, you never know what you'll do until you're in that situation. "I wouldn't normally have thought I was the sort of person to have a death wish or something," he said in an interview afterwards. In June, Ray's brother, Dave, lead guitarist and founder Kink, suffered a stroke which paralysed him down one side. He is recovering slowly. At about that time, a TV documentary was being made in which David Bowie, Bob Geldof, Paul Weller and Elvis Costello were among those who explained why the Kinks had been such an important group. Ray Davies began touring on his own after the publication of his autobiography, X-Ray, in 1995. The success of these shows, combined with the revival of guitar groups, led to Davies, with typical reluctance, accepting his new title as the Godfather of Britpop. At the Phil, he will be backed by a drummer and two guitarists. But to most of the 1,600 audience he will be Ray of the Kinks, as he has always been. Since appearing at The Cavern in 1964, the Kinks have always enjoyed a big following in Liverpool, where their refusal to conform has always been appreciated, kindred spirits in a rebel city. Among those often in past audiences has been Mike Brocken, 50, author, broadcaster and a former senior lecturer in creative and performing arts at the Hope University College, Liverpool, who has a BA in history and a MA and Phd in popular music. "I would place Ray Davies in the top canon of song writers with Burt Bacharach and Lennon and McCartney," he says. "This is mainly because he can catch moods and a feel and explore them very deeply. There is greatness in there which people re-evaluate. Some song writers have been regarded as really brilliant at a certain time but seldom come under re-examination in the way Davies has. That is because new generations keep being introduced to his work. "He is currently the bees-knees in San Francisco and right through the 1990s bands, like Damon Albarn and Blur, were paying homage to him through Britpop. "Song lyrics aren't poetry, I understand that. But at the same time some song writers are able to capture a second or third layer of meaning. The thing with Davies's songs is that they are very observational. "We have got to be careful not to think that it is always him saying something. I think the third person is there an awful lot. That is why his lyrics are a critique of society, a critique of middle-English attitudes. "The ideas of wistfulness and nostalgia are very important to him, but I think sometimes we mistake him for the narrator." But that is the mystery of Ray Davies of the Kinks, the writer who drinks his tea and wipes the steam from the window of a little cafe, as rain falls on the people passing by. Honoured in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame THE Kinks were formed in 1963. The original group was Ray Davies (guitar and vocals), Dave Davies (guitar and vocals), Pete Quaife (bass) and Mick Avory drums. Despite line-up additions, the brothers and Avory were together until 1989. In 1990, the old foursome, right, were all present in New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the same year, they received the special contribution to British music honour at the Ivor Novello awards. Interest in the group continues to grow and this month's edition of Uncut magazine was dedicated to them. | 
