Anika I Go to Sleep (2010)
Imagine a very young, pre-vocoder Cher singing a tender song written by your dad while he was awaiting your birth. Not just Cher, in fact, but a whole bunch of other pop stars too. Spooky, isn’t it? This is the case for Louisa Davies, a person who has spent her life away from the spotlight, unlike her dad, who is referred to as the “Godfather of Britpop”—even if he doesn’t quite see it that way. Together with his younger brother Dave, Ray Davies founded The Kinks in 1963, who became one of the most influential British rock bands with several international hits under their belt. But “I Go to Sleep”, which Ray wrote on the eve of the birth of his first daughter Louisa, wasn’t one of them. Although Ray recorded a demo of the track the day after he had written it, The Kinks never made anything out of it (the song only appeared on a CD reissue of the album Kinda Kinks published in 1998). However, it was promoted by Davies's publisher during The Kinks’ first US tour and eventually picked up by big band and jazz singer Peggy Lee. More versions popped up over the years—among others on the debut album of The Goddess of Pop: Cher’s All I Really Want to Do. A few years ago, British-German journalist and artist Annika Henderson included a version of “I Go to Sleep” on her self-titled debut album as Anika. Henderson’s dub-heavy and somewhat snotty version makes it hard to believe that the piece originally was written by an expectant father; rather, it invokes the image of a boozer longing for their long-lost lover.
Start the conversation
Become a paid member of The Rest to gain access to the comments section.