Written by Ray Davies
Ray Davies said of this song that the words were inspired by a man who swept up the leaves for his family, and he wrote it in autumn. An ornate, orchestral, subdued pop gem, it's a song of mundane British life. "Friday evenings, people get together / Hiding from the weather / Tea and toasted buttered currant buns / Can't compensate for lack of sun." As hinted at in that last line, there's an ambiguity in the attitude toward the quaint existence depicted in the song. The narrator was born and will die on this street, everyone he knows is from the neighborhood, and though the scenes evoked are pleasant, there's a hint at longing: "And I can't get away / Because it's calling me." A charming bit of prosaic paradise, or a suburban trap, crushing an adventurous spirit? Maybe both.