7 Facts About All Day And All Of The Night By The Kinks

The Kinks, founded in London in 1963, initially covered American rock and roll songs but quickly found their unique sound. In 1964, they broke into the market with the groundbreaking “You Really Got Me,” a track renowned for its hard guitar riff and powerful rhythm, often cited as a precursor to heavy metal. Building on this success, they continued the formula with “All Day and All of the Night.”

Here are seven facts about this hit track:

Following Up “You Really Got Me”
Following the success of “You Really Got Me,” The Kinks’ record company pressured them to produce new hits swiftly. This led to what lead singer Ray Davies described as an “assembly line” of songs.

Ray Davies Wrote the Track
“All Day and All of the Night” is a robust rock song where the protagonist can’t bear to be away from his woman for even a second. Davies described it as “a neurotic song – youthful, obsessive and sexually possessive.”

Shel Talmy’s Production
The song was produced by Shel Talmy, who also managed the band and helped them achieve their loud, dynamic sound.

Reused Riff in “Destroyer”
The primary riff from “All Day and All of the Night” was later recycled in the Kinks’ song “Destroyer,” which bears a stylistic similarity to several Talking Heads tracks.

Tune Was “Too Blue-Collar, Too Working-Class”
On July 12, 2006, during a concert at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Ray Davies recounted how the tune was initially rejected by the record company for being “too blue-collar, too working-class.” Executives also thought the guitar sound resembled a dog’s bark.

Similarity to The Doors’ “Hello, I Love You”
There are notable similarities between this song and the 1968 Doors hit “Hello, I Love You.” Ray Davies explained that his publisher wanted to sue The Doors, but he declined to pursue legal action.

Did Jimmy Page Play Guitar on This Track?

A persistent rumor claimed that Jimmy Page played guitar on some early Kinks tracks, including this one. In a 1981 interview with Creem, Ray Davies addressed the rumor:

“I remember Page coming to one of our sessions when we were recording ‘All Day and All of the Night.’ We had to record that song at 10 o’clock in the morning because we had a gig that night. It was done in three hours. Page was doing a session in the other studio, and he came in to hear Dave’s solo, and he laughed and he snickered. And now he says that he played it! So I think he’s an asshole, and he can put all the curses he wants on me because I know I’m right and he’s wrong.”