St. John's News

By day, he teaches literature, drama, and core courses to undergraduates. But there’s a whole other side to Professor Thomas M. Kitts, Ph.D.  Since 1964, when he purchased his first non-Beatles record— the Kinks’ breakout hit, “You Really Got Me”—he has been a die-hard fan of the English rock group. And for the past 10 or so years, he has been performing “an absolute labor of love” by chronicling the life and work of the group’s lead singer and composer, Ray Davies.

Now, the fruit of his labors, a book entitled Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else, has been published in both hard- and soft-cover editions by Routledge and, as recently as January 10, rated the number-one bestseller on Amazon.com’s popular music book list. Barnes and Noble recommends it as a “must purchase” for “fans of rock music and the music of the Kinks.”

Dr. Kitts, who is also Chair of the Division of English and Speech, says his book is not a biography but “a critical study of the rock singer-songwriter and his music.” It’s a study he says, of “Davies’s work from his first singles with the Kinks through his 2006 solo album, from his rock musicals to his one-man show, and from his films to his autobiography. The intent is to arrive at a more complete understanding of the achievement of one of the great songwriters and artists to emerge during the post-World War II era.”

When asked “Why Ray Davies?,” he explains that he was originally drawn in by the rocker’s music and especially his lyrics. “In college,” he notes, “I was inspired as much by Ray Davies as by Homer, Shakespeare and Fitzgerald, to study literature and major in English.”

“Literate” songwriters,” he adds, “have always attracted me. … A great pop song will appeal to the imagination, the intellect, the emotion—and the senses—those appeals separate the great pop music from the rest.  And Davies has written many great songs.”

In his preface, Kitts describes Davies as, “one of the greatest songwriters to emerge from the rock era” and points to the immediate influence he and the Kinks had on numerous celebrated singers and bands, from the Beatles and the Who, to later bands like the Sex Pistols and the Killers, and many, many more.  Kitts points out that Rolling Stone magazine listed the Kinks as #5 on its list of Top Ten Rock Bands of the Century. What makes Davies fascinating, he says, is how he is “always changing direction, going against the grain. Rather than bending to market demands, Davies’s music has always been very different from others.”

The rock musician could be “controlling, inconsistent, difficult to work with,” Kitts reveals, “re-working and re-recording songs, changing record companies after each contract expired. Yet, everyone who has ever worked with him or with the Kinks would do so again in a minute.”

“I’ve met him many times,” he says, “and I like to think I have a fairly good understanding of him. I do believe his best self comes out in his music.”

The St. John’s professor describes his latest publication as “a further foray into ’pop culture’ and an extension of his more literary work, which includes the book, The Theatrical Life of George Henry Boker, and a play, “Gypsies.” He is a co-editor of Living on a Thin Line: Crossing Aesthetic Borders with the Kinks, a book review editor of Popular Music and Society and editor of the Mid-Atlantic Almanack, and has penned articles and essays on American literature and reviewed books, performances, and CDs.

In the near future, Kitts speculates that he will write about the early ‘70s punk/glam group, the New York Dolls, or the political rock of current bands Anti-Flag, NOFX, and the Dropkick Murphys, and then, afterwards, to once again focus an individual artist, such as Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys or John Fogerty, both of whom, he says, “were concerned very powerfully with ‘place’.”

And speaking of place, Kitts’ himself can be found in a very special one: on the list of the Top 50 Professors on RatemyProfessors.com, an Internet site that boasts of having over 6,000 schools and more than 1 million professors listed on its pages. Kitts’ students, who overwhelmingly gave him the highest rating, described him as “amazing,” “very helpful, funny, and understanding,” “really cares about his students,” “funny and engaging,” and “best teacher I’ve had so far.”