# Why do I find, "Celluloid Heroes," so moving? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies, music\ **Created:** [December 6, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475 "2025-12-06T22:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/1 "2025-12-06T22:04:16Z")
I picked up a vinyl copy of The Kinks’, “One for the Road,” recently and was listening to it tonight, so [that’s the version](https://youtu.be/gSItDuo8Wss?si=HjjYCHyheo7fvsX6) that’s fresh in my mind. I swear that every time I hear this song (any version) I’m weeping by the end. And I don’t really know why. Somehow Ray Davies manages to make me feel sympathy and even pity for people who were famous and successful enough to have their names enshrined on Hollywood Boulevard. It’s not a group of people we normally take pity on. As I get older, I think a little of it is thinking about how ephemeral even this kind of success is - how many of us _really_ know anything about Greta Garbo or Rudolph Valentino aside from their names and knowing they were big movie stars in their day? This version of the song doesn’t even include the verse that _really_ gets me teary: > But please don’t tread on dearest Marilyn > 'Cos she’s not very tough, > She should have been made of iron or steel, > But she was only made of flesh and blood. OK - that’s objectively good writing. 😁 Anyway - I don’t know that I have much of a point other than to say that I love this song, I don’t fully understand why I find it so moving, and The Kinks are, IMHO, criminally underrated. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/2 "2025-12-06T22:11:19Z")
You’re a sensitive person, firstly. Poetry is supposed to get an emotional response. Add the good music and you got a winner. Easy to hear and appreciate. Harder to do. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/3 "2025-12-06T22:12:25Z")
I can’t explain it, but I love it too (and the Kinks are awesome) (“Father Christmas” is a great Christmas song) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/4 "2025-12-06T22:29:04Z")
Ray Davies is one of the greatest poets in pop/rock, and nostalgia is what he’s best at (which totally goes against what rock stood for in the Kinks’s heydays). Remember that the song is more than 50 years old, so it was _fresh_ nostalgia for the time! Yeah, the Kinks can grab you emotionally, “Days” and “Rock’n’Roll Fantasy” always move me to tears. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/5 "2025-12-06T23:11:52Z")
Because Celluloid Heros never feel any pain, and Celluloid Heros never really die. He envies that they are remembered even to this day for their glamorous films and not there ordinary off screen existence (like ours). Of course Ray has really has nothing to envy as he is immortalized himself as a pop icon. He is singing for the rest of us ordinary, mundane people. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/6 "2025-12-06T23:14:59Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > He envies that they are remembered even to this day for their glamorous films and not there ordinary off screen existence (like ours). And back in the days, they could hide their private and ordinary lives much better than today. > [@](#): > > Of course Ray has really has nothing to envy as he is immortalized himself as a pop icon. He is singing for the rest of us ordinary, mundane people. I think he or the Kinks never got big enough to lose that connection to us ordinaries, at least that’s what his songs told me. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/7 "2025-12-06T23:20:28Z")
I don’t know, I’m still incredibly jealous of him hooking up with Chrissie Hynde. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/8 "2025-12-06T23:21:38Z")
Oh man, that was more than forty years ago! And who should get the hottest chick in town, other than Ray? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/9 "2025-12-06T23:52:35Z")
There are quite a few Kinks songs that evoke that wistful/nostalgic feeling. A couple that come to mind are “Get Back In The Line” and “Days”. Besides the lyrics, Ray’s voice(along with Dave’s harmonies) adds an extra emotional quality to their songs. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/10 "2025-12-07T00:18:36Z")
“Don’t forget to Dance” always gets me (back in college, a friend of mine woke me up at 2AM so he could borrow my tape with that song, so he could play it for someone else - obviously, this was a vital emergency, just like every other transient desire he had which could inconvenience me) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/11 "2025-12-07T00:34:06Z")
I’ve always loved the song as well. And this: > [@carlb](#): > > The Kinks are, IMHO, criminally underrated. …is hereby quoted for Truth. mmm ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/12 "2025-12-07T02:07:19Z")
[quote=“EinsteinsHund, post:4, topic:1025475”] Ray Davies is one of the greatest poets in pop/rock, and nostalgia is what he’s best at (which totally goes against what rock stood for in the Kinks’s heydays).[/quote] **Come Dancing** , while kind of pop, always gets to me a little. I can picture the scenes he’s painted, with sister and her dates and the rows when she came home, and, of course, her crying when they knocked down The Palais. At the same time, the music is incredibly catchy and cheerful. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/13 "2025-12-07T02:20:23Z")
The story behind _Come Dancing_ is sadder than the Palais being torn down. On one of those nights when Ray’s sister went out dancing she didn’t come home. She had a heart attack and died due to having rheumatic fever as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/14 "2025-12-07T02:30:01Z")
I saw the Kinks when they toured the Everybody’s in Showbiz record. One of the things I remember is Ray singing “The Banana Boat Song.” Aside from the songs mentioned, “Property” really gets to me (despite the obnoxious Vocorder). This verse in particular: “And all the little gifts we thought we’d throw away The useless souvenirs bought on a holiday We put them on a shelf, now they’re collecting dust We never needed them, but they outlasted us.” ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/15 "2025-12-07T03:52:42Z")
Celluloid Heroes managed the trick of celebrating Old Hollywood while gently mocking it at the same time. “if you covered him with garbage George Sanders would still have style / And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney he would still turn around and smile” Lines like this feed on how audiences build up an image of their screen idols, which has nothing to do with who these people really are. (Then they read gossip mags and eat up the scandals with great relish.) I think your reaction to this song has as much to do with the wistful melody that tugs at your heart strings. Listen to Oklahoma USA for more of the same ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6W_iVrXyQ4M/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/6W_iVrXyQ4M?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RD6W_iVrXyQ4M ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/16 "2025-12-07T13:27:41Z")
I love the Kinks’ music as well. I think Ray does an amazing job of using emotion in his vocals to make songs resonate. He’s also incredible at writing humorous lyrics. He manages both sarcasm and sadness in songs like “A Little Bit of Abuse.” ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/17 "2025-12-07T14:02:53Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > You’re a sensitive person, firstly. …and clearly getting moreso as I age. I was also getting a little emotional during, “Captain America.” Again, Davies seems to have this knack for getting us on the side of characters we would not always find sympathetic. The US is not who you first think of as a nation in need of assistance and yet, here we are. :-/ I think it’s his very specific wording. It’s not, “Help,” or, “you owe us.” It’s, “will you catch me now, I’m falling?” It conveys a sense of helplessness that, again, we don’t normally want to ascribe to America. I’ve never steeped myself in The Kinks’ oeuvre, but every time I listen to them I find something new. Time to do the deep dive, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/18 "2025-12-07T14:07:32Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I can’t explain it, but I love it too (and the Kinks are awesome) > > (“Father Christmas” is a great Christmas song) Yes, it is. You can have your, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” or, “Last Christmas,” or whatever. For me, it isn’t the holiday season until I’ve heard, “Father Christmas.” > [@blondebear](#): > > Ray’s voice(along with Dave’s harmonies) adds an extra emotional quality to their songs. That’s probably the other thing at work. I don’t know that I would ever say that Ray Davies has a, “good,” voice, but it’s very effective. It’s got a …plaintive?..quality to it that really gets to you. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/19 "2025-12-07T14:19:04Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > “Don’t forget to Dance” always gets me I’ve always loved the way Ray sings the “You do the thing you love the most” part. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475/20 "2025-12-07T16:04:08Z")
While we’re on the subject, there’s a massive re-issue of _[The Kinks Day-By-Day Story](https://beatlandbooks.com/)_ by uber fans by Doug Hinman & Andrew Sandoval coming out next year. It isn’t cheap (the softcover is $80 plus shipping), but if it’s anything like Andrew’s coffee table books on the Monkees, it will be worth it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-find-celluloid-heroes-so-moving/1025475.md?page=2)