Gina In The Kings Road

Album: A Beach Full of Shells (2005)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is set in 1968; Kings Road, Chelsea was at the heart of Swinging London during the '60s, and Al Stewart was right in the thick of it. On New Year's Day, he moved into a basement flat in Elvaston Place just down the road in Kensington, which he immortalized in a contemporary song of love won and lost. Other songs of that period include the whimsical "Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres" and the epic "Love Chronicles," in which he recounts seeking and finding casual encounters with free-spirited girls of the flower power generation.

    Nearly four decades later, transplanted to California, and the father of two young daughters, he revisits his youthful follies of the Swinging '60s, and captures the Zeitgeist with the elusive Gina. Al has performed this song with Dave Nachmanoff, but it sounds best played solo, with a fine acoustic riff, and on at least one performance, with an attractive blonde dancing in the background. It ends with a bar or two of "She Loves You," which although superfluous, hammers home the point.

    This is a fun track with a serious message, and one that only Al Stewart could have written. Like the subject of "Carol," which he recorded for Modern Times three decades earlier, Gina is "everyone's and nobody's lover," a little girl lost who is searching for something, or someone, she can never find. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

Comments: 1

  • Guy from Woodinville, WaGreat song from the amazingly productive Al. Love those opening lines: "Blonde hair and eyeshadow, I hyperventilate; Purple leather mini, legs up to there; Don't you cast aspersions on my naugahyde affair."
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Jesus In Pop Hits: The Gospel Songs That Went Mainstream

Jesus In Pop Hits: The Gospel Songs That Went MainstreamSong Writing

These overtly religious songs crossed over to the pop charts, despite resistance from fans, and in many cases, churches.

Daniel Lanois

Daniel LanoisSongwriter Interviews

Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New York

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New YorkSong Writing

Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it.

Prince

PrinceFact or Fiction

Prince is shrouded in mystery, making him an excellent candidate for Fact or Fiction. Is he really a Scientologist? Does he own an exotic animal?

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

Hardy

HardySongwriter Interviews

The country hitmaker talks about his debut album, A Rock, and how a nursery rhyme inspired his hit single "One Beer."