Too Much On My Mind

Album: Face To Face (1966)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Recorded for The Kinks' 1966 album Face to Face, "Too Much on My Mind" captures the feeling of being completely unable to switch off your thoughts. Ray Davies wrote it about worries piling up until sleep becomes impossible, leaving him feeling trapped and powerless over his own brain.
  • The song grew out of the intense pressures Davies was facing at the time, a combination of "the reaction to High Court litigation, publishing issues and becoming a father," he explained to Uncut magazine. The legal dispute involved an attempt to dismiss the band's former manager, Larry Page.

    "I went through a lot of emotional problems that year, because of the constant pressure from managers and the label, and myself, to keep the hits coming," Davies recalled in a separate Uncut interview. Yet he hesitates to treat the track as a document of one specific breakdown: "I could have written that 10 years before, or yesterday," he observed, suggesting that an overactive mind is not especially fussy about the decade in which it causes trouble.
  • Session legend Nicky Hopkins contributed keyboards, playing a harpsichord part that gives the track a delicate, baroque feel against Davies' troubled lyrics. The instrument's presence on the track was purely coincidental: "It had been left behind from another session. No one had bothered to pick it up," Davies remembered. Davies mapped out the harpsichord parts on piano before Hopkins executed them for the final take.
  • Ray's guitarist brother Dave Davies later adopted "Too Much on My Mind" into his solo setlists. A live version recorded in 1997 was officially released on his album Rock Bottom: Live at the Bottom Line.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

British Invasion

British InvasionFact or Fiction

Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.

John Waite

John WaiteSongwriter Interviews

"Missing You" was a spontaneous outpouring of emotion triggered by a phone call. John tells that story and explains what MTV meant to his career.

Ralph Casale  - Session Pro

Ralph Casale - Session ProSongwriter Interviews

A top New York studio musician, Ralph played guitar on many '60s hits, including "Lightnin' Strikes," "A Lover's Concerto" and "I Am A Rock."

Divided Souls: Musical Alter Egos

Divided Souls: Musical Alter EgosSong Writing

Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.

Holly Knight ("The Best," "Love Is A Battlefield")

Holly Knight ("The Best," "Love Is A Battlefield")Songwriter Interviews

Holly Knight talks about some of the hit songs she wrote, including "The Warrior," "Never" and "The Best," and explains some songwriting philosophy, including how to think of a bridge.