Songfacts®:

• John Davies Cale entered the world on March 9, 1942, in the tiny Welsh village of Garnant, Carmarthenshire. His father, Arthur George Cale, spent his days toiling in the coal mines, while his mother, Margaret Davies, imparted wisdom to the village's schoolchildren. It's safe to say the landscape of Wales - with its misty hills and rolling green valleys - left a deep, indelible imprint on young John's imagination and early musical stirrings.
  
  In 1963, Cale packed up his Welsh roots and headed for New York City. He moved there to continue his musical education and soon snagged a scholarship at Tanglewood music college. While there, he caught the ear of influential American composer Aaron Copland.
  
  But classical wasn't enough. Two years later, in 1965, he co-founded a little band called The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed. The rest, as they say, is rock history.
  
  "Davies and Wales" is a track recorded by Cale for his 18th solo album, Poptical Illusion, in which he reflects on his Welsh background and upbringing.
• As the title suggests, "Davies And Wales" is a nod to John Cale's Welsh heritage - his middle name, Davies, after his mother's side of the family, makes a prominent appearance. When Uncut magazine questioned whether the song is Cale's version of staring into a mirror and confronting his own past, he quipped, "Oh, I guess that one's about how funny it is to have a childhood in one place and to really mature in another. It's kind of like, 'Who are you this time? Who am I this time?' That song, it had a certain life of its own that I just let go."
  
  A classic bit of existential musing from the man who also composed the music for Jonathan Demme's 1982 TV adaptation of Who Am I This Time? - a play based on a Kurt Vonnegut story about, you guessed it, identity.
• Cale told The Guardian that "Davies And Wales" is "really a joke song about all the Davieses I've met in my life."
• Poptical Illusion, produced by Cale along with his longtime manager Nita Scott, came out of a particularly prolific burst of creativity during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most of us were perfecting our banana bread recipes, Cale churned out an astonishing 80 songs over the course of a year. "Davies And Wales," with its synth-heavy, 1980s-esque sound, is just one slice of that creative deluge.