Songfacts®:

• A very reflective and nostalgic song written by lead singer Ray Davies, this is about the innocent times in small English towns, where the village green was the community center. The entire album was based on this theme.
• This plays in the movie Hot Fuzz as Sgt. Angel is jogging through a village. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  milan - Milwaukee, WI
• Some critics thought the album's snapshots of village life were part inspired by performances by the Kinks in rustic Devon. However Davies explained to The Independent June 19, 2009 this was not the case. Instead they were based on memories of his growing up in London. He explained: "You have to remember that North London was my village green, my version of the countryside. The street [and district] I grew up in was called Fortis Green, and then there was Waterlow Park and the little lake. I sang in the choir at St James's Primary School until I was about 10, then I trained myself to sing out of tune so I could hang around with a gang called the Crooners instead. Our Scottish singing teacher Mrs Lewis said, 'Never mind, Davies - I hear crooners are making a lot of money these days.'"
• Ray Davies namechecks various fictional characters that bring back childhood memories, such as music hall act Old Mother Riley and Mrs. Mopp, who was a character from the wartime radio comedy, ITMA.
  
  We are the Draught Beer Preservation Society.
  God save Mrs. Mopp and good old Mother Riley.
  
  Davies explained to Q magazine: "The people in it are all characters I liked as a kid or people my family could relate to, like Old Mother Riley and Mrs Mopp. Because I used to love listening to the BBC Light Programme on Sundays, like Round The Horne with Kenneth Williams. A time when the population was allowed to be trivial."