Known for focusing his lyrics on rock bands, English culture, nostalgia and social satire, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Britpop",[3] though he disputes this title.

However, by 1965, this raucous, hard-driving early style had gradually given way to the softer and more introspective sound of "Tired of Waiting for You", "Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl", "Set Me Free", "I Go to Sleep" and "Ring the Bells".

With the eerie, droning "See My Friends"—inspired by the untimely death of the Davies brothers' older sister Rene in June 1957—the band began to show signs of expanding their musical palette even further.

A rare foray into early psychedelic rock, "See My Friends" is credited by Jonathan Bellman as the first Western pop song to integrate Indian raga sounds—released six months before the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".

As the band began to experiment with theatrical sound effects and baroque musical arrangements (Nicky Hopkins played harpsichord on several tracks), Davies's songwriting fully acquired its distinctive elements of narrative, observation and wry social commentary.

His topical songs took aim at the complacency and indolence of wealthy playboys and the upper class ("A House in the Country", "Sunny Afternoon"), the heedless ostentation of a self-indulgent spendthrift nouveau riche ("Most Exclusive Residence For Sale"), and even the mercenary nature of the music business itself ("Session Man").

Other songs like "Situation Vacant" (1967) and "Shangri-La" (1969) hinted at the helpless sense of insecurity and emptiness underlying the materialistic values adopted by the English working class.

In a similar vein, "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (1966) wittily satirized the consumerism and celebrity worship of Carnaby Street and 'Swinging London', while "David Watts" (1967) humorously expressed the wounded feelings of a plain schoolboy who envies the grace and privileges enjoyed by a charismatic upper class student.

The Kinks have been called "the most adamantly British of the Brit Invasion bands"[20] on account of Ray Davies's abiding fascination with England's imperial past and his tender, bittersweet evocations of "a vanishing, romanticized world of village greens, pubs and public schools".

In other songs, Davies revived the style of British music hall and trad jazz: "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", "Sunny Afternoon", "Dandy" and "Little Miss Queen of Darkness" (all 1966); "Mister Pleasant" and "End of the Season" (both 1967); "Sitting By the Riverside" and "All of My Friends Were There" (both 1968); "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina" (1969); "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" and "Alcohol" (both 1971); "Look a Little on the Sunny Side" (1972); and "Holiday Romance" (1975).

Occasionally, he varied the group's sound with more disparate musical influences, such as raga ("Fancy", 1966), bossa nova ("No Return", 1967) and calypso ("I'm on an Island", 1965; "Monica", 1968; "Apeman", 1970; "Supersonic Rocket Ship", 1972).

[citation needed]Yet another perennial Ray Davies theme is the championing of individualistic personalities and lifestyles ("I'm Not Like Everybody Else", 1966; "Johnny Thunder", 1968; "Monica", 1968; "Lola", 1970; "Celluloid Heroes", 1972; "Where Are They Now?

Similarly, "God's Children" and "Apeman" (both 1970), and the songs "20th Century Man", "Complicated Life" and "Here Come the People in Grey" from Muswell Hillbillies (1971), passionately decried industrialization and bureaucracy in favour of simple pastoral living.

A definitive testament to Davies's reputation as a songwriter of insight, empathy and wit can be heard on the Kinks' landmark 1969 album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire).

[21] Throughout a dozen evocative songs, Arthur fulfills its ambitious subtitle as Davies embellishes an intimate family chronicle with satirical observations about the shifting mores of the English working class in response to the declining fortunes of the British Empire.

When the Kinks changed record labels from RCA to Arista in 1976, Davies abandoned his recent propensity for ambitious, theatrical concept albums and rock operas (see above) and returned to writing more basic, straightforward songs.

During this decade the group founded their own London recording studio "Konk" which employed newer production techniques to achieve a more refined sound on the albums Sleepwalker (1977) and Misfits (1978).

By the early 1980s, the Kinks revived their commercial fortunes considerably by adopting a much more mainstream arena rock style; and the band's four remaining studio albums for Arista—Low Budget (1979), Give the People What They Want (1981), State of Confusion (1983) and Word of Mouth (1984)—showcased a decidedly canny and opportunistic approach.

On "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman", Davies vented his existential angst about the 1979 energy crisis over a thumping disco beat; on "A Gallon of Gas", he addressed the same concern over a traditional acoustic twelve-bar blues shuffle.

In August 2012, Davies performed "Waterloo Sunset" as part of the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, watched by over 24 million viewers in the UK; the song was subsequently cut by NBC from the US broadcast, in favour of a preview of its upcoming show Animal Practice.

[38] In 1981, Davies collaborated with Barrie Keeffe in writing his first stage musical, Chorus Girls, which opened at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London,[39] starring Marc Sinden, and had a supporting cast of Michael Elphick, Anita Dobson, Lesley Manville, Kate Williams and Charlotte Cornwell.

It was directed by Adrian Shergold, the choreography was by Charles Augins, and Jim Rodford played bass as part of the theatre's "house band".

It was directed by Des McAnuff and ran at the La Jolla Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre in San Diego from 23 August to 9 October 1988.

[40] Davies's musical Come Dancing, based partly on his 1983 hit single with 20 new songs, ran at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London in September–November 2008.

[41] Sunny Afternoon, a musical based on Ray Davies's early life and featuring Kinks songs opened to critical acclaim at Hampstead Theatre.