"Strangers" is a song written by

Dave Davies David Russell Gordon Davies ( '; born 3 February 1947) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the English rock band the Kinks, led by his older brother (and principal writer and singer) ...

and performed by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

group

the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

. It was released in November 1970 on the Kinks'

LP record The LP (from long playing or long play) is an Analog recording, analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of revolutions per minute, rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use ...

album ''

Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One ''Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One'', commonly abbreviated to ''Lola Versus Powerman'', or simply ''Lola'', is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Kinks, released on 27 November 1970. A concept album, it is a s ...

'', which is best known for producing the hit single "

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lol ...

". "Strangers" is one of two tracks written by Dave Davies on the album, the other being "

Rats Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

". He has said that the song is about an old school friend who died of a drug overdose.Stay Thirsty Media
/ref> Although never released as a single, it has remained popular with fans to this day, especially after it was used in the 2007

Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. Wes Anderson filmography, His films are known for themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Due to his films' eccentricity, distinctive visual and narrative ...

film ''

The Darjeeling Limited ''The Darjeeling Limited'' is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, which he co-produced with Scott Rudin, Roman Coppola, and Lydia Dean Pilcher, and co-wrote with Coppola and Jason Schwartzman. The film stars Owen Wilso ...

'' (along with two other album tracks written by

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the Rock music, rock band the Kinks, which he led, with his younger brother Dave Davies, Dave pro ...

, " This Time Tomorrow" and "Powerman"). Portions of the song were also used in season 3, episode 8 of the

AppleTV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include st ...

series ''

Ted Lasso ''Ted Lasso'' ( ) is an American sports film, sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence (TV producer), Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. It is based on a character Sudeikis portrayed in a series ...

'' entitled "We'll Never Have Paris" as well as season 4, episode 4 of the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

series '' The Last Man on Earth'', "Wisconsin." A cover of the song recorded live by

Norah Jones Norah Jones ( ; born Geethali Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, , has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the top jazz artist of ...

was included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of her 2009 album '' The Fall''. A cover by Feist was released on the CD included with the DVD of her documentary ''

Look at What the Light Did Now ''Look at What the Light Did Now'' is a documentary/live album DVD/CD by Canadian indie pop artist Feist, first released in December 2010. The DVD comprises an 80-minute documentary directed by Anthony Seck, five music videos from 2007 album T ...

''.

Indie folk Indie folk (also called alternative folk) is an alternative genre of music that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Characteristics The staff of '' Paste Magazine'' said in 2020: "No music genre ...

rock duo

Wye Oak The Wye Oak was the largest Quercus alba, white oak tree in the United States and the State Tree of Maryland from 1941 until its demise in 2002. Wye Oak State Park preserves the site where the revered tree stood for more than 400 years in the ...

performed a version of the song in May 2010 for ''The A.V. Clubs A.V. Undercover series. It has also been covered by

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

supergroup Golden Smog on their album ''

Another Fine Day ''Another Fine Day'' is Golden Smog's third full-length album. It was released on July 18, 2006. It reached number 95 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Background Golden Smog's lineup was chiefly made up of Kraig Johnson (Run Westy R ...

'',

Indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Piebald A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backg ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

band

Crooked Fingers Crooked Fingers was an American indie rock band, led by the former Archers of Loaf frontman Eric Bachmann. A vehicle for Bachmann's songwriting, the band's lineup changed between each record. Crooked Fingers released albums on WARM Records and ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

singer

Ben Weasel Benjamin Foster (born April 8, 1968), also known as Ben Weasel, is an American musician best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the punk rock band Screeching Weasel. Early life Foster was born in 1968, and was raised in Prospect Heigh ...

on his first solo album '' Fidatevi'', folk pop band

Lucius Lucius is a masculine given name derived from Lucius (Latin ; ), abbreviated L., one of the small group of common Latin forenames () found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius probably derives from Latin word ( gen. ), meaning "light" (<

on the extended edition of their 2016 album ''Good Grief'', and by

Black Pumas Black Pumas is an American psychedelic soul band based in Austin, Texas, led by singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist/record producer, producer Adrian Quesada. The group received its first Grammy Award nomination in 2020 for Best New Artis ...

on the 2021 "Expanded Deluxe Edition" of their self-titled album.

Personnel

– vocals, acoustic guitar *

John Gosling John Gosling may refer to: *John Gosling (The Kinks musician) (1948–2023), British keyboardist in The Kinks *John Gosling (Psychic TV musician) (born 1963), British big beat and industrial musician *John Gosling (cricketer, born 1833) (1833–188 ...

– grand piano,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

John Dalton John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He introduced the atomic theory into chemistry. He also researched Color blindness, colour blindness; as a result, the umbrella term ...

– bass guitar *

Mick Avory Michael Charles Avory (born 15 February 1944) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and percussionist for the English rock band the Kinks. He joined them shortly after their formation in 1964 and remained with them until 1984 ...

– drums

References

The Kinks songs Songs written by Dave Davies 1970 songs Song recordings produced by Ray Davies {{1970s-rock-song-stub