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“Victoria” is a song written by Ray Davies of The Kinks. It is the opening track on the band’s 1969 concept album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). In the satirical style that Ray Davies had become known for, the lyrics juxtapose the grim realities of life in Britain during the 19th century (“Sex was bad and obscene/And the rich were so mean”) with the paternalist aspirations of the British Empire in the Victorian age (“From the West to the East/From the rich to the poor/Victoria loved them all”), and expresses the simple adulation of queen and country by the downtrodden working class (“Though I am poor, I am free/When I grow I shall fight/For this land I shall die”). The music starts with a simple electric blues guitar riff in the style of Chuck... Read on...