“Yes Sir, No Sir” is a classic anti-war song by The Kinks, released on the Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) album in 1969. It’s a great album that really never got as much airplay in the United States as it should have. This song is my favorite on the album, but Victoria was the hit. It’s a concept album. The Kinks’ next album would include Lola, and they were off and running (sorta).
Still… The Kinks were always sort of the stepchild of the British Invasion. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who… that’s who folks primarily remember. Part of this is probably due to the Kinks themselves – they had a very bad 1965 tour of the U.S. and were actually banned from touring in the United States for 4 years afterwards. (This seems like a good subject for a feature movie.) It was mostly due to fighting and poor management of the tour.
They made up for it the 1970s and 1980s. They were probably the top “British Invasion” band at that time, with several gold albums and sold out tours.