Lyrics to
Maximum Consumption

This version of Maximum Consumption was released by The Kinks in 1972.

Our About The Kinks page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Maximum Consumption from 1972 as well as all of the other lyrics from The Kinks that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to The Kinks or about the 1970s in general.

I’ll have some clam chowder, followed by beef steak on rye
Pumpkin pie, whipped cream and coffee,
I wanna green salad on the side,
Don’t forget the french fries,
Pizza pie, garlic and anchovie.
I keep burning up calories as fast as I keep putting them down,
Eat food, put it in my mouth,
Chew it up, swallow it down,
I’ll have two eggs, over light, home made apple pie
Cole slaw as a side order.
I gotta stay fit, stay alive, eat food to sustain a non-stop high-grade performer.
The pace is continual, sure keeps running me down
Don’t you know that you gotta eat food,
Don’t you know that you gotta refuel.
I’m a Maximum Consumption, super-grade performer.
High powered machine,
Go steady on my clutch, go easy on the hills
And you’ll get a lot of mileage out of me.
I’m so easy to drive, and I’m an excellent ride,
Excessive living sure keeps running me down
You’ve got to learn to use the Maximum Juice
That’s how you get the maximum use.
Life keeps using me, keeps on abusing me, mentally and physically.
I gotta stay fit, stay alive, need fuel inside, eat food to survive
Maximum Consumption sure keeps running me down
Don’t you know that you gotta eat food
Don’t you know that it’s good for you.
I’m a Maximum Consumption,
Non-stop machine
Total automation perpetual motion.

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The Kinks has released many songs over the years besides Maximum Consumption. The Kinks released songs from 1964 to 1993 spanning across albums like Kinks, Kinda Kinks, The Kink Kontroversy, Face To Face, Something Else, The Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire), Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One, Muswell Hillbillies, Percy, Everybody's In Show-Biz, Preservation Act I, Preservation Act II, Soap Opera, Schoolboys In Disgrace, Sleepwalker, Misfits, Low Budget, Give The People What They Want, State Of Confusion, Word Of Mouth, Think Visual, UK Jive, and Phobia. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Kinks.

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About Lyrics and Maximum Consumption by The Kinks

The lyrics to Maximum Consumption are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that The Kinks used when the song was created in 1972. The lyrics to Maximum Consumption have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only The Kinks and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Maximum Consumption by The Kinks. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Maximum Consumption" means the words set to the music of Maximum Consumption, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Kinks. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Maximum Consumption and the lyrics to Maximum Consumption are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Kinks who came here looking just for the lyrics to Maximum Consumption, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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