13. Maybe It’s because I’m an Irish Londoner – Biblecode Sundays
This is a great London song for those of us who grew up in London with Irish parents, or those who have moved from Ireland to London. It celebrates both London and Irish culture. This song was released in 2007 by the Celtic Rock band The BibleCode Sundays. They are still together today and still play live around London. If you get the chance, you should go see them or their lead singer from the time this was released, Ronan MacManus. They both do great sets of rock/folk/Irish songs in pubs and small clubs. In terms of local live gigs in London, it is hard to get better than Ronan or the Biblecodes.
This was originally a track on the 1968 album “Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake”. The song was released as a single in April that year without the band’s knowledge and reached No.2 in the UK singles chart. They weren’t happy with its’ release, because they felt that many other tracks on the album better represented their musical direction, they were trying to ditch their pop image. The success of the song eventually led to Marriott leaving the band. He formed the rockier sounding Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. Frampton was another ’60s pop star looking to present a “heavier” sound in the 1970s, having had hits with “The Herd” and voted “The face of 1968” by the teen magazine “Rave. The band thought “Afterglow” would be the lead single, but although it is a good song in its own right, you can’t imagine that it would have been the big hit that Lazy Sunday was.
“Gor Blimey, ‘ello Mrs. Jones – How’s yer Bert’s lumbago” Steve Marriott sings in a cod cockney accent. In 1960 he played the Artful Dodger in Lionel Bart’s “Oliver!” and this east end music hall delivery harks back to that. The song was recorded as a jokey album track, but it has clever lyrics, a unique delivery, and it remains a London psychedelic era pop classic.
Cover versions include the Toy Dolls (remember the punk “Nellie the Elephant”?) on their cleverly titled CD “Orcastrated”. The Libertines used to include a version in their live set. I feel like I can hear echoes of this son in Blur’s “Parklife” too.
Released in 1994, the title track of Blur’s third album Only reached No. 10 in the UK chart, but it is probably one of the most recognizable “Britpop” songs. The verses are narrated by Phil Daniels, a London actor, in a strong cockney accent. It was written while Damon Albarn was living in Kensington Church Street and the band were recording the album in Fulham.
At the 1995 BRIT awards, the song won the single of the year award and the video won the video of the year. Set on the Greenwich peninsula, along a street of terraced houses, you can, briefly, see the early City of London skyscrapers in the background.
The song has also been used in an advertisement for Nike. Filmed on Hackney Marshes with Eric Cantona, Robbie Fowler and Ian Wright among others – it very often appears in best ever adverts lists.
Since then, it has become a football anthem and is sung at many clubs, most notably by Norwich with the lyrics changed to “Farkelife” at the time when their manager was Daniel Farke.
Vossi Bop was released in April 2019 entering the UK chart at No.1 and spending two weeks there. Stormzy is a London grime artist, and his lyrics and performances often talk about living and growing up in South London. This song references UK and London politics and the line “tell ’em this is London City, we the hottest in the world”. The video has him rapping outside the bank of England and on Westminster Bridge. Idris Elba appears (briefly) in the video just after Stormzy name checks him.
10 Take Me Back to London – Ed Sheeran ft Stormzy
Take Me Back to London was released in August 2019 and spent five weeks at the top of the UK chart that summer. This was the 2nd grime track to reach No.1 (after Vossi Bop) although, to be fair, this is a very poppy version of grime. Ed Sheeran does have form working with grime artists, there were many on “No.5 Collaborations Project”. This track is from “No.6 Collaborations Project” and it is basically saying that “no town does it quite like my home, so take me back to London” Although Sheeran grew up outside London, he began his career here, gigging and sofa surfing. This is a witty take on grime, they both brag about how great they are, with talk of their BRITS and headlining Glastonbury, instead of Courvoisier and Champagne, they rap “give me a packet of crisps with my pint”. There are two other rappers on this track (Aitch and Jaykae), and they take the mick out of Sheeran’s more MOR audience “Tell Mumsie I’m on a track with Ed”.
Originally released in 1969 as a track on his second album – Spiral Staircase – Ralph McTell says that the market he refers to in the song is Surrey Street Market in Croydon. As an album track it was covered by many artists, Roger Whittaker and Val Doonican among them, in the early 1970s before his record company released the song as a single in 1974, when it reached No.2 in the British chart. It was kept from being the Christmas No.1 by Lonely this Christmas by Mud. It was No.1 in Ireland and other countries.
Ralph McTell is a well-respected song writer, Streets of London is his most famous song by some margin, although “Clare to Here” which he wrote in 1963, is well known in Ireland. Streets of London is a good example of the 60/70s folk revival, and I am led to believe that it is taught as poetry in some German schools, it is also one of the most covered songs in the world. One of my favorite versions is by Sinead O’Connor, the sweetness of her voice highlights the sadness of the lyrics.
In 2017, it was released as a charity single as a duet with Ralph McTell and Annie Lennox with the proceeds going to Crisis, the homeless charity. The Anti-Nowhere League did a punk version in 1982, it sounds like it should be terrible, but it actually works surprisingly well as an angry punk song, with a “London Bridge is Falling Down” intro.
Written in 1939 and released as part of the London show “New Faces” in 1940. It was first sung by Judy Campbell (the mother of Jane Birkin, famous for singing the very French song “Je t’aime” in the late sixties) in that show. It was immediately popular, and Vera Lynn had recorded before the end of the year. Frank Sinatra’s version is probably the most well-known, reaching No. 2 in the U.S. charts.
It has been covered by so many artists that it is hard to pick favourites, Glenn Miller, Nat King Cole, Michael Bublé, and Rod Stewart to name just a few. The Stéphane Grapelli and Yehudi Menuhin version is really good. Manhattan Transfer’s cover won a Grammy. The New Vaudeville Band did a distinctive version in the mid ’60s, and Ian Hunter (remember him from Mott The Hoople and Ziggy Stardust?), includes a version on his live sets.
It also features in many films and TV shows. Robert Lindsay sings it as the theme tune to the series “Nightingales”. Tori Amos sings it in the credits of Terry Patchett’s “Good Omens”. David Mitchell even sings it to Olivia Coleman in “Peep Show” Berkeley Square is a square in Mayfair, surrounded by smart terraced houses. Many of the earliest British Prime Ministers had their private residences there. It is a grassed square containing 18th Century Plane trees and there was a “coming out ball” (for debs, not as we know the term now!) held here, under a marquee, every year.
Released in Dec 1979. With a title from a BBC radio WWII phrase, London Calling is like a wartime radio broadcast from a dystopian future London. It chimed well with the punk popularity of the time, because of the angry delivery of the lyrics and the staccato guitar riffs. London and the UK, in the late 1970’s, felt like their best times were behind them and this song is an enraged rant about this. Cleverly written and well produced, albeit with punk ethic, I remember being annoyed when radio DJs would cut the morse code ending – which spelled out SOS.
A classic 21st century T-Shirt
Despite never making the top 10 when it was released, it came in at 15 in the Rolling Stone magazine’s best all-time songs (2004), and at 42 in VH1’s 100 greatest songs of the 1980s (sic). Ukraine band, Beton, released a cover version called “Kyiv Calling” in March 2022, following the Russian invasion of their country.
I have created a playlist on Spotify and I will add the songs included in the “Great London Songs” as I go along. It’s called “The London Playlist” – if you think of any songs that I should include please let me know.
The London Lark! 