Music

14 Chas & Dave

11 Oh Happy Day Spiritualized [download]
Live gospel shoegaze-fest
‘It’s really London, isn’t it? Someone said that was our London album the other day and I was like, “Fuck, I’ve never thought about it like that.” London’s just got it. It’s the only city where the good, the bad and ugly hit up against each other; the funk and the city is still there in the centre. Especially when you compare it to American cities where they take away certain elements and you lose the drugs and the prostitution and all the low-rent stuff. I’m not saying we should make things dangerous, but with those elements comes something really exciting.’ Jason Pierce, Spiritualized
Available on ‘Live At The Royal Albert Hall’ album (1998)

12 London Belongs To Me Saint Etienne
All the joy of leaving home in less time than it takes the kettle to boil
‘When we got together we’d all just literally moved to London, out of the suburbs into somewhere more central. Me and Pete [Wiggs] had this basement flat off Dartmouth Park Hill [near Highgate], which was really dark. It wasn’t grim, but I’m glad we moved out of it. That was what really inspired the song, just the rush of excitement when you first move to London and get a flat of your own. What it makes me think of is walking the length of Parkway; when you get to the end you’re in Regents Park, and there’s a path across the road which has willow trees on it – it’s mentioned in the lyrics. Around that time, when the band started I had this crappy temp job at this boring office block on Marylebone Road,where I was doing photocopies all day. I’d walk across the park to get to work, and I really, really wanted to sit down under one of these trees and just spend the day reading. I still get that feeling walking around London now. If you’re walking from King’s Cross to Farringdon, you’re effectively walking on top of the River Fleet – I love the idea of that. You don’t really get that so much in Croydon.’ Bob Stanley
Available on ‘Foxbase Alpha’ album (1990) Feature continues

“There was nothing to do in those days,” said Strummer. “Television stopped at 11pm, all bars stopped at 11pm, and that was it. There was only walking around the street to amuse yourself after that. I was walking around a lot in West London, and ‘London’s Burning’ came to me all at once.”

‘There is ample poetry to be found in the on stage reunion of Joe Strummer and Clash guitarist Mick Jones – after 19 years – on 15 November 2002, five weeks before the singer’s death. The venue was Acton Town Hall, a benefit by Strummer’s group The Mescaleros for the Fire Brigades Union. So what could have been a more appropriate end to the night? The final song Strummer and Jones ever played together, dedicated to Andy Gilchrist, was – of course – “London’s Burning”.’
Chris Salewicz is the author of ‘Redemption Song: The Definitive Biography Of Joe Strummer’
Available on ‘The Clash’ album (1977)

20 Sunny Goodge Street Donovan [download]
Hippy-era tribute to the popular electrical goods-retailing thoroughfare
The pint-sized folk troubadour’s mellow 1965 ode to scoring dope on Goodge Street contained the first open reference to drugs in British pop – ‘Violent hash smoker shook a chocolate machine’ – which was swiftly followed by the first high-profile drug bust in British pop. In fact, Donovan still recalls the incident in his between-song stage banter today. The flat was a boho paradise, and he and his lady were in bed when the coppers called; in the ensuing panic, Donovan remembers leaping naked onto one unlucky policeman’s back. Donovan’s arrest meant he was denied a visa to enter the states for the Monterey Pop Festival in California, ceding his headline slot to the little-known Jimi Hendrix. Still, he probably didn’t miss much.
Available on ‘Fairytale’ album (1965)