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| 28 Dizzee Rascal |
21 K Hole Ali Love
I go out on Friday night and I come home on Saturday morning
‘It wrote itself really. I woke up feeling terrible one morning and the experience came flooding back. It’s a song about London wrongness. You go out on one side on Friday and end up on the other side by Sunday night and don’t know where you are. It’s happened to me a lot. I live in Shoreditch above this club called On The Rocks, and there are always parties going on. Just like in the rest of the city. It’s a unique place. One minute I’m at an indie party, the next a house party, then a hip hop party, then a warehouse rave. It’s so diverse.’ Ali Love
Available on www.alilove.co.uk
22 Soho Bert Jansch and John Renbourn [download]
The zenith of the ’60s London folk scene captured in song
‘Around the time of that song, there used to be a folk club in Greek Street called Les Cousins and most of the folk singers and players would meet there. I had a Tuesday residency there for about a year and it was an all-nighter so you had to play right through the night. But the song itself is centred around Soho Square because, during the day, if it was nice and sunny you’d go and sit in the square. Mark Pavey and Davey Graham tried to reopen the place again a few years ago but it’s now a restaurant. For a while, the 12 Bar club in Denmark Street was a bit similar but it didn’t quite have the magic. And anyway, kids now will have their own versions of Les Cousins.’ Bert Jansch
Available on ‘Dazzling Stranger’ album (2000)
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23 London Is The Place For Me Lord Kitchener
Calypso tribute to the capital’s charms from the Windrush generation
On his way to the UK aboard the Empire Windrush, Aldwin Roberts (aka Lord Kitchener) composed this paean to a city he had never seen, which he joyfully played to the waiting newsreel crews as the ship docked at Tilbury. Although Roberts lasted 15 years in London, his optimism about his new life ran out well before then – soon, songs such as ‘Sweet Jamaica’ were warning folks back home of the cold welcome to expect in England. Kitchener late moved to Manchester, implying he failed to heed his own warning.
Available on ‘London Is The Place For Me’ anthology (2002)
24 Primrose Hill John & Beverly Martyn [download]
Ode to the popular picnic spot
This is one of many tracks inspired by London’s second-poshest mount. It keeps good company alongside The Beatles’ ‘Fool On The Hill’ (based on a misty morning encounter with a mysterious disappearing man – absolutely nothing to do with drugs), ‘Upfield’ by Billy Bragg and ‘Primrose Hill’ by, variously, Loudon Wainwright III, Saint Etienne, Emiliana Torrini and Madness. The husband-and-wife duo’s blissed-up sunset folk-out is, on the surface, a simple tale of the everyday joys of coupledom. To everyone else, it best captures the joy of a summer’s evening spent lolling around on the hill, getting good and drunk with friends.
Available on ‘The Road To Ruin’ album (1970)
25 Born Slippy Underworld [download]
A cry for help from the bottom of a bottle becomes an anthem for the Stella generation
‘The art and design collective Tomato – which we’re part of – had a little office in Soho, above what is now Black Market Records, so my nights would usually start in a pub called The George, on the corner of Wardour and D’Arblay Street. That particular night, however, started in The Ship on Wardour Street with someone called Bastard Bunny and a friend of ours, Claire, who worked at Tomato. She was “the most blonde I ever met”. Tottenham Court Road tube station was the entrance to Essex and it was always the late-night train home to Romford for me. I was the unhinged-looking drunk in the corner with a notebook that no one would go near!
In truth, the song was me literally asking for help. I was describing a progressively despairing state of mind. I was using alcohol to numb the senses and thus arrived at the point where “Born Slippy” was written. I was saying, “I’m going to describe a typical night; does anybody think that this is no way to live, and could somebody throw me a lifeline?” There was one particular show I remember where a forest of lager cans was raised in the chorus and my heart sank – which shows how far my head was up my whatsit at the time, because I wasn’t in touch with the reality of the song. That was the only song of ours for years that we ever printed the lyrics for or explained and, once we’d done that, then it was okay if people wanted to use it as a drinking anthem. I really don’t mind at all, now. “Born Slippy” has become a folk song.’
Available on ‘Underworld 1992-2002’ (2006)
26 London Town Light Of The World
Summery black Brit-funk anthem from 1980, as popularised by Tony Blackburn’s seminal Radio London soul show
‘Light Of The World were one of a clutch of British funk bands who emerged in the late ’70s and early ’80s, along with Funkapolitan, Central Line, Beggar & Co, Hi Tension. They were putting a definite London accent to the soul music we all loved – a touch of reggae, a bit of rock. “London Town” was a cute and funky tune, something I was still playing well into the ’80s. DJs like Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent were the voices on the underground, but me and Steve Walsh were taking it to a bigger audience. We wanted housewives to hear this stuff, not just guys at the Soul Weekenders. It was what I played on my Radio London show between1982 and 1988 – it went out from 9am to 12noon and those phone calls got pretty X-rated at the time! Ha ha! This was the sound of London, not the kind of thing that you usually heard on Radio 1 at the time.’ Tony Blackburn
Available on the ‘Addiction To Funk’ anthology (2006)
27 What A Mouth Tommy Steele
Skiffle gives birth to pop as we know it
Long before The Beatles or even Cliff, Tommy Steele was Britain’s first pop idol. During the 1950s, a strange rule was enforced which meant that American hits had to undergo a six-month period in quarantine before being released in the UK. Steele, under the guidance of prototype music biz svengali Larry Parnes, was one of a number of artists who launched a career by taking advantage of this quirk to record covers of
American songs and pilot them to the top of the charts before the originals saw the light of day. ‘What A Mouth (What A North And South)’ in 1960, however, saw Steele abandoning this tactic in favour of ersatz-sounding cockney in order to tell the tale of a chap named Jim whose mouth was so large it was mistaken for a coal cellar – with hilarious consequences! Notwithstanding the undeniable cheese-factor, this song saw pop being re-calibrated to cater to British audiences and, perched awkwardly between music hall, skiffle and ’60s beat pop, it pointed to the future.
Available on ‘Rock With The Caveman’ (2005)
28 I Luv U Dizzee Rascal [download]
The holy grail of grime, Dizzee’s 2002 white-label tells a grim tale of teenage pregnancy over a terrifying rhythm track
‘I used to look out of the window of my flat in Bow and I see Canary Wharf every fucking morning,’ said Dizzee Rascal. ‘Glaring at me, taking the piss.’ His breakthrough single was the perfect calling card for Dizzee’s bleak, paranoid, neurotic, emotionally fragile worldview. It’s a savage tale of deceitful women and vicious men set to a barrage of bleeps, ringtones and a monstruous, grinding bassline. ‘Some whore banging at your door, what for?’ spits Dizzee. ‘Fifteen? She’s underage, that’s raw.’
‘My music is about bringing visions to life, in words and in music,’ says Dizzee. ‘ “I Luv U” is like a soap opera, the kind of conversation that’s going on all over London at the moment.’ You can hear the sound of the city permeating every second of the track – the rumble of traffic, the bleeps of PlayStations, ringtones, car alarms and tinny hi-hats seeping out of headphones – as a screaming battle over a teenage pregnancy is enacted in the shadow of Canary Wharf.
Available on ‘Boy In Da Corner’ (2003)
29 Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner Hubert Gregg [download]
Written by BBC broadcaster Hubert Gregg in 1944, as he watched German doodlebugs passing over the city, it’s a away of life for Larry Barnes, Pearly King of Thornton Heath
‘If we are doing a pearly show and we don’t do it, people will always request it. They expect it, it’s as simple as that. You see, Hubert Gregg was the most Etonian gentleman, he really was so charming, he had public school speech and manners, elegance, the whole bit. And I don’t think he really thought of that song as a cockney song – you don’t have to be a cockney to be a Londoner. I spoke to his wife, Pat Kirkwood, and she hit the nail on the head: “Being a Londoner is nothing to do with being born in London. It’s, do you want to be in London?” I mean, the Pearly Queen of Norbury, who is my partner when we do variety, was born in New Zealand, but London is where she really wants to be. What is it about the song that makes people want to sing along? It’s a good, rolling number, it’s down-to-earth with simple lyrics; he doesn’t try to be maudlin, he doesn’t try to be over-sentimental. He states a case plainly and simply – which is, I belong to London and London belongs to me.’ Larry Barnes
Available on ‘Ultimate Pub Singalong’ (2000)
30 You Can’t Always Get What You Want The Rolling Stones [download]
London wakes up from the ’60s dream
Released just weeks before the ’60s turned into the ’70s, ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ finds the Stones sounding, for the first time, vulnerable and maybe even a little tentative. And it’s all the better for it. It captures a city coming down, with various symbols of swinging London’s restive, hedonistic vitality shorn of their glamour and rendered melancholy. Demonstrations are now merely somewhere to ‘get your fair share of abuse’. Beautiful debutantes have become heroin addicts. Chelsea is simply where you go to pick up your prescription. And yet it’s strangely comforting – a reminder that even though, eventually, reality always replaces dreams, reality is usually closer to the truth. To complete the sense of overwhelming bathos, King’s Road’s Chelsea Drugstore is now a McDonalds.
Available on ‘Let It Bleed’ (1969)
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65 comments
c'mon, Gerry Rafferty's song belongs to top 10!
LONDON LONDON by Caetano Veloso
"The battle of epping forest" splendidly sang by Peter Gabriel when he was with Genesis, totally crazy version of east london
i've always liked "play with fire"
I agree, Shakespeare by Akala is easily the best rap song ever and is actually by someone from London!
Many of the people on that rubbish list are from nowhere near London, for example The Streets (Mike Skinner) is from Birmingham and talks cockney to sound cool. Overall a very poor list.
the best song to come out of london is 'shakespeare' by akala
What about that one by Catatonia "london sucks the life out of me...and the money from my pocket"...forget the name of it but no truer words spoken haha...The Pogues - Misty Morning Albert Bridge, White City...love 'em...Elvis Costello - I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea?
I think Walking Down The KIngs Road by Squire is the ultimate mod london song.
I am missing "London calling" by The Clash and "Panic" by The Smiths...
Elvis Costello's most fully formed child is "London's brilliant parade" (noone bought it!). Pogue's "The old main drag" (produced by Elvis). Finally,"Comeback to Camden" by Mozza (loved by Elvis). In the words of the real king "what shall we do with all this useless beauty?"
Snub it in another top 50
Dire Straits, "Wild West End", takes you on a little tour of London. Give it a listen.
how about "There's an A Bomb on Wardour Street" by the Jam
I think "Leave the Capital" by the Fall should be in it. But I'm obsessed with the Fall
Hey what about "i like london in the rain" By Variety lab ?
(remix of blossom dearie)
What about " London Rain " by Heather Nova ?
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