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  • 50 best London songs

  • By Time Out editors



  • Feature_albumcovers.JPG
    34 The Who

    31 A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square Judy Campbell [download]
    Swoonsome London-based romance made famous by Vera Lynn. The song’s most memorable performance took place during the air raids of 1940
    ‘It was the beginning of the air raids, but we went out, because we wanted to go out. The Shepherds Bush Empire had such nice shows, and you could see people like Margot Fontayne dancing. Judy Campbell was a successful young starlet then. I suppose “A Nightingale Sang…” just hit the right note for the time. Oh, it was so divinely escapist: “There was magic abroad in the air/There were angels dining at the Ritz…” It was nothing to do with air-raids. It was a popular song. Well, Judy Campbell came on in a satin evening frock, looking glamorous – and when she got to the point where she sang, “a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square”, she held up her hand and sang, “Hark!” you know, for the nightingale. And then “Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!” the air raid siren wailed! So instead of the nightingale, we got the siren! And the theatre just fell about they laughed so much, and Judy Campbell just died laughing on stage. It was just a yelp of laughter from the audience, they quite forgot the air raid!.’ Sylvia Harris
    Available on The Best Of Vera Lynn compilation (1999) Feature continues

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    32 London Dungeon The Misfits
    US punks’ ode to a night in London’s cells
    ‘During our early years we tried to do an English tour with The Damned. When we completed our first three shows we walked off the tour after not being paid. We went to London and after that I went to Canterbury with Sid Vicious’s mom Anne. Our singer Glenn Danzig and guitarist Bobby Steele went to see The Jam at the Rainbow. A bunch of skinheads started a fight with Glenn who turned to watch Bobby run down the block! To protect himself, Glenn pulled a piece of glass from the Rainbow’s broken window and got arrested. In Brixton jail he put the lyrics together for “London Dungeon”. We worked on the song to audition for The Clash’s second world tour. When our drummer Joey Image fled to the USA for drugs, we aborted that tour and left our clean-faced rotting corpses in your London Dungeon.’
    Jerry Only, The Misfits
    Available on ‘The Misfits’ (1979)

    33 A13, Trunk Road To The Sea Billy Bragg [download]
    Bobby Troupe’s iconic ‘(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66’ is transplanted to Essex
    ‘I was sick of hearing people sing songs about America. How did we know that Amarillo, New Mexico wasn’t as dreary as Dagenham? There was a punk perversity about it, but also a pride in singing about my manor. “Starts down in Wapping/ Girl there’s no stopping/By-pass Barking and straight through Dagenham down/ To Grays Thurrock/Romney and Basildon…” And the dual carriageway to Southend does have a mythic weight for boy racers that’s part of that rock ’n’ roll dream. If Springsteen could romanticise New Jersey, I didn’t see why I couldn’t do the same for estuarine Essex.’ Billy Bragg
    Available on ‘Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy’ album, bonus disc (1987)

    34 I Can See For Miles The Who [download]
    Pete Townshend’s psych-pop masterpiece
    This song may namecheck the Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower, but was allegedly inspired by a hazy night spent gazing across London from Highgate. The cover of the album it appears on - 'Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy' - shows seminal mod hangout The Railway Hotel, now the site of four blocks of flats, each named after a band member.
    See more album covers that picture London

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83 comments

  1. Posted by DD on 23 Nov 2009 10:21

    No

  2. Posted by JULES on 22 Nov 2009 19:57

    Surely The Clash's song is "London CALLING" !!!!!!!

  3. Posted by DD on 19 Nov 2009 12:54

    Given that Mike Skinner grew up in Birmingham, you can hardly call "Has It Come To This?" a London song!
    No "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant? Shame on you

  4. Posted by Alice on 01 Oct 2009 15:12

    Where the hell are "werewolves of london", "london calling" and "electric avenue"?????
    This list SUCKS

  5. Posted by Gideon Pear on 10 Sep 2009 14:35

    What about Let's Snog by The Popsocks?

  6. Posted by Tom on 31 Aug 2009 11:58

    London Loves by Blur is missing from your list. In some circumstances, this is an imprisonable offence...!

  7. Posted by Darren on 04 Jun 2009 01:41

    wheres "werewolves of London"? Did I miss it?

  8. Posted by Jason on 21 Mar 2009 14:07

    Wheres London Lady or Dagenham Dave by the Stranglers?

  9. Posted by uche on 18 Mar 2009 17:56

    why do i need to use o tunes to get this song and their size are very large to start wit

  10. Posted by jimbo on 29 Jan 2009 21:03

    what about-BILLY BENTLEY(parades himself in London) by Kilburn and the highroads

  11. Posted by ron on 16 Jan 2009 19:14

    derek brimstone
    we both had a very good time
    fantastic words to great guitar plaing

  12. Posted by Alfina Wilson on 27 Oct 2008 06:04

    "West End Girls" should have appeared higher in the list, I think....
    LOVE the description of Neil Tennant's "young-ish" voice! That's one way to describe it... considering I have been noticing the higher frequency of Neil's voice during the past six years than it ever was in the mid-to-late 1908s.
    Of course, those who know the Neil and Chris know exactly that Neil was 31 when West End Girls was released. He was "young-ish" compared to now, alright! But sure was not that "young" compared to other first-time chart-toppers of the 1980s. ;-)

  13. Posted by canikissu on 26 Sep 2008 13:42

    cool songs

  14. Posted by rikkidelreeko on 24 Sep 2008 14:44

    Oranges & Lemons

  15. Posted by James Ramsden on 22 Sep 2008 09:20

    For Tomorrow is excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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