Streets of London (song)
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1970 Revisited
1971 You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here (US release)
1974 UK single
1975 Streets...
2017 CD single
| "Streets of London" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Ralph McTell | |
| from the album Spiral Staircase | |
| Released | 1969 Spiral Staircase 1970 Revisited 1971 You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here (US release) 1974 UK single 1975 Streets... 2017 CD single |
| Recorded | 1968, 1970, 1971, 1974, 2017 |
| Songwriter | Ralph McTell |
"Streets of London" is a folk song by Ralph McTell, who first recorded it for his 1969 album Spiral Staircase. It was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974. McTell himself noted that there were 212 known recorded versions of the song.[1] The song was re-released, on 4 December 2017, featuring McTell with Annie Lennox as a charity single for CRISIS, the Homelessness Charity. Roger Whittaker also recorded a well received version in 1971.
The song was inspired by McTell's experiences busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe, especially in Paris and the individual stories are taken from Parisians. McTell was originally going to call the song "Streets of Paris"[2]— but eventually London was chosen, because he realised he was singing about London;[3] also, there was another song called "The Poor People of Paris".[4]
McTell's song contrasts the common problems of everyday people with those of the homeless, lonely, elderly, ignored and forgotten members of society. In an interview on Radio 5 with Danny Baker on 16 July 2016, McTell said that the market he referred to in the song was Surrey Street Market in Croydon.[citation needed]
Composition
McTell left the song off his debut album, Eight Frames a Second, since he regarded it as too depressing, and did not record it until persuaded by his producer, Gus Dudgeon, for his second album in 1969. A re-recorded version charted in the Netherlands in April 1972, notching up to No. 9 the next month.[5] McTell re-recorded it for the UK single release in 1974. McTell played the song in a fingerpicking style with an AABA song structure.[6]
Similarities of the composition have been noted (along with many others) with certain patterns found in Pachelbel's Canon.[7]
