Wednesday 10 March 2010

East End Girl

"And when they're kicking down the door, she'll be there at your side. They'll never take her alive coz she's an east end girl. She's dangerous and beautiful and proud. With her feet on the ground and her head high in the clouds. And all it takes is one look through a late night party crowd to put you under the spell of an east end girl ..." Cock Sparrer get wonderfully sentimental about their East End Girl on perhaps their finest moment. They of course had the perfect London name. Wot'cher me old cock sparrer, and all that. And the cockney sparrow is in many ways the perfect symbol of the city. Plucky, chirpy chappies fighting it out among the larger, greedier species. These days sparrows have been disappearing from the London landscape. Where once they thrived on the space, now it's all built up, and even gardens are disappearing as people pave them over to make way for car parking space. Cock Sparrer have had other wonderfully tender moments, such as Battersea Bardot, their tribute to the actress Carol White who was such an important part of the '60s film world, with roles in Poor Cow, Up The Junction, Cathy Come Home and so on, but it all went tragically wrong ...

4 comments:

  1. i never thought cock sparrer could have wondrful tender moments and i'm a bit scared about finding out but that's a wonderful bit of poor cow - what a bit of rooftop glory. that terry still gets his veg down berwick street you know - i'm always impressed
    x

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  2. Be brave Ally. You can't judge a book by the people wot reads it.

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  3. You missed the classic Sparrer 'Last Train To Dagenham', an ode to the wonders of the District Line and falling asleep on the last train!

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  4. Fair point. I'll try and justify myself by saying we haven't got out as far as Dagenham yet!

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