A suburban relapse ...

"Harmful elements in the air. Symbols clashing everywhere ..." Or is it cymbals crashing? Never was sure. But if you were to pin me down and force me to pick one London song that summed up this project it would have to be Hong Kong Garden by Siouxsie and the Banshees because when this was a hit back in 1978 it seemed so absurd that here was this achingly hip song in the Top 10 basically about a Chinese takeaway in Chislehurst High Street, out in the south east London suburbs, just a short bus ride away. The beautiful thing was that so many people didn't realise, thinking the song oh so mysterious and enigmatic, and if they did know they probably weren't aware the place was so nondescript. Siouxsie down the years has made no secret of the song's subject matter, often referring to the local thugs that would harrass the restaurant's staff. "I remember wishing that I could be like Emma Peel from The Avengers and kick all the skinheads' heads in," said Siouxsie some time later. Oddly, as far as I know, the restaurant's owners never seemed to cash-in on its 'fame'. It was there for years and years, even though the name changed along the way. I kind of liked that sense of obliviousness. It's one of the attractions of London's outer regions. Being able to hide. Except of course some are desperate to escape. And the whole Siouxsie/suburbia thing, the Bromley Contingent, the dressing up and being outrageous angle - it's all part of punk mythology, of course, with Billy Idol and Generation X which is where this all started and this project ends ...

Finchley Central

"Finchley Central is two and sixpence from Golders Green on the Northern Line. And on the platform, by the kiosk that's where you said you'd be mine. There we made a date. For hours I waited. But I'm blowed, you never showed. At Finchley Central, ten long stations from Golders Green. Change at Camden Town. I thought I'd made you, but I'm afraid you really let me down ..." Not a song for London transport pedants but nevertheless one of the most frequently suggested for this project, Finchley Central by the New Vaudeville Band is a great excuse to talk about the genius of Geoff Stephens, one of the great London songwriters and one of the great people associated with the Southgate area, along with soul ambassador Randy Cozens and mod legends Back To Zero. The New Vaudeville Band is regarded as a bit of a novelty act for its nostalgic stylings, and of course Winchester Cathedral is known worldwide, but there was a lot more to mainman Geoff Stephens. Among the other songs he wrote or had a hand in composing are The Crying Game, Semi-Detached Suburban Mr Jones, There's A Kind of Hush, David Soul's Silver Lady, Carol Douglas' Doctor's Orders, the New Seekers' You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me, the Hollies' Sorry Suzanne, Scott Walker's Lights of Cincinnati. The New Vaudeville Band itself did have other entries in the great London songbook, including I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet and Green Street Green. It's stretching a point to call Green Street Green a London song but it is technically part of the London Borough of Bromley. To locals the joke is that Green Street Green can be found just below Pratt's Bottom, but we won't go into that. If you took Geoff Stephens' advice and took a trip to Green Street Green you might not recognise the place Peter Noone sings about here. I still like to think he sings about onomatopoeic evenings but suspect I'm wrong ...

The 'Ampstead Way

"It's so absolutely different and delightful when you dance The 'Ampstead Way. It's so far ahead of dreaming, why it's practically romance. The 'Ampstead Way ..." sings Beryl Davis with a bit of support from comedian Sid Field on the number The 'Ampstead Way from the 1946 big screen spectacular London Town, which it seems misjudged the mood of the nation with its technicolour brashness in that immediate post-WW2 period. Despite its Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke score the film wasn't a success, but this is a lovely little number. The film also featured Petula Clark, barely into her teens but already a showbiz veteran. Londoners and their dropped aitches eh? Tsk. 'Ampstead seems particularly prone to it. Hmm. Well, 'Ampstead 'Eath in the 19th century was THEE place for Londoners to go on a day out. The opening of the railway station there in 1860 made it more accessible, and brought crowds from other parts of London, particularly on Bank Holidays. A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989) states: "Damage, particularly fires among the furze, and rowdiness were often a problem in the 1870s, when there might be 30,000 visitors at the August holiday and 50,000 on a fine Whit Monday. Violence was also a problem at the bonfires and processions held from before 1850 on Guy Fawkes day, until in 1880 a committee was set up to regulate them. Numbers reached 100,000 in the 1880s, although that estimate included trippers to Parliament Hill Fields, which were not yet part of the heath. The crowds were thickest in the south-east corner near the station, where in 1892 nine people died in a rush to escape from the rain. 'Appy' Ampstead became a nationally known phrase in the 1890s, when celebrated in a song by Albert Chevalier and in the cartoons of Phil May." The phrase 'Appy 'Ampstead was also used by the painter Arthur Rackham. His earliest sketches of life in Hampstead in the late 1880s reflect an eye for detail or what he himself declared a cockney ability to be 'very observant of small, new, strange things'. And 'ere's Gracie Fields singing 'Appy 'Ampstead showing what a great character player she was. Mind you, she was a 'Ampstead resident herself.

Night time in Bermondsey

"It's night time in Bermondsey. The tide is turning now on barges in Bermondsey. The waters laps their bows. And on London Bridge young lovers shiver and gaze at the lamplight in the river ..." sings Nadia Cattouse in Bermondsey. Well, actually she's singing it at the Edinburgh Festival in 1969 for a recording that appeared on her Earth Mother LP. Maybe like me you first came across Nadia's name on The Numero Group's Belize City Boil Up compilation, where it mentions her moving to England and becoming part of the folk scene. Well, Earth Mother is a beautiful record that emerged from that milieu. Songwriting credits include Andy Roberts, Mike Evans, Donald Swann, Sydney Carter, Bob Dylan and Nadia herself. Mysteriously Bermondsey is credited to Unknown, which is fascinating as the local colour is an absolute joy (St Saviour's, Guy's, Southwark Cathedral, barrow boys etc.). Does anyone know any more?

Cutty Sark

"I dream of empire. I dream of sailing ships. A fortune beneath their decks. Heavy with cargo, copper and ivory ..." sings Charles Hayward on Cutty Sark by Camberwell Now. Over Blackheath, through Greenwich Park, down to the river, and the Cutty Sark. This is for anyone who has stood by that beautiful clipper and heard it sing of another way of life. Tragically the Cutty Sark was all but destroyed by fire in May 2007, apparently as a result of a malfunctioning vacuum cleaner left plugged in. Hopefully the restoration project will be a success, as it is such an important landmark. Charles Hayward is a Capital treasure too, and Camberwell Now is an impeccable south London name for a group. And the track Cutty Sark comes from an EP appropriately called Meridian, recorded at Cold Storage, Brixton, the now famous base for the group's predecessor This Heat. I love what the great Steve Walsh wrote about This Heat for Zigzag in January 1979: "A quaint, nauseous, halting tune emerges. These 'quiet' interludes often employ quite pretty melodies, but the kind of charm they exude is that sinister sense of foreboding that one associates with Victorian music boxes. I listen and watch transfixed with a morbid, unhealthy fascination ..."

Blackheath

"Blackheath saw us all today. Whitsun tide in the month of May ..." sings Peter London in his song about Blackheath Fair. Blackheath Fair has a long, long history, and indeed Spring Heeled Jack put in a pretty shameful appearance in 1837. These days it's not such a big deal, and the annual fireworks display is a far more popular draw. As the excellent Transpontine blog details this too has something of a history, and is mentioned in E.S. Nesbit's The Story of the Treasure Seekers. I fear I can add little about Peter London other than that he is still active on the folk circuit of south west London. Blackheath Fair also features in another brilliant modern twist on the traditional folk song by Paul Whiting. I don't ever remember seeing a man with a ukelele on Blackheath, but I do recall a chap taking a mongoose for a walk ...

Georgie (Shooter's Hill)

"For what has Georgie done on Shooter's Hill? Was it stealing or murder of any? Oh he stole sixteen of the lord judge's deer. And we sold them down under the valley ..." Georgie, performed by Martin Carthy (one of Scritti Green's heroes) is an old folk song I first became aware of via a Transpontine post on south London folk songs. This version has a similar poaching/pleading theme as Geordie, which has already been featured. Shooter's Hill, south London's highest point, has quite a reputation. It's frequently associated with Dick Turpin and the dandy highwaymen who would work the Roman Road or late night on Watling Street if you like, and hangings used to be carried out there. Shooter's Hill also features in the nursery rhyme about John Cook and his grey mare. More recently Frankie Howerd went to school there, Boy George grew up there, and Mark Perry may still live there. And here Martin Carthy sings Georgie in his back garden ...

Officer XX

"Canteen culture colouring the view. From Hendon to Eltham. Not following the clue ..." sings Asian Dub Foundation on its track Officer XX. It's a day for remembering those that have died too young, so let's reflect on the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence who was killed in a cowardly racist attack while waiting for a bus in Eltham on the night of 22 April 1993. No one has to date been convicted for the killing, despite even the Daily Mail running front pages naming those commonly believed to be the murderers. And, as the ADF song refers to, the subsequent Metropolitan Police investigation was marred by allegations of corruption and racism, which led to a public inquiry and the now famous MacPherson report which condemned the Met as 'institutionally racist' and proposed far reaching changes. The murder of Stephen Lawrence is also mentioned in the brilliant Fearless by south London rapper Blak Twang, and in a moving poem by Benjamin Zephaniah called What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us.

This Town

"Somewhere there is tenderness in this town ..." If I had to pick one song that captures a sense of London without specifically mentioning the Capital it would be the June Brides' This Town. Somehow it has always felt like it's caught the spirit of London. That's just the way it's seemed to me. I hate asking songwriters about their words in case precious illusions are shattered in the process. But thankfully the JBs' Phil Wilson has confirmed it is very much a London song. "Beneath the lights on summer nights, it's nothing short of paradise," is about when Phil was young and enraptured with wandering round Soho and the West End. "Only shadows know your name" - you often feel like that in London, adds Phil. At the height of their fame the JBs were based around the Lewisham area, and I saw them play on numerous occasions in the mid '80s at venues such as the Thames Poly in Woolwich and the Old Ambulance Station on the Old Kent Road. Certain lines from This Town would be on my mind as I headed homewards. "Walking home back streets alone, a distant shout chills the bone ..." But nothing can touch you when you're humming a tune this good!

Hilly Fields (1892)

"Mr C.G. Fields lost his job with the Board of Trade. Walking through the fields he saw things that made others afraid – afraid. Yeah – 1892 – lines are still on you – Hilly Fields. Yeah – 18th of July – someone in the sky – Hilly Fields ..." Hilly Fields is a piece of unexpected greenery I passed I wouldn't like to think how many times as a kid, on the way to my grandparents', on the bus up from Lewisham to Brockley/Crofton Park. So nick nicely's Hilly Fields (1892) is a song that evokes specific memories. It's a wonderful work of art. While psychedelic is an overused epithet, for once it is an apt description of this beautifully strange song. The cello, the scratching, everything. And it's a particular favourite of Trevor Horn's I understand. nick nicely is still active and still creating south London songs ...

The Aspidistra House

"The faces in the flowers of the pattern on the paper all stare at me. And silently mouth: 'Get out of this house' ..." sings The Band of Holy Joy in The Aspidistra House, another wonderful moment on More Tales From The City. With reference to this song they are quoted as saying: "There was always a feeling of madness lurking behind the curtains on certain roads around Brockley, Sydenham, Forest Hill. A lingering malaise in Lewisham shopping centre, an air of unhingedness in Deptford Market ..." Ah yes. And I've read that the song The Biggest Aspidistra In The World has connections to a house in Evelina Road, Nunhead. In that same area. A short hop, skip and jump from where my parents were married in St Silas', which is no more. The song itself refers to the Crystal Palace, a bus ride away, where the dinosaurs roam. "When father's 'ad a skinful at his pub the Bunch of Grapes, he doesn't go all fighting mad and getting into scrapes. You'll find 'im in 'is bearskin, playing Tarzan of the Apes up the biggest aspidistra in the world," sings Our Gracie. Cha cha cha ...

Another Tulse Hill night

"What's happening? What's going on? Every day is just the same. You sit around. Or hang around. Your best friend's the telly ..." sings Nick Cash on 999's Tulse Hill Night, an everyday tale of suburban stasis south London style. I'm not sure why it's specifically Tulse Hill, but any excuse to play a bit of the under-appreciated 999 is a good thing. One of the great singles outfits of the punk era, this ironically is a track off their second LP, Separates, produced by the godlike Martin Rushent. The lead single off of Separates would be Homicide which always made me think of The Sweet for some reason ...

Brockwell Park

"In the night we freeze and you want me to tell in London's lonesome park Brockwell..." Ah this feels like the right time of year for this beautiful song, Brockwell Park by the Red House Painters. Oddly it's never seemed that strange to me that a San Francisco group should sing about a public park just south of Brixton, next to Herne Hill station. After all they've got a great south London name. For the Red House in Bexleyheath was built for one of our heroes, the socialist poet, artist, dreamer William Morris, and for a short period it was the centre of much artistic and cultural activity. It's well worth a visit. Brockwell Park itself was somewhere I first visited in August 1984 for a free event to protest against Tory plans to abolish the popular Greater London Council (GLC). While Strawberry Switchblade and The Fall were magnificent on that day, there was some terrible stuff on (The Damned, Spear of Destiny, New Model Army), and the crowd's demeanour and behaviour was boorish at best. It was just horrible. 25 years on, and this performance by lovers rock legend Sylvia Tella seems a lot more fun ...

Brixton

“Life in Brixton, feel the heat. Too much trouble on the streets. But I'm not gonna leave. If I go anywhere else, I've got nothing to achieve. A Kentucky Fried Chicken and a few chip shops. There's quite a few punks and too many cops ...” The Straps’ Brixton puts the punks’ perspective on the area’s history. In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s there was a significant punk presence, living in squats in the Brixton area. Among them would be the people who made up The Straps at various times. Historically well connected (associates include Liz Hurley, Lee Evans, Sadie Frost and Jim Walker) but very much part of the punk underground. There was something of a siege mentality to the punk community of that time. A bit of a ‘no one likes us and we don’t care’ outlook, as captured in a promo film, Punk Can Take It, Julian Temple made for the UK Subs in ’79 which parodied London Can Take It!, a 1940 blitz propaganda short film directed by the fascinating figure Humphrey Jennings, one of the founders of the Mass Observation movement.

Five nights of bleeding

“Rituals of blood on the burning. Served by a cruel in-fighting. Five nights of horror an of bleeding broke glass ...” Dennis Bovell is one of our capital’s treasures. His contribution to the development of popular music has been invaluable. His own recordings are numerous and wondrous, and we would need little excuse to refer to titles like The Grunwick Affair and New Kent Road here. His lovers rock creations for Janet Kay, Marie Pierre and others are rightly worshipped in the right quarters. As are his productions for The Pop Group, Slits, Orange Juice and so on. Then there is his long running association with the poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, for whom Dennis has provided musical support since the two sevens clashed. Their first fusing of poetry and dub was Poet And The Roots’ Dread Beat And Blood, which featured Five Nights Of Bleeding on the ‘why must the youth fight among itself’ theme, set primarily in the Brixton area.

Country living

"I'm saying goodbye to London city. City life is not for me. Going where the stars shine brightly ..." sings Sandra Cross in Country Living, a Mad Professor produced lovers rock classic. Despite the lyrics Sandra is from south London, and the area can stake a claim as the spiritual home of lovers rock. Many of the early releases (Brown Sugar and so on) were recorded by Dennis Bovell and colleagues in a basement studio on Brockley Road in the late '70s. The sound has endured, through the '80s, the '90s, and beyond. And there are numerous classics out there, from the likes of Sandra Cross, Kofi (who was in Brown Sugar), Deborahe Glasgow, Jean Adebambo, Sylvia Tella, and so on. Many of the lovers rock classics from the '80s were created in the Mad Professor's Ariwa studio in Gautrey Road in Nunhead. While the genre is poorly documented in mainstream media, unofficial channels like YouTube are a treasure trove of old lovers rock postings, including this priceless footage of Kofi in the Mad Professor's studio. Watch for the wink ...

Brixton Rock

"Sometimes we oblige. Next time we abuse. Now there's good and there's bad in everyone ..." Lorna G's Brixton Rock is a wonderful attempt at accentuating the positive of a place so often given a bad name. Brilliantly mixing up early hip hop with the reggae tradition, referencing Gary Byrd's The Crown, it contains the immortal lines: "Don't need to boast. Don't need to brag. Don't gimme cocaine, I'll do with a fag ..." The versatile Lorna (Gayle) also did lovers rock and the exceptional Mi Giro (Three Weeks Gone) with the Mad Professor at the controls. She is also captured performing Brixton Rock in an amazing piece of TV footage which also features Tippa Irie & Daddy Colonel, then in a more militant style the great Ranking Ann with the Saxon Sound System speaking up for the striking miners..."We 'ave a right to fight!" And if perchance the embedded link is not working here's a slightly different take on proceedings sans Ranking Ann but featuring Tippa Irie complaining about his neighbours ...

59 Lyndhurst Grove

"So you sometimes go out in the afternoon. Spend an hour with your lover in his bedroom. Hearing old women rolling trolleys down the road. Back to Lyndhurst Grove ..." Peckham has been the location for some great comedy moments. Situation comedy greats like Desmond's and Only Fools And Horses have been set there. Interestingly both series were aspirational in terms of their characters. And their creators gave us some memorable characters, such as Ram John Holder as Porkpie, and Rodney Trotter who memorably appeared in a UK Decay t-shirt. I have no idea if whoever cast Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney realised he had a name with such Peckham SE15 resonances. Look in your A-Z. Another passing Peckham aspirant sang about the goings-on at 59 Lyndhurst Grove, SE15, though to me such preciseness seems most un-London like.

When Stars Come Out To Play

"It rained for days on end and when it stopped there was not a leaf on the tree. Just one sad woman to shout 'They've taken him away'. What kind of day is this to be out in Angell Town?" The Band of Holy Joy's More Tales From The City debut LP is a powerful evocation of south London moving into the latter part of the '80s. There are several specific references to the area in the songs. Santley Street in Who Snatched The Baby? The New Cross Road in Mad Dot. And Angell Town in the LP's great moment When Stars Come Out To Play. Angell Town, like its similarly inappropriately named north of the river counterpart Somers Town, is an area named after a specific person. Angell Town is an area roughly between Lambeth and Camberwell, and it's also an estate that was notorious for many years but is now hailed as a transformed eco-friendly living environment. More Tales From The City, like Geoff Dyer's The Colour of Memory, both revels in and is repulsed by the south London grime and spirit. When I think of the Band I think of serious young men with severe haircuts and ancient overcoats and suits scouring secondhand and charity shops. I think of the singer getting excited about meeting Harboro Horace. I think of a TV documentary where the group's all excited about going to see the Salvation Army band perform in the streets. And I think of their Xmas party at the Albany in Deptford. One of the best shows ever. When was that? '87? This is from slightly later and is rather more polished ...

I live in Camberwell

"Said 'eaven will protect an honest girl. Next day I pawned me shawl in Camberwell. Then me skirt and blouse I sold 'em. And went trampin' back to Oldham ..." Camberwell now? Well, Basement Jaxx, one of our premier pop institutions seem to have cornered the Camberwell market. Camberwell Skies. I Live In Camberwell. Great stuff. But Camberwell has quite a tradition in popular song. In 1915 Lionel Monckton wrote Chalk Farm To Camberwell Green for his wife Gertie Millar on the 'how far are ya going' theme. The splendid south London (literally) blog 'zine Transpontine has helpfully posted the words for you to singalong. Then there's the fantastic Gracie Fields number from the '30s, Heaven Will Protect An Honest Girl. In this song, written by the great R.P. Weston and Bert Lee team (with Harris Weston too), Gracie sets out for London to go into service, gets into trouble, and heads home to Oldham in her undies.