Friday's Child

"You're up in Park Lane now. And I'm somewhere around in Tottenham Court Road ..." It's fascinating what songs people came up with immediately when this project kicked off. Brian (Back To Zero) Kotz straight away suggested Them's You Just Can't Win, one of a few of Van's songs from that time that refer to London. Bring 'Em On In has Van walkin' down by Queensway, so that could be one. More certainly, Friday's Child has Van singing about watching the sun come up 'round Notting Hill Gate. This is perhaps my favourite Them track, and makes me think fondly of a cherished series of Rock Roots LPs Decca put out in the '70s featuring Them, Small Faces, Zombies. Changed my life those LPs. On into his solo career, and in the fantastic He Ain't Give You None Van's warning people not to go down on Curzon Street, and confessing how he got messed up somewhere called Notting Hill Gate ... "I lived up there for a while. But I moved out. And when I moved out I was in such a state. Ain't never goin' back there ...". Then on Astral Weeks' Slim Slow Slider he's seen her walking down by the Ladbroke Grove. I love it when places in London are awarded the definite article. Like Van's the man ... down by The Thames.

London By Night

"Down by the Thames, lights that sparkle like gems seem to wink at each girl and her beau ..." Another suggestion with a Thames reference was Frank Sinatra singing London By Night. Somewhat appropriately it came from Rob Simmons of The Fallen Leaves and once of Subway Sect. I say appropriately as it was the Sect's frequent mentions of Frank that sent me rummaging through my mum's records, thus beginning a long love affair with the artistry of Sinatra. London By Night came from Frank's 1958 set, Come Fly With Me, his first work with Billy May, and much to our approval it's a themed LP. The song itself, London By Night, was written by Carroll Coates, about whom I know shamefully little. Frank recorded the song again on his 1962 LP, Sinatra sings Great Songs From Great Britain, which may be the only record he made outside the US. Among Carroll Coates' other credits is Sunday In New York, one for our American comrades to feature. Frank of course was passionate about his USA which is just one reason he applauds so madly at the end of this astonishing Patti Labelle rendition of The House I Live In. Frank himself made a public service film of the same name, and in case anyone still wonders why he is considered to be so cool ...

Earlies

"Weekends we'd just wash away the dirt of busy, hazy London. The night grew cold, the Thames is old ..." Peter Ackroyd's fine book on the Thames: Sacred River is the sort of work you want to keep returning to. And yet, perhaps understandably, among all the literary references etc it's missing out on the songs. There have naturally been many songs that refer to the Thames in passing. One of the most beautiful examples would be Earlies by the Trash Can Sinatras, which Alistair Fitchett has suggested we feature. It is a song I'm ashamed to say I wasn't familiar with, but I have fallen in love with it. It makes me think of days long gone when I would be on earlies too, and you'd be heading out while the world seemed to be still sleeping, and one day as I set out before sun up I saw these two fox cubs playing in the snow while their mum looked on protectively. You wouldn't have seen that round our way in the daylight ...

Boy meets girl so what

"The day you left me my world fell apart. The sun ceased to shine. That day you broke my heart. And London fell down into the Thames ..." Now Mr Eden those words I believe are taken from your song Boy Meets Girl So What, a what you might call ironic pop tone, I'm sorry I mean tune, from your days in McCarthy. We are here to discuss this obsession you have with the waters of the Thames. We have already made reference to The Drinking Song of the Merchant Bankers where you suggest: "I'm not about to throw myself in the Thames". And now one of our witnesses, a Mr Dan Dan The Pantry Man, draws our attention to the words you use about a poor couple in Unfortunately: "Oh let us both go to a better town where money's not scarce. 'Cause otherwise we'll go to the Thames or The Serpentine ..." Unfortunate is hardly the word Mr Eden. You seem to paint us a picture of the couple on the verge of throwing themselves in the water. And this seems a particularly unhealthy obsession in your work. What do you have to say for yourself? I am, I assure you, prepared to keep an open mind ...

Grief came riding

"I started thinkin' about London and how nothing good ever came from this town, and if the Thames weren’t so filthy I would jump in the river and drown ..." sings Nick Cave in Grief Came Riding. Discuss! Actually this is a quite beautiful song, with Nick at his melancholy best. It also has some nice references to Battersea Bridge, and you are warmly encouraged to listen to this number in conjunction with Nick's homage to the Brompton Oratory. And being something of a ladies' man Nick's grief would have no doubt have been eased by the sight of Lulu delightfully dancing by on the Embankment ...

Someone's pinched me winkles

"The Cockney tribes in Britain were meeting for the games held annually, once a year, along the River Thames ..." I have this recurring nightmare where on accepting a prestigious literary or cultural studies prize up pops a family member to point out that even at the age of five he was a smart boy and could perform a word perfect rendition of Two Little Boys. So it's a bit of a relief to reveal without fear of humiliation Rolf Harris in something of a more scholarly mode, performing a traditional folk ballad highlighting quaint Cockney customs ...

Dirty Water

"Yeah, down by the river. Down by the banks of the river Thames. That's where you'll find me ..." As their name implies The Inmates weren't adverse to a little appropriation, and they made The Standells' Dirty Water their own, adapting it to reflect London rather than the Boston Ed Cobb wrote about. Certainly when this version hit the charts many of us were hearing the song for the first time and weren't familiar with The Standells'. I have to confess I actually prefer The Inmates' interpretation. Sentimentality? Well, Wild Bill Hurley and his outfit benefited from the new mod generation's interest in '60s source sounds, and were perhaps the last of the future primitives in the tradition of Dr Feelgood, Hot Rods, Count Bishops etc ...

Thames at high water

"Everything you say you say to threaten. Anything you hold you hold like a weapon ..." sings Cath Carroll in Miaow's Thames At High Water, a fantastic dancefloor filler originally recorded for a Peel session and salvaged by LTM on an essential compilation. LTM also reissued Cath's wonderful England Made Me set. Factory has had some stick for its A&R policy, but I admire Wilson's loyalty to Manchester scenesters. Cath nevertheless cites several Miaow numbers as being very much London songs, and Thames At High Water is one she pinpoints as being Rotherhithe or Bermondsey related, dating from a time she was squatting in the area.

Thames Crokadiles

"Thames Crokadiles will be fed well tonight ..." sings Earl Zinger ominously in his mean, moody and magnificent number about strange goings on in the night and Thames Crokadiles. Not for the first or for the last time does our hero Rob Gallagher set himself up in opposition to the madness of the modern world. Putting on his Luddite hat and coming on like a contemporary resurrection man he suggests switching off the TV, karaoke, laptop and so on, and refers to the ritual hanging of palm pilots. The track's taken from Zinger's Speaker Stack Commandments, which is an essential work of art. And as for crocs in the Thames? Don't bet against it.

Dear River Thames

"Dear River Thames, distress blurs my mind, through London's gray pastures, so bleak and unkind ..." sings Richard Digance on his 1974 recording of Dear River Thames. Looking on the internet you might be forgiven for thinking this is a Ralph McTell song, but that's a salutory lesson in the viral way the web works and how misinformation oft repeated becomes fact. While, as this lovely song shows, Richard has his roots in the folk scene those of us of a certain age will think of Richard on our TV screens performing topical and comical compositions. Sometimes he would simply sing sentimental and quite touching songs like this ...

D'Thames

"Stand on a bridge overlooking the Thames. Stare at my reflection. It's here I learnt my lesson ..." The next time someone tries to tell you there ain't no soul left in the UK's old shoes just play them Kevin Mark Trail's D'Thames. It's quite lovely, and one of the best Thames songs full stop. If you recognise Kevin's name it may be from his work with The Streets. He did a great solo LP in 2005 called Just Living which EMI did their best to keep a secret and then dropped him for not selling millions. Life eh? Shop around and grab yourself a copy ...

Docklands

"Mother said when you're young like this things can seem pretty bad. Let's get out, walk by the river. And there are people who roam the Docklands, and there are ships passing in the night ..." When lists are drawn up of Trevor Horn's productions it's to be hoped the Mint Juleps' Docklands would be at the top. It was the sort of uneasy and unlikely alliance Horn relishes. East End street corner soul outfit given a smooth synthetic sheen in Stiff's dying days. But it works a treat. The world's changed a lot since it was recorded in the late '80s, and the Mint Juleps' homepatch Docklands has changed an awful lot too. The old ways of life on the east and south east sides of the river, the places such as Bermondsey, Beckton, Surrey Docks, Wapping and Limehouse, the Isle of Dogs, are all unrecognisable from the days when the Mint Juleps recorded this track. The once thriving docks were already long gone by the '80s, and deprivation and dereliction was rife. Then came the redevelopment, the gentrification, the building of a new financial centre, the light railway, pricey flats galore, all out of the reach of existing communities. The defiance of the old Docklands can be heard in the Mint Juleps' Round Our Way which has the theme of we may not have all you've got but we've got something you'll never be able to buy. This is a more natural setting for the Mint Juleps (who I believe still perform) and there are some wonderful clips on YouTube of the group taking part in a Spike Lee acapella special. As an aside the Mint Juleps were managed by Rita Ray who is herself a London legend ...

Marcel's

"Marcel lives in Wapping. The dockside view is stopping. Marcel's got a houseboat on the Thames. There's grotesque decorations. Eccentric demonstrations. Oh let's go down to Marcel's on the Thames. Knock, knock, sesame, it's open. It's an East End wonderland ..." An invitation you can't refuse to visit Marcel's with Herman's Hermits. Surprised at this wander into Small Faces territory? Shame on you. The 'Ermits are cooler than you think. After all didn't Paul Morley describe Subway Sect's Ambition as the missing link between Peter Noone and Kafka? I'm a big fan of Herman and his gang and they did their bit to repopularise the traditions of vaudeville and music hall though I'd suggest Ian Whitcomb trumped them with his 'Enery. Second verse, same as the first ...

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?

Sweet Thames Flow Softly

"I met my girl at Woolwich Pier beneath the big cranes standing. And oh, the love I felt for her. It passed all understanding ..." Ewan MacColl's mid-'60s composition Sweet Thames Flow Softly is all the more romantic in my view for being defiantly non-romantic from the off. There have been many renditions over the years, but my particular favourite is by The Johnstons, an Irish folk outfit, on their excellent 1968 Give A Damn LP on Transatlantic which is infused with the era's harmony pop influences. Am I right in saying the first recorded version was by The Critics Group in '67 when it was the title track of a LP of London related songs (aha!), mixing old broadside ballads with new compositions by Ewan and Peggy Seeger? Great record, and reissued by the good people at Vocalion. I understand that another poem set to music, The Ballad of London River by Mary Byron, was the 'official' school song for many Londoners up to the 1960s, but that is a very different thing. I would like to think that today's school children have the opportunity to hear Ewan's song. Ewan, despite his Manchester roots, lived for many, many years in London (south) and his life story should be studied by us all. "Her necklace made of London Bridge her beauty was enhancing ..." There's a lovely rendition by the great Christy Moore on YouTube which I particularly like for the relish with which he sings the words ...

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 ..."

The Canal: Roofing Tiles

“A boy was pushed in this afternoon. Though he’s claiming now that he fell ... an old friend’s mum goes on walking by. Says she’s kinda tired but she’s well ...” The proper day out continues. Out of the zoo, over the road, and a walk along the Regent’s Canal. You might even see Rob Galliano sitting there wondering. But then the canal is nine miles long, stretching from Limehouse Reach to the Grand Union, and as such it could tell a tale or two. Galliano can tell a tale or two, and Roofing Tiles is so beautifully melancholic that we are particularly grateful to la belle dame Dusty Sevens for the splendid suggestion. More audience participation is actively encouraged. And if our luck holds we might find the video here for Roofing Tiles ... Worth being patient as we're not allowed to watch it on YouTube in the UK. Grrr ... because it's quite lovely.

Vauxhall to Lambeth Bridge

And so back to the river. Julie Driscoll's lovely song from the Streetnoise LP she made with Brian Auger in 1969 captures that special sense of escape and reflection that can be found while walking by the banks of the Thames. There would many years later be another song about walking along by the banks of the Thames, thinking, searching.

That part of the embankment Julie sings about, the stretch Vauxhall to Lambeth Bridge, is perhaps one of the better sections of the river to walk quietly along now that there's on the South Bank the Millennium Wheel and the Tate Modern. I love that line: "I think of you as I watch Big Ben and I see he's crying too ..."