Stanwell

"Half the people think they're better. The other 'alf just don't care. Class distinction's alive and well here ..." In their splendid song Stanwell !Action Pact! maintains a great punk tradition by having a bit of a go at its hometown. Stanwell, as George Cheex tells it, is in sweet suburbia, just by Heathrow. Indeed the group's first recordings were on an EP called Heathrow Touchdown. Among Stanwell's other claims to fame is I believe the education of one Gary Numan. Heathrow itself doesn't seem to have been immortalised in pop song as often as you'd expect (I don't think File Under Pop's Heathrow counts!). But one song that springs immediately to mind with its line about every lousy Monday morning Heathrow jets go crashing over our heads is The Members' magnificent The Sound of The Suburbs ...

Moving to the city

"Well I was tired of being a small minded fish in a smaller minded pond. We're moving to the city where they don't care where you're from ..." sings Simon Rivers in the Bitter Springs' Moving To The City. What can you say? This band has got away with sheer genius for the past 25 years. Until now. Ah but even now I can still recall first hearing the group under its earlier brand name The Last Party when the much missed John Peel played their Mr Hurst. In those days six miles to the local post office seemed a bit extreme rather than the norm. Listening to it now it's jarring to think this was before Sunday shopping became the norm. You can listen to it too on the excellent Last Party comp Cacophony on Port Hampton. Ah Hampton. The Bitters mention Uxbridge Road in The Idiots Computing where mobile phone users get on Simon's wick. So, yes, Hampton. The Last Party/Bitter Springs' manor out west. They've stayed loyal. You get a sense of that too in the 'movie' for the Springs' splendid single And Even Now ("And even now there's something here. That brings me back. That makes me care. With freedom of movement and freedom of speech. Some of us practice what others just preach ..."). There's a French version too with the Springs' partisan comrade Vic Godard singing. What more could you want from life? Well, seeing as how this could appear on Christmas Day ...

Southall

"My friend how will you ever thrive in this strange and loveless land where hatred mocks you at every turn, where souls are as cold as ice, where the very soil is contaminated? O my friend you came to England leaving your Punjab ..." I love a good introduction. The Mekons' Where Were You springs to mind. And Bob & Earl's Harlem Shuffle, naturally. I would suggest the start of Southall by Amar Arshi & Miss Pooja is something special too. I'm not able to say how much, if at all, the song is a tribute to the west London suburb where there is a significant Indian Punjabi population, but it provides a great excuse to share the song. The last time I looked Miss Pooja seemed to have undergone a contemporary r&b makeover. Fair enough. After all Timbaland and others have borrowed heavily from the Punjabi bhangra sound to great effect. Before that there was a period of using bhangra in jungle/drum 'n' bass records, and vice versa. I still have a couple of jungle-bhangra fusion CDs somewhere where there was a certain crossover of tracks with earlier UK bhangra acts like Premi and Shava Shava. From that same '80s UK bhangra scene came Kala Preet who would be filmed, with a cheeky nod in the direction of The Beatles, playing on the rooftop of a shop on Southall Broadway performing Us Pardes Ki, their biting commentary on moving to the city from the Punjab ...

The Battle of Brentford

"Captain Lilburne, well, he rode after us all sir, he grabbed our colours, and bid all those with weak hearts to march back to London, but calling on those with the spirits of men and the gallantry of soldiers to follow him back to Brentford ..." Nope, not an account of a heated local derby at Griffin Park, The Battle of Brentford is instead part of an ambitious musical project, Freeborn John, put together by the Rev Hammer. The dramatic work is based on the story of John Lilburne, the 17th century agitator, who was a key figure in the English Civil War, which the Battle of Brentford formed part of on 12 November 1642. Lilburne was captured by royalist troops after the battle, and became the first prominent Roundhead to be seized. The Rev Hammer's Freeborn John features members of The Levellers and New Model Army (indeed Justin Sullivan narrates this track), and for once their participation is wryly appropriate given the subject matter. The project prominently features Maddy Prior, one of the great English pop figures. Another great English pop figure was Marie Lloyd, queen of the music halls and a distant relative according to my grandad, whose most famous 'character' numbers included the immortal I'm One Of The Ruins That Cromwell Knocked About A Bit, which sadly turned out to be her swan song. Here is a later rendition by Doreen Harris with Leon Cortez and his Coster Band ...

Kew Gardens

"Suddenly the rain came flurrying, sending the two of them scurrying, helter skelter for the shelter. And feeling bolder in the big pagoda,he gently enquired her name. And they waited till the sunshine came ..." sings Mary Hopkin in her version of Kew Gardens, a song written by Ralph McTell. Ah both Mary and Ralph are in that enviable/tragic situation of being known for one particular song. Ralph, of course, for THAT most famous of London songs. And Mary for Those Were The Days, naturally. Funny really in these days when TV talent shows loom so large in our lives to recall Mary too was a by-product of that world. So the story goes Twiggy saw her on Opportunity Knocks, got The Beatles interested, with the result Mary got signed to Apple. Paul McCartney remembered a song he'd heard in the folk clubs which he thought would suit her. It had been sung by Gene Raskin, who had adapted an old Russian gypsy melody he'd heard in a film adaptation of a Dostoyevsky novel, adding new words referring to his time on the New York folk scene with the Clancy Brothers etc. The rest is history, with versions of the song being recorded right 'round the world. Mary didn't really play the fame game, though. Good for her, but then again anyone who appeared on the Radiators' Ghostown LP (produced by Mary's husband) is alright with me. Many years later there would be another song by the very great Lady Sovereign called Those Were The Days about growing up in London ...

Hoover Factory

"Five miles out of London on the Western Avenue. Must have been a wonder when it was brand new. Talkin' 'bout the splendour of the Hoover factory. I know that you'd agree if you had seen it too. It's not a matter of life or death. But what is, what is? It doesn't matter if I take another breath. Who cares? Who cares? Green for go, green for action. From Park Royal to North Acton. Past scrolls and inscriptions like those of the Egyptian age. And one of these days the Hoover factory is gonna be all the rage in those fashionable pages ..." A touch of vision from our man Elvis in Hoover Factory, his homage to the pride of Perivale. And while this splendid example of '30s art deco architecture is indeed rightly revered I believe it's also to let. The vacuum cleaners are long gone. There's a Tesco superstore on the grounds these days. Of course. Supermarkets being our new cathedrals. This song first appeared in my home on a Elvis compilation of bits 'n' bobs called 10 Bloody Marys & 10 How's Your Fathers, which was cassette only and came in an elaborate gold lettered cover. Still got mine. It featured Elvis singing George Jones' Stranger In The House, when we were just coming to terms with the fact that country and western could be cool and soulful too ...

In Gunnersbury Park

"So the leaves touch the ground of a bowling green in Acton ..." sings The Hit Parade's Julian Henry in the charming number In Gunnersbury Park. London songs are perhaps unique in covering such unexpected locations as Gunnersbury Park. Can you think of another city's songbook where the same thing happens? And what I like about a lot of these songs is that they are less than flattering about their chosen place. So, for example, nothing changes in Gunnersbury Park. Is that a bad thing though? Hmm. Anyway, I had this song at the back of my mind for possible inclusion, being vaguely aware of it from a Sarah Records compilation I think, but Daniel Williams, who knows so much about these things, gave me the necessary prompt. Julian Henry's is a name I see these days in a role as media/PR commentator occasionally, so I assume it's safe to make a connection then between the Sarah legend and Simon Fuller's Pop Idol empire, which I believe Julian is part of. You'd have thought he'd use his influence to get one of the pop-ettes to cover an old Orchids or Sea Urchins song. Funny old game this pop business ...

Dear Old Shepherd's Bush

"I'm on my way home to dear old Shepherd's Bush. That's the spot where I was born ..." sings Nat D Ayer in a number from the smash hit WW1 revue The Bing Boys Are Here. Actually Nat was born in Boston, and came to London riding high on the success of Oh! You Beautiful Doll, which he had a hand in writing. The Bing Boys was a major success in the West End, and one of its songs If You Were The Only Girl In The World is still popular today. In Dear Old Shepherd's Bush Nat works in mentions of Ealing, Woking, Tooting and Acton and the various forms of transportation. The Shepherd's Bush tube also gets a mention in Wait A Minute, a Cockney music hall gem from Tom Woottwell in which he lists a series of unfortunate scrapes he's got himself into, including insurance fraud. There are other Woottwell treats out there, including I Ought To Be Punished where a copper's come a cropper and Tom admits he's at fault for using his fist and being a brute ... when he oughtta have used his boot.

(Do You Remember) The Saturday Gigs

"'72 was born to lose. We slipped down snakes into yesterday's news. I was ready to quit. But then we went to Croydon ..." Mott The Hoople's Saturday Gigs is one of the greatest London songs, and a peerless piece of self-mythologising. Mott The Hoople was one of the great singles groups. And one of the many things that makes the Mott so special still is the attention to detail in the lyrics, and in particular 'Unter's little asides. Rockabilly parties and six-string razors. The "oh dear oh lor oh my oh my ..." in Saturday Gigs. The reference to Top Of The Pops. Ah. I have fond memories of Mott on TOTP from an early age, in the days when watching the show was a religious ritual, and the television centre at White City where it was filmed seemed like the promised land. And I loved the way Generation X rewrote Saturday Gigs for the punk age as Promises Promises. They kept in a mention of Top Of The Pops too, though their punk peers the Rezillos trumped them by singing Top Of The Pops on Top Of The Pops. And as Mott might have sung: "Who needs Thunderthighs when you've got Faye Fife?"

White City

"Oh sweet city of my dreams. Of speed and skill and schemes. Like Atlantis you just disappeared from view. And the hare upon your wire has been burnt upon the pyre. Like the black dog that once raced out from trap two ..." There's certainly a case to make for The Pogues' London songs being unfairly ignored round 'ere. But there is also a case to make for certain London songs being too deliberate. So to redress the balance a little here's the best of their London songs. A tribute to the White City stadium, which was built for the 1908 Olympics, ironically. From 1927 it was a venue for greyhound racing until its eventual demolition in 1985 when it made way for more BBC buildings. Shane mourns its passing and the way of life that seemed to be disappearing with it ...

Wormwood Scrubs Tango

"I used to tramp the streets beneath the stars and knock off other geezers' cars. I used to flog 'em down the lane. I'd never 'eard of Wormwood Scrubs ..." And then it's down 'ill all the way for the poor old tea leaf in Spike Milligan's Wormwood Scrubs Tango. Produced by George Martin, no less, afore he got mixed up with those lads from Liverpool. Down 'ill for him too. Spike though. Never got The Goons, but grew up on his wartime memoirs and the various series of Q whatever on TV. My all time favourite joke comes from one of those. "Wanna buy some elephant powder?" "What for?" "To keep elephants away!" "You don't get elephants round 'ere!" "There you go then. Proves it works ..." Spike contributed another classic London song for our delight ... All together now ...

Portobello

"Doesn't matter who you are. There's a melting pot of lunatic fringe. Seething with sedition. Annointed with wisdom. The streets of Portobello's extremes ..." The punk supergroup Lords of the New Church cast Portobello as an outlaw's republic, quoting the anarchist maxim of Emma Goldman along the way with the line about if voting could change things they'd make it illegal. It's a line that would take on particular significance for Londoners when the deposed leader of the former people's socialist republic of London Ken Livingstone used it for his memoirs. The Lords themselves were formed from the legions of The Damned, Sham, Barracudas and Dead Boys. Singer Stiv had been young, loud and snotty in New York where his Dead Boys were produced and mentored by Genya Ravan, the very great Genya Ravan, once the leader of Goldie & The Gingerbreads and once the mysterious Patsy Cole. Her own anarchic memoirs Lollipop Lounge are priceless, and deal in part with her time in London when the '60s were beginning to swing.

Portobello Road ... take three

"People raising hands to bid. Taking off the top and seeing what's been hid. Wrapping paper on the ground. Screaming children showing off the things they've found ..." sings Billy Nicholls in his Portobello Road. I think I'm right in saying Billy was actually from the area (well, White City ...) which seems unusual for someone who's written a song about the market. The song comes from his Immediate LP Would You Believe, a record that for all the usual reasons vanished from the radar on its release but gradually acquired a cult following. Now it's rightfully regarded as a classic piece of pop psychedelia with some lovely lush arrangements. It includes another wonderful London song in London Social Degree, which the astute will know the lovely Dana Gillespie did a great cover version of on her fantastic Foolish Seasons set. And here's Billy with a familiar voice in the background ...

Portobello Road ... take two

"Getting hung up all day on smiles. Walking down Portobello Road for miles. Greeting strangers in indian boots, yellow ties and old brown suits. Growing old is my only danger ..." sings Cat Stevens in his tribute to Portobello Road. Cat is in a fairly unique pop position having been brought up in the heart of London's West End. And yet this very early recording of a London song actually has lyrics written by Kim Fowley. Pop aesthetes can never resist mentioning those facts. Unfair in a way as from the off Cat wrote some cracking songs. One of the first singles I remember playing to death was his Matthew & Son. Over familiarity can mask the brilliance of this song, and so it is still possible to be surprised like members of the audience in this wonderful clip.

Portobello Road

"Portobello Road, Portobello Road. Street where the riches of ages are stowed. Anything and everything a chap can unload is sold off the barrow in Portobello Road." If someone asked me which songwriters had the most influence on me at an early age I'd doubt I'd say the Sherman Brothers off the top of me 'ead. But I ought to. After all, they wrote songs for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Films I absolutely adored as a kid. Still do, but we won't go into that. Bedknobs and Broomsticks I particularly remember going to see at the cinema, and I recall being enchanted by it. I suspect at the time I was more taken with the cartoon animals playing football. But now I'm more besotted with the musical number in Portobello Road market where the world and his wife does their turn ...

On the terrace

"I'm sittin' in the terrace on the Portobello Road. I'm waitin' for my man to come. It's a complicated situation ..." sings Michael Head at the start of Shack's On The Terrace. There is a nagging memory that looking back at the Michael Head story there is another Portobello Road connection. I seem to recall reading that the 'controversial' photo on the cover of the Pale Fountains' Unless (an image Morrissey would've sold his soul for) was a photo Mick had picked up down Portobello Rd market. I might've made that one up. Dunno. Another Michael Head London song that's been oft suggested for inclusion in this project is London Town from Waterpistol. That sort of thing restores your faith in human nature.

Nine out of ten

"Walking down Portobello Road to the sound of reggae. I'm alive ..." What a fantastic piece of imagery that is by Caetano Veloso at the start of Nine Out Of Ten. It's such a lovely song. Transa is a special LP too. Caetano lived for a while around the Notting Hill area during the time he and Gilberto Gil were in London, in exile from the military dictatorship in Brazil at the end of the '60s. It's a time well documented in Caetano's remarkable book Tropical Truth. I think there's even a shot of Gilberto on the steps of Notting Hill tube station. Caetano in the book admits to feeling particularly vulnerable during his time in London, and it's a feeling he captures perfectly in his famous number London London, which has been one of the most frequently suggested contributions for this project. Our comrade PC wisely recommended Gal Costa's exquisite rendition. But it is Caetano's song, and even after nearly 40 years his delivery brings a tear to the eye ... "Green grass, blue eyes, grey sky, God bless".

Don't Be Mean

"I saw you out walking down Westbourne Grove. You caught my eye and your arm it rose. It rose in the sky oh everso high. But it wasn't my dear to wave to me. It was simply to hail a big black taxi. Which you jumped in as fast as you possibly could. Well you know my dear I'm not made of wood. And my name may be Birch dear but I'm not a tree. And I can see you ignoring me ..." sings Gina on Don't Be Mean, the shop window for the Raincoats' undervalued '90s return. If there is one group that evokes the adventuresomeness of the whole Rough Trade London W10/W11 beat boho cool it is the Raincoats and the way they turned pop inside out. While Rough Trade's history may have been over-sentimentalised (there's a lot to hate!) the Raincoats' work still surprises, and the Gina Birch documentary is a treat in store.

Carnival Song

“Tabasco sauce, Worcester sauce, Prince Buster, draught Guinness, Roy Orbison, Huddy Leadbetter, Chuck Berry, Woody Guthrie, Converse All Stars, Sta Prest, our founder, Elvis Presley, midnight movies at the Electric, Joe Orton, medical text books, William Faulkner, Allen Ginsberg, Francis Bacon (painter), William Burroughs’ Junkie (hate everything else by him), Dostoyevsky, Sylvia Plath, Diane Arbus, Burning Spear, early Stones, early Keith Hudson”. Another London list song? Nope. It's a list of influences cited by the Vincent Units in Zigzag May ’79. The Vincent Units, and splinter group the Tesco Bombers, were legends of the London W10/W11 scene in the post punk era, and were led by well connected wide boy and clown prince Neal Brown. The infamous Robin Banks in Zigzag turned them into cult heroes without anyone really hearing them. It would be a couple of years later that the Notting Hill (ex)centric classic Carnival Song appeared as a single on Y Records. Neal would become more involved with the art world as the years went by. You might recognise his name from the foreword to Bill Drummond's 45. More recently he has written a short study of Billy Childish. Among the groups associated with the Vincent Units back in the day would be the Raincoats and the Mo-Dettes (who played their first show supporting the Vincent Units at the Acklam Hall) ...

Teddy Boy Calypso

"Every night they walking about in a band attacking woman and man ..." Some enlightened thoughts on apt punishments are shared by Lord Invader in his Teddy Boy Calypso. Bring back the cat o'nine tails! That'll learn 'em. Sadly it wasn't all getting down to Vince Taylor and Terry Dene. And teddy boys did have a bit of a name for getting involved in racist attacks, becoming fascist pawns, and such actions ignited the 1958 race riots in Notting Hill. The following year in the same area Kelso Cochrane, an immigrant from Antigua, was killed by a gang of white men. No one was ever convicted but it was claimed Oswald Mosley's British Union Movement were responsible. Here modern day calypsonian Alexander D. Great pays tribute to Kelso.