"The perverse possibilities of the Barbican. You could be invisible here. You can get a notion of floating above the city ..." The first time I visited the Barbican Centre in London, soon after it opened when it seemed wonderfully exotic, I remember getting hopelessly lost trying to follow the yellow lines along its walkways. So it always seemed appropriate that The Lines had a song called Barbican. It's easy to forget the song would have predated the Centre itself, so I'm guessing there's more of a nod towards the area's residential towers, and the perverse possibilities Saint Etienne refer to. The Etienne had a themed LP set around Turnpike House, a short walk from the Barbican, from which comes their greatest London song. No namedropping as per some of their more arch ways. Just a real sense of the city ...A site dedicated to songs about London. As simple as that. The only rules are that the songs must be brilliant and that the blindingly obvious numbers are excluded. The songs may be explicitly about London or obliquely about the city in some way. This is a project that was deliberately designed to last for one year. It will remain live for people to explore. So please enjoy discovering the lost and found songs of London, and do please spread the word.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Barbican
"The perverse possibilities of the Barbican. You could be invisible here. You can get a notion of floating above the city ..." The first time I visited the Barbican Centre in London, soon after it opened when it seemed wonderfully exotic, I remember getting hopelessly lost trying to follow the yellow lines along its walkways. So it always seemed appropriate that The Lines had a song called Barbican. It's easy to forget the song would have predated the Centre itself, so I'm guessing there's more of a nod towards the area's residential towers, and the perverse possibilities Saint Etienne refer to. The Etienne had a themed LP set around Turnpike House, a short walk from the Barbican, from which comes their greatest London song. No namedropping as per some of their more arch ways. Just a real sense of the city ...
No comments:
Post a Comment