"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 ...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.
Friday, 20 November 2009
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 ...
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