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.

I Love Lambeth

"I love Lambeth. With all the dirt on the streets. There's no better place for your feet ..." Ah but there's a catch. Just when you think the Monochrome Set's I Love Lambeth is going to be a bit of a Peter Ackroyd doing the Lambeth Walk romp Bid sings about getting a lung full of fumes from an old Vauxhall Chevette. Contrary character Bid. Rewrote Lonnie Donegan's My Old Man's A Dustman from the perspective of the privilegentsia. You half expect some Tory toff to cite it as a Desert Island Disc times being what they are. And among his many other glorious moments Bid juxtaposed armoured Cadillacs in Montevideo with the tailor's scissors in Saville Row in a moment of pure Graham Greenery.

East Street, SE17

"Don't you ever wonder why people never hear you talking when they stand right next to you? Not just once. More than twice. In the market it will happen to you ..." I am delighted Miss Claudia nominated Nine Below Zero's East Street SE17 as it gives us an opportunity to return to the theme of one of London's oldest street markets. East Street runs between the Walworth Road and the Old Kent Road, and for generations it's been the place to go shopping and be seen. Confusingly it's known locally as The Lane. Charlie Chaplin was born here. Dennis Greaves gets it right when he sings: "See the people standing round who are gathered here today. It's all the generations. They come from miles around ..." London and its markets eh?

Baptism

"White labels in a suitcase ... I'm on a corner over East Street, yelling rag and bone style ..." Those lines from Roots Manuva's Baptism conjure up a wonderful image of the great man in a sheepskin coat and flat cap flogging his wares down the market over Walworth way. Featuring the gifted but criminally underheard Wildflower, Baptism is one of many highlights from Roots' debut Brand New Second Hand, a record that oozes a sense of south Londoness. References to Travelcards and heading under the Thames (the Rotherhithe tunnel, I guess) and so on. The Roots Manuva debut outing remains UK hip hop's finest moment, and this El-P remix of Juggle Tings Proper gives a real twist to the song though the original is hard to beat ...

Bermondsey

"Oh-ho-ho, Bermondsey, that's home to me. I'm longin' for the moment when I shall see the 'appy, laughing razor-slashed faces of the people I love ..." Cor! Until the end of the '80s when you'd get the train out of London Bridge you just might catch the scent of biscuits being mass produced driftin' from the Peek Frean's factory in Bermondsey which The Siddeleys' Johnny Johnson sang about in My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon. Jumping on Johnny Johnson's bandwagon Sid James also sang a less than flattering but equally wonderful ode to Bermondsey in the 1964 film Three Hats For Lisa, with support from co-stars including Joe Brown and Una Stubbs. Mind you, it was Joe's fellow coffee bar rocker Tommy Steele who was known as the Bermondsey Boy, and had some songs written for him by Lionel Bart and someone whose son might have ended up in Speedball, including Rock With The Caveman which the Polecats did a neat version of ...

Geordie (London Bridge)

"As I rode over London Bridge one misty morning early I overheard a tender hearted girl plead for the life of Geordie ..." The folk song tradition, murder ballads, child ballads, and so on, I'm sure would be another rich source of London related songs. The rendition of Geordie by Shirley and Dolly Collins is a great example. Folk songs being folk songs, there are apparently many different versions of the Geordie tale, and only some of them have the London Bridge setting. Among those that use this version have been Joan Baez, and the Italian folk singer Fabrizio De Andre whose own songs would be sung by many including the very great Mina. Returning to our London theme and traditional folk songs, it's worth mentioning Shirley and Dolly's works also include Fair Maid of Islington ...

On London Bridge

"I bow my head in silent prayer. And thank Him for the love we share. He blessed the night we met in London town when London Bridge came tumbling down ..." sings the very great Jo Stafford in her 1956 recording of On London Bridge. Cor that old bridge must have been a cracking place for finding your soul mate. No wonder the Americans snapped it up. I have no idea of the story behind how Jo came to be singing about finding true love while walking over London Bridge. But then she could make anything sound magical. Including Autumn in New York, a little number which our American comrades will want to share.

London Bridge is falling down

"London Bridge is finally fallin' down. They packed it up and shipped it outta town ..." A nice what would have been topical reference in Bread's London Bridge from their debut LP. Now my definition of someone who loves their music is someone who can appreciate a bit of Bread with their hip hop and vice versa. So let's bring in Newtrament on this with one of the very earliest UK hip hop outings, and another way of reworking the London Bridge Is Falling Down theme. Newtrament was part of early hip hop Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove b-boy pioneers Krew, along with Dizzy Heights. And this still sounds fantastic ...

London Bridge ... thrice

"And London Bridge is falling down but I still love this town. From the Tower to the Underground ..." sings the bard of Brixton on Big Audio Dynamite's London Bridge. Mick Jones introduces the theme of London Bridge falling down, alluding to the nursery rhyme kids all over the world learn almost by osmosis. It's a theme that also popped up in another scene from Lucy in London where apparently Lucille Ball and Anthony Newley were seen along by the river singing the nursery rhyme in a round with Pop Goes The Weasel. But can I find footage of this anywhere? Pah. And they say you can find anything on the 'net. So we'll have to console ourselves with ...