Streets of London
| Streets of London | |
|---|---|
| Ralph McTell | |
| publication | 1969 |
| Genre (s) | Folk |
| Author (s) | Ralph McTell |
| Award (s) | Ivor Novello Award |
| album | Spiral staircase |
Streets of London is a folk song by Ralph McTell that became a hit parade in Europe in the early 1970s.
The piece was inspired by McTell's experiences, particularly in London and Paris , while hitchhiking around Europe as a street musician. Streets of London contrasts the problems of the average citizen with those of the homeless , the lonely old and the forgotten members of society.
History of origin
The song was first recorded in 1969 for the album Spiral Staircase on Transatlantic Records in a four-minute version and recorded in one take with acoustic guitar and McTell's vocals. In 1970 Transatlantic Records brought out the compilation Revisited , which contained a remix of this first recording, and released the song for the first time as a single, but without any notable commercial success. In 1971 McTell moved to the record label Famous / EMI , where the LP You Well Meaning Brought Me Here was released. In the USA, a song on this LP was replaced by a new recording by Streets of London . Paramount Records ( ABC ) released a new edition of the USA version of this LP in the Netherlands under the title Streets of London .
As a single, Streets of London was released in this new recording in 1972 in the Netherlands on Paramount / ABC, where it was able to place in the top 10 of the single charts. Only after another label change to WEA / Reprise did the newly recorded song, now also enriched with harmonica and accompanying choir, develop into a hit parade in Great Britain at the end of 1974 and reached number two in the UK Top 40 . In Germany, Streets of London came in early 1975 to number 8, in Austria to number 11. The title was awarded the Ivor Novello Award and remained as a one-hit wonder Ralph McTell's only hit parade.
McTell had always refused to update the song, but in view of the Corona crisis , he presented a new verse in March 2020 as a result of conversations with a correspondent from the neighborhood.
Similarities and covers
The harmony sequence and partly also the melody resemble the canon in D by Johann Pachelbel from 1677, on which the chanson Je t'appartiens , published in 1955 by Pierre Delanoë and Gilbert Bécaud , is based. When Ralph McTell wrote to Streets of London , Esther Ofarim interpreted this chanson in Paris in 1968 in a version that sometimes sounds very similar. Parts of the guitar arrangement are reminiscent of Oh Samuel, How You've Changed !, which Al Stewart recorded in 1967.
Many artists recorded covers of Streets of London , including Harry Belafonte , Cliff Richard , Mary Hopkin , Blackmore's Night , Joan Baez , Roger Whittaker , Gordon Lightfoot , Sinéad O'Connor , The Sex Pistols , Guus Meeuwis (Dutch title: Op Straat ) , Jasmine Bonnin (German title: Streets of our city ) and 1981 the Anti-Nowhere League . In 2012, Debbie Clarke released an acoustic version of the deluxe edition of her debut album Manhattanhenge.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry and track list for Ralph McTell's Spiral Staircase 1969 discogs.com
- ^ RYM, Ralph McTell, Streets of London (Transatlantic, 1970)
- ^ Ralph McTell Streets of London (Paramount / ABC, 1971) RYM
- ↑ Ralph McTell - Streets of London in the Dutch charts on DutchCharts.nl
- ↑ Ralph McTell in the Official UK Charts (English)
- ↑ Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit-Bilanz, Deutsche Chart Singles 1956-1980. Taurus-Press, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 141.
- ↑ Streets Of London at austriancharts.at
- ↑ BCC News Why Ralph McTell has updated his hit Streets of London for coronavirus era
- ↑ Comparison: Streets of London (mp3; 704 kB) on Ralph McTell's homepage
- ↑ Esther Ofarim Je t'appartiens on YouTube
Web links
- BBC Radio 2 Interview with Ralph McTell (English)
- Text in LyricWiki
- German translation of the text at SWR1