Continuing the trip around Europe we remain bogged down in the UK and visit its capital city London.
This was first broadcast on Beachy Head Radio on 18th April where it still resides should the embed not function. Doing Europe No.1 is here and more themed music there.
1. 00:00:00 The Clash – London Calling
1979 From London Calling. The former members of pub, glam and prog rock bands came together as The Clash in 1976 and continued for a decade filling out their initial punk sound with reggae, dub, funk, ska, and rockabilly.
London is the capital and largest city of The United Kingdom with a population of around 8.8 million and the largest city in Western Europe by metropolitan area with a population of 14.8 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea and has been a major settlement for nearly two millennia.
2. 00:02:11 The Jam – A Bomb In Wardour Street
1978 From All Mod Cons and a double A-Side single with their cover version of The Kinks ‘David Watts’. Having formed in 1972 The Jam broke up a decade later when their songwriter Paul Weller had reached the grand old age of 24.
Wardour Street in the City Of Westminster runs north from Leicester Square, through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street. Throughout the 20th century the West End street became a centre for the British film industry and the popular music scene including the Marquee Club from 1958.
3. 00:04:32 Good Time Losers – Trafalgar Square
1967 Single A-Side. The only release by the band and Written by Barry Fantoni a.k.a. EJ Thribb the poet-in-residence at satirical magazine Private Eye whose verses he penned for nearly forty years.
Trafalgar Square is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, established in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. The square’s name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars over France and Spain that took place on 21st October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar. The site around Trafalgar Square has been a significant landmark since the 1200s. For centuries, distances measured from Charing Cross have served as location markers
4. 00:07:04 Eric Coates – London Bridge March
1950 From Coates Conducts Coates. The composer best known for ‘By A Sleepy Lagoon’ which has been used as the theme to BBC Radio 4’s ‘Desert Island Discs’ since 1942 and the soundtrack to the film ‘Dambusters’. Here he conducts a recording of the tune he wrote in 1934.
London Bridge refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark since Roman times. ‘New London Bridge’ had been in place for a hundred years at the point this was written and remained in use until 1967. It was then sold to the Missourian oil entrepreneur Robert P. MuCulloch for $2,460,000 in 1968 to be rebuilt at Lake Hasvasu City Arizona.
5. 00:10:09 Spike Milligan – Wormwood Scrubs Tango
1962 The B-Side of Postman’s Knock. Orchestra And Childrens Chorus Conducted By Ron Goodwin. Produced by the best man at his wedding that year, George Martin.
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs was built between 1875 and 1891 at the southern end of the ancient park of the same name and stands beside Hammersmith Hospital. Musical inmates have included composer Michael Tippet for failing to carry out wartime duties as a contentious objector and Libertines front man Pete Doherty for drug and driving offences.
6. 00:12:17 Marillion – Chelsea Monday
1983 From Script For A Jester’s Tear. The only album with Mick Pointer the last surviving founder member of what was originally Silmarrillion who was let go for his variable sense of timing.
Chelsea on the north bank of the River Thames in West London. Not to be confused with Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan USA which has been the subject of songs by Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Nico amongst others.
7. 00:15:37 The Kinks – Big Black Smoke
1966 B-Side of Dead End Street. One of the earlier pop songs with a direct drug reference, ‘she spent all her money on purple hearts and cigarettes’. Purple hearts being the amphetamines Drinamyl. Bass is by John Dalton who was in the band that year whilst Pete Quaife recovered from a car accident. He joined them full time in 1969.
The title is a variation on ‘The Big Smoke’ a nickname for London that was coined in the 1870s to describe the lethal smogs caused by the burning fuel. The problem had existed since before 1306 when Edward I briefly banned coal fires in the city and peaked with 4,000 deaths in four days in 1952 (with a further 8,000 dying later). They only ended after the Clean Air Act of 1956 which prohibited the use of smoke producing fuels in cities.
8. 00:17:59 Professor Bumble’s Magic Machine – London Bridge Is Falling Down
1975 From ‘Magic Moog Nursery Rhymes’. Not a lot of clues about this one beyond it being produced by Barry Kirsch and arranged by John Hawkins. But Kirsch was a keyboard player so may have been responsible for the synths..
‘London Bridge Is Falling Down’ is derived from rhymes and games dating to the late Middle Ages and solidified to it’s current form in the 19th Century. The rhyme is constructed of quatrains in trochaic tetrameter catalectic with pike.
9. 00:18:45 Wynken, Blinken & Nod*And The Golden Rock-A-Twisters – London Bridge (Rock-A-Cha-Cha)
1964 Single A-Side. Dance and Sing Mother Goose With a Beatle Beat’.
10. 00:20:12 The Popguns – Dirty London
2023 From POPISM. Brighton band originally of the late 1980s to mid 1990s who reconvened in 2012.
11. 00:22:38 Third World War – Shepherd Bush Cowboy
1971 From Third World War.
Shepherd’s Bush is a suburb of West London within the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham with evidence of human habitation from the Iron Age. The BBC had a large base there until 2012 and often broadcast concerts and programs from the Shepherds Bush Empire which is still a music venue.
12. 00:24:44 Ram John Holder – Brixton Blues
1969 From Black London Blues. John Wesley Holder CBE best known for playing Augustus “Porkpie” Grant in the Channel 4 sitcom Desmond’s.
Brixton is a district in South London and part of the Borough of Lambeth. It became the home of many immigrants from the West Indies and Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s. Paul Simonon and Mick Jones of the Clash, heard earlier, are from there as was David Bowie.
13. 00:26:39 Dick Emery – Bermondsey
1973 From Dick Emery Sings. English comedian who had his own TV series from 1963 to 1981 and was President of the Airfix Modellers Club. He peaked in the charts with his 1969 single ‘If You Love Her’ which reached number 32.
Bermondsey in the Borough of Southwark has produced its share of entertainers including Tommy Steele, Arthur Smith and Michael Barrymore but Dick Emery wasn’t one of them having been born in Bloomsbury and spent much of his youth on tour with his comedy double act parents. More Dick Emery than strictly necessary…
14. 00:28:55 Dire Straits – Wild West End
1978 From Dire Straits. Led by Newcastilian guitarist Mark Knopfler they were quite popular in the 1980s.
A central London district west of the City and north of the Thames containing many of the city’s major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings and entertainment venues. The term was first used in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross, the notional centre of the Capital.
15. 00:31:56 Squires Of London – A Personal Call From Squires Of London
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16. 00:32:24 Jethro Tull – Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square
1969 From Stand Up. English agriculturist who lived from 1674 to 1741 often credited with inventing the seed drill.
Staying in the West End Leicester Square is a pedestrianised area with a park at its centre that’s the location of a number of major cinemas.
17. 00:34:06 Dory Langdon – Lonely Girl In London
1958 From The Leprechauns Are Upon Me. With Kenny Burrell on guitar and Andre Previn on piano the latter of who she was writing songs for films and married a year later. She resumed here performing career in 1970 after their divorce. She can also be heard on last month’s Loud Hailers #10, Myths, Legends & Fantasy No.1 https://lowredmoon.ch/2024/03/21/loud-hailers-10-myths-legends-fantasy/
London the Capitol of the UK shouldn’t be confused with Bay of London, Eday island, Orkney, Scotland; London, Belgrade, Serbia; London, France; Ny-London, an abandoned mining settlement in Svalbard, Norway; London, Ontario; London Island (Cook Island, Tierra del Fuego), an island east of Londonderry Island and south of Cockburn Channel; London, Arkansas, a city; London, California, a census-designated place; London, Indiana, an unincorporated community; London, Kentucky, a city; London, Michigan, a township; London, Minnesota, an unincorporated community; London, Ohio, a city, London, Texas, an unincorporated community; London, West Virginia, an unincorporated community; London, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community; London, Kiribati; or the asteroid 8837 London.
18. 00:36:31 Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street
1978 From City To City. Baker Street in the Marylebone disctrict of the City of Westminster was home to Eric Coates whose ‘London Bridge March’ was heard earlier and Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle’s popular fictional detective. It is now mainly occupied by commercial premises.
Baker Street in the Marylebone disctrict of the City of Westminster was home to Eric Coates whose ‘London Bridge March’ was heard earlier and Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle’s popular fictional detective. It is now mainly occupied by commercial premises.
19. 00:38:47 Microdisney – Singer’s Hampstead Home
1988 From 39 Minutes. The lead track to the Irish duo’s last album.
Hampstead is an area lying four miles northwest of the city centre and part of Camden known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical, political, and literary associations.
20. 00:41:04 Kipper – The Clapham
1975 From Confessions Of A Pop Performer Soundtrack. A fictional band in a sex-farce starring Robin Askwith. The soundtrack producer was Ed Welch a former Head Chorister at Christ Church Cathedral who studied composition at Trinity College of Music which by coincidence isn’t in Clapham.
Clapham lies mostly within the Borough of Lambeth but some areas including Clapham Common extending into Wandsworth. It’s name derives from Old English, meaning ‘homestead or enclosure near a hill’, with the first recorded usage being Cloppaham circa 880. Perhaps the inspiration for…
21. 00:42:51 I Marc 4 – Regent Street
1968 From I Solisti Di Armando Trovajoli (‘The Soloists’ by Armando Trovajoli). I Marc 4 (or Marc 4) comes from the initials of the members of this session group that that worked on film soundtracks with Italian composers Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani and Armando Trovajoli who was the ‘A’ in the original line up playing keyboards.
The Regent in question being George (IV when king) with the buildings along it planned largely by John Nash and James Burton and completed by 1825..
22. 00:43:45 The Fureys & Davey Arthur – Euston Station
1989 From The Scattering. The Scattering was produced by David A. Stewart of Eurythmics and amongst those appearing on it were Jim Rafferty brother of the writer of Baker Street and Ralph McTell the author of a fairly well known song about London that may yet make an appearance.
Named after Euston Hall in Suffolk, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Grafton, the main landowners in the area during the mid-19th century the Station was the first inter-city railway terminal in London having been planned by George and Robert Stephenson. It was the destination for trains from Holyhead where the ferry to Dublin landed.
23. 00:47:52 Jim Dale – Piccadilly Line
1957 Single A-Side. Originally a dancer and then a professional comic at 17 he was briefly a rock ‘n’ roll singer before acting in films including the ‘Carry On’ series he is well known for in the UK as well as playing Spike Milligan in ‘Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall’. Lyricist of ‘Georgy Girl’ which was nominated as best song at the Academy Award and Golden Globes he was invited to the National Theatre by Laurence Olivier and later went on to star in Broadway musicals and narrate the Harry Potter audio books in the USA. Quite busy then. This spoof of Lonnie Donnegan’s version of ‘Rock Island Line’ that sparked the skiffle craze was produced by George Martin.
The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations including Heathrow Airport, though not until fourteen years after this song was released. Some of its stations are near tourist attractions such as Piccadilly Circus (from Piccadilly Circus) and Buckingham Palace (from Green Park).
24. 00:50:29 The Bad Shepherds – Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
2009 Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera!. A band formed by comedian Adrian Edmondson to play punk and new wave songs in a folk style here doing a The Jam track from the All Mod Cons LP. ‘Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera’ is an old Cumbrian phrase for ‘one, two, three, four’ used for counting sheep.
The sound of an Underground train at the beginning of the original version of the song was recorded at St John’s Wood Station but the location for the events in the song hasn’t been given.
25. 00:54:24 Tony Weston – Streets Of London
1970 I’ll Do It Again. Cabaret singer who peaked 1951 at 20 when he appeared in the musical ‘Zip Goes A Million’ with George Formby.
The original by Ralph McTell was first recorded it for his 1969 album Spiral Staircase and not released as a single in the United Kingdom until 1974 when it reached No.2, kept off the top spot by ‘Lonely This Christmas’ by Mud and ‘Down Down’ by Status Quo. It was inspired by McTell’s experiences busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe, especially in Paris, and the individual stories are taken from Parisians. It was originally going to called ‘Streets of Paris’ but London was ultimately chosen as he realised he was singing about the UK capital.
26. 00:56:18 Eric Clapton & Michael Kamen – Oxford Circus
1985 From Edge of Darkness Soundtrack. Popular guitarist with the American composer of over eighty soundtracks with an excerpt of music they wrote for the BBC television drama starring Bob Peck as a policeman trying to find the truth behind the murder of his daughter.
Oxford Circus is a road junction connecting Oxford Street and Regent Street in the West End of London first opened in 1819 as part of the Regent Street development as mentioned above. Until 1836 it was known as Regent Circus North whilst what is now Piccadilly Circus was Regent Circus South. Here’s the whole score including the best bit, the main theme. (I couldn’t find any videos with clips from the series that didn’t give away too much plot).
27. 00:57:19 Mr. Bloe – 71/75 New Oxford Street
1971 . When Stephen James of Dick James Music couldn’t get the rights to ‘Groovin’ With Mr. Bloe’ by American studio group Wind he put together a group of musicians to release a version that got to Number 2. They later recorded two Elton John tunes as a single on which he played including this one.
New Oxford Street in the centre of London was built in 1847 to link Oxford Street with High Holborn. Once a fashionable shopping street, a preponderance of office buildings has led to New Oxford Street no longer sharing the activity or ambience of its namesake. 71/75 was built for Pears Soap from 1887 but at the time Elton wrote this it was the home to Dick James Music’s recording studios.
28. 00:59:00 Chas & Dave – Ponders End Allotments Club
1975 From One Fing N Anuvver. Whilst touring America as part of British country rock band ‘Heads, Hands & Feet’, Chas Hodges began to questioned why he was performing playing music so remote from his background. So he got together with session musician Dave Peacock to play ‘rockney’ as Chas & Dave.
Ponders End is the southeasternmost part of Enfield, north London, centred on the Hertford Road. Situated to the west of the River Lee Navigation, it became industrialised through the 19th century, similar to the Lea Valley in neighbouring Edmonton and Brimsdown, with manufacturing giving way to warehousing in the late-20th century. The area features suburban terraced housing from the 19th and early 20th centuries. It has become the most ethnically diverse part of Enfield which the reference to Indians, paddies and Turks in the song suggests was well underway in the mid 1970s when it was released.
29. 01:01:07 John Le Mesurier – A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
1976 What Is Going To Become Of Us All?. A rare musical outing from this British character actor not previously known for his singing and who still wasn’t after this release. The song was written by Eric Maschwitz and music by Manning Sherwin in the French fishing village of Le Lavandou using the title of a book by Armenian born in Bulgaria Micheal Arten (Dikran Sarkis Kouyoumdjian) written in 1923 shortly after becoming a British citizen. Nightingales favour rural habitats and are unlikely to be found in a city square.
Berkeley (as in woof) Square is a garden square in the West End surrounded by Grand Townhouses which were the London residences of wealthy families when visiting from their family estates in the countryside. Those houses have now all been converted to offices except No.48 which was where British war time Prime Minister Winston Churchill lived as a child.
30. 01:04:18 Elvis Costello – (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
1978 Single A-Side. Written by Costello in the mid 1970s whilst working as a computer programmer (literally – he snuck a guitar into work). It was inspired by 1960s films and trips in his youth to Chelsea with his father, Ross McManus a trumpet player with the Joe Loss Orchestra.
Dad…
That explains a certain amount.
31. 01:06:51 Young Londoner – Young Londoner Shoes
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32. 01:07:54 Electric Light Orchestra – Last Train To London
1979 From Discovery. Nicknamed ‘Disco Very’ by the band’s keyboard player Richard Tandy this was the first ELO album not to feature their string trio string trio of Mik Kaminski, Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale. For more disco try Loud Hailers #5 Two Hour Disco Dance Party https://lowredmoon.ch/2023/10/05/loud-hailers-5-two-hour-disco-dance-party-2/
Possibly my favourite from the LP…
33. 01:10:24 Hazy Osterwald Jet Set – Swinging London
1972 From Hazy Osterwald Jet Set. Led by the Swiss trumpet player, vibraphonist and singer this is a late reference to Swinging London as as its era is generally considered the mid to late 1960s.
An earlier swingin’ Hazy and chums.
34. 01:13:14 Nico Fidenco – London Streets
1967 From Supercolpo da 7 Miliardi Soundtrack (The 1000 Carat Diamond).
The central district of the Capital know as The City of London contained no roads until 1994 until boundary changes brought Goswell Road under its control.
35. 01:14:24 Henri Salvador – Carnaby Street
1967 B-Side of Mary and part of the Pikabou EP. French Caribbean comedian, singer, musician, humorist, TV personality, label manager, author and composer.
Carnaby Street Soho close to Oxford Street and Regent Street in the, City of Westminster became the home of fashion boutiques from the mid 1950s and became world famous in the 1960s for mod, hippy and other styles adopted by celebrities.
36. 01:16:32 Secret Affair – Soho Strut
1979 B-Side of Time For Action. From the short lived Mod Revival alongside such bands as The Jam, the Chords, Purple Hearts and the Lambrettas.
Soho in Soho in the West End was originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy but became one of the main entertainment districts in the capital from the 19th century. Its association with music began with the opening of the UK’s first modern jazz club in 1948 and was joined by venues for traditional jazz, skiffle, blues and with the 2i’s Coffee Bar in 1956 Rock and Roll.
37. 01:18:28 Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – Rainy Night In Soho
1992 B-Side of What A Wonderful World. When Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan duetted on a version of the Louis Armstrong hit they recorded versions of a songs by each other. MacGowan chose ‘Lucy’ from ‘The Good Son’ whilst Cave did this by The Pogues from 1986’s ‘Poguetry In Motion’ produced by Elvis Costello.
38. 01:21:09 Prince Hammer (Carry That Swing) – North London Thing
1979 B-Side of Ten Thousand Lions. Hammer was a Jamaican reggae deejay, singer, and record producer most active in the 1970s and 80s who toured the UK with The Clash and The Slits in the middle of that period.
North London refers to the area that extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London’s boundary with Hertfordshire.
39. 01:24:16 The Kinks – Berkeley Mews
1970 B-Side of Lola. It was recorded during the sessions for the Village Green Preservation Society in early 1968. Nicky Hopkins provides the piano, as he did on many 60s recordings, particularly for The Kinks and Rolling Stones.
Berkeley Mews is a street close to the offices of Pye Records at Marble Arch Marylebone central London.
40. 01:26:36 Paddy Roberts – Ballad Of Bethnal Green
1959 Strictly For Grown-Ups. Paddy Roberts was born in South Africa and worked as a lawyer before joining the RAF as pilot a role which he continued British Overseas Airways Corporation before a songwriting career which earned him two number one hits in the UK as well as five Ivor Novello awards. He also recorded several LPs and EPs of his own.
Bethnel Green is part of the Tower Hamlets District in the East End of London. Originally an area farming general produce for the City of London it shifted through highly perishable goods production weaving, dock and building work and light industry to later becoming a home to commuters.
41. 01:29:13 The Quintet of the Hot Club Of France – Lambeth Walk
1938 . A street off Lambeth Road in South London it was at the heart of a working-class residential area with a street market.
A street off Lambeth Road in South London it was at the heart of a working-class residential area with a street market.
42. 01:31:55 George Chisholm & His Jive Five – Archer Street Drag
1939 In the 1940s and 50s venues in Archer Street Soho were popular with musicians.. In the 1940s and 50s venues in Archer Street Soho were popular with musicians.
In the 1940s and 50s venues in Archer Street Soho were popular with musicians.
43. 01:33:52 Eddy Grant – Electric Avenue
1982 From Killer On The Loose and a Single A-Side.. Electric Avenue in Brixton was the first shopping street to be lit by electricity.
Electric Avenue in Brixton was the first shopping street to be lit by electricity.
44. 01:35:15 Leyton Buzzards – Saturday Night Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees
1979 From Leyton Buzzards. After this their sole chart appearance, at number 53, they became ‘Modern Romance’, originally an electronic band before pivoting to salsa. That’s Leyton in the East End, not to be confused with Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, not to be confused with professional wrestler Leyton Buzzard who wasn’t born until the 1990s.
The ‘Guns of Navarone’ mentioned is presumably the Skalites version of the film theme tune rather than the original.
Eddie Holman was a high-pitched American singer who’s biggest hit was ‘Hey There Lonely Girl’, possibly the song referred to by the Buzzards.
Leyton itself isn’t mentioned in the song locations but these are: The interchange station Haringey North London named after Tottenham Hale links surface and underground railways. Seven Sisters Road is named after a location with seven trees and is an extension of Camden Road wich runs from Holloway Road (A1) at the Nags Head crossroads then on to another crossroads with Blackstock Road and Stroud Green Road. It carries on uphill alongside Finsbury Park to Manor House, and from there downhill to the junction with Tottenham High Road (A10) at Seven Sisters Corner. Golders Green in the Borough of Barnet 6 miles north west of the centre of London grew rapidly with the opening of a tube station in 1907. It’s known for a large Jewish community and increasingly a Japanese and east Asian one. Balham in South West London has been a settlement since Saxon times and is another area that saw rapid development after the building of a station, this time a surface line in 1856. It’s been the centre of a Polish community since the Second World War which has seen rapid growth since 2006 after Poland joined the European Union.
45. 01:38:05 The Rose Garden – Next Plane to London
1967 From The Rose Garden. As promised an American folk rock musical group from Los Angeles, California, that was active in 1967 and 1968.*
46. 01:40:29 Lord Kitchener – London is the Place for Me
1948 . Not the man on the First World War army recruitment poster but Aldwyn Roberts calysonian (Caribbean singer of songs with highly rhythmic and harmonic vocals). Successful in his native Trinidad and in the UK in where he travelled to in 1948 he also performed in the USA. Returning to Trindad in 1962 he and the Mighty Sparrow proceeded to dominate the calypso competitions of the 1960s and 1970s before seeing the potential of soca which introduced African and East Indian rhythms and recording his biggest hit, ‘Sugar Bum Bum’ in that style.
Not amongst his best lyrically.
47. 01:42:59 Pet Shop Boys – King’s Cross
1987 From Actually.
48. 01:45:34 Ray Davies – Return to Waterloo
1984 From Return to Waterloo Soundtrack. Right Ray, you’ve got the success of ‘Come Dancing’ to build on so what you absolutely must not do is get bogged down spending all your time and energy on a short film for Channel 4.
A version of the original Kinks Waterloo song as covered by another popular London songwriter.
Waterloo is part of Lambeth in Central London and named after a bridge built in 1817 which itself was named to commemorate the 1815 Battle where Napoleon was defeated.
49. 01:46:48 Pulp – Mile End
1996 From The Peel Sessions Originally on Something Changed.. Used in the film ‘Trainspotting’.
Mile End in Tower Hamlets East London. Originally La Mile Ende – ‘the hamlet a mile away’ the distance to Aldgate in the City on the road to Colchester.
50. 01:48:51 Bellowhead – London Town
2006 From Burlesque. An outgrowth from the duo Spiers and Boden this eleven piece band, including a brass section, played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties from 2004 to 2016 and intermittently thereafter. Burlesque was their first album and contained songs from the Napoleonic Wars, the American minstrel movement and sea-shanties from Brazil.
51. 01:52:38 Jeff Wayne – Dead London
1978 From The War Of The Worlds. Jeff Waynes’ musical adaption of HG Wells’ mid 1890’s book ‘The War of the Worlds’ was narrated by Richard Burton and included musical contributions by David Essex, Justin Hayward, Phil Lynott, Chris Thompson, and Julie Covington. Wells wrote the book to encourage his readership to question the morality of imperialism. ‘And before we judge them [the Martians] too harshly, we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished Bison and the Dodo, but upon its own inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?’ Chapter I, ‘The Eve of the War’
52. 01:57:42 Norman Luboff Choir – London Pride
1963 From Grand Tour. Written by Noel Coward during the Blitz in the spring of 1941 the melody is based on what he claimed was an old English folk song which was also the basis for ‘Deutschland über alles’ – in turn based on ‘Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser’ by Joseph Hayden. The ‘flower that’s free’ mentioned in the lyrics is Saxifraga × urbium, a perennial garden flowering plant historically known as London pride which was said to have rapidly colonised bombed areas.
53. 02:01:05 The Kinks – Muswell Hillbilly
1971 From Muswell Hillbillies. About the post war movement of those who lived in central London to the then suburbs including the Davies family to Muswell Hill.
Muswell Hill is a suburban district of Haringey in north London with the eponymous hill reaching 100m or so above sea level.
