Streets of London by Ralph McTell
Soul Music
BBC
4.7 • 831 Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ralph McTell and others discuss a song that was written for a heroin addict, became an anthem against homelessness, and transcended the folk genre to become an enduring classic.
Ralph says he’s thought constantly about the “blip in my graph” that is Streets of London. People say to him “50 years. One hit. You think you’d have given up by now”.
But, Ralph says, that’s not why he writes songs. And, of course, he’s written many. Many that he considers far better than Streets of London. But this remains his best known, best loved, and most played track. It was first recorded 50 years ago, in 1969, for his album Spiral Staircase although it wasn’t released as a single until 1974.
Taking part in Soul Music, alongside Ralph, with their stories and memories connected to Streets of London, are:
Jerry Playle, a music producer. His first ever public performance as a teenage guitarist was of Streets of London. The guitar part went well, but when he opened his mouth to sing, he realised - to his horror - that he couldn't...
Gwen Ever, a DJ. He became homeless in the 1980s. It’s the unlikely punk version of Streets of London by the Anti Nowhere League that reminds him of this time.
Maria Bentley-Dingwall, the daughter of Iris Bentley. Iris was the sister of Derek Bentley who was hanged for a murder he did not commit. Iris spent her life campaigning for his conviction to be quashed.
Ralph McTell grew up knowing this story, became a friend of the family, wrote a song about the case, and sang Streets of London at Iris Bentley’s funeral.
Producer: Karen Gregor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2019.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others. |
| 0:05.2 | My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland. |
| 0:11.3 | It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here, |
| 0:16.3 | but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world. |
| 0:19.6 | And because the team is such a diverse |
| 0:21.2 | range of skills and strengths, we have trained journalists, people who love digging through |
| 0:26.0 | archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice. So if |
| 0:31.8 | you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories |
| 0:37.1 | from all around the UK. BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK. |
| 0:40.3 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:47.3 | Sometimes the instrument picks you and you have no choice. |
| 0:51.1 | And for me, music through the guitar was the way forward. |
| 0:55.0 | My name is Jerry Plale and I'm a music producer. |
| 0:59.0 | I must have been around 12 and Streets of London was one of those tunes that has so much harmony in it |
| 1:08.0 | and there are so many chords and as a player you want to get your |
| 1:11.9 | fingers around that it's irresistible you know you might have a song that's |
| 1:18.1 | four bars of one chord and two bars of another and four bars of the repeated |
| 1:22.4 | first chord it's absolutely fine to play this of course many great songs have been written around this but |
| 1:28.3 | what you have here is something that is less challenging as a guitarist to play. |
| 1:33.3 | With streets of London you have a different chord for each bar. |
| 1:38.3 | So this first bar is C and the second bar changes immediately to G |
| 1:45.0 | and then that follows to A minor |
... |
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