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So what’s your favourite song about London? 🎶

  • July 5, 2024



Taking a break from the politics for a quiet Friday evening in.

I think for me, it's a close run thing between Waterloo Sunset and Baker Street, but Waterloo Sunset wins out as it's a tiny bit more optimistic.

As long as I gaze at Waterloo Sunset, I am in paradise…

What's your song, r/london?

I'll make a playlist of all your suggestions later.

by ianjm

32 comments

  7. Fans by Kings of Leon. It’s a bit of a stretch but it mentions London and it’s my favourite KoL song so I’m counting it lol

  8. Florence + The Machine – South London Forever

    >When I go home alone
    I drive past the place where I was born
    And the places that I used to drink
    Young and drunk and stumbling in the street
    Outside the Joiners Arms like foals unsteady on their feet
    With the art students and the boys in bands
    High on E and holding hands with someone that I just met

  11. I’m a jazz man so Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square will always be a favourite. Also see A Foggy Day.

  13. Down in the tube station at midnight – the jam

    Actually no, London Underground by the Amateur Transplants is a much better song about the underground. 

  15. For Tomorrow by Blur.

    “Take a drive to Primrose Hill, it’s windy there and the views so nice”

  18. Down in the Tube Station at Midnight – Jam
    Itchycoo Park – Small Faces
    Streets of London – Ralph McTell
    West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys

    I have to admit I found some of my inspiration on this list from Time Out – [https://www.timeout.com/music/the-100-best-london-songs](https://www.timeout.com/music/the-100-best-london-songs) though I don’t actually know half that list.

    …but they missed one of my personal favourites – London Boys – David Bowie [https://youtu.be/sTCYXCfhhjE](https://youtu.be/sTCYXCfhhjE) [not the same song as the Marc Bolan one]

  19. Waterloo Sunset. It was the first dance of some of my closest friends and now I get teary eyed when I listen to it 🥲

  23. I think you have probably picked the best two already, but I do also like…

    London by Noonday Underground
    Rainy Night in Soho by the Pogues

  24. London City by Foy Vance – especially the 2017 live in london version and sung after Closed Hand Full of Friends

  26. Not a song per se but I experienced a semi religious moment listening to Burial – Untrue while walking home from Waterloo to battersea at 6am one morning and it remains the soundtrack to London for me.

  28. The Streets Of London – Ralph McTell

    Lullaby Of London – The Pogues

  29. __Calling England Home__ by Anthony Joseph

    Lovely bit of spoken word jazz, paints very vivid pictures.

  30. When I was a kid I used to go to Billingsgate fish market with my dad to work. There used to be a guy there who used to do odd jobs for the traders like get em a cup of tea breakfast or newspapers something like that. He was always there. He had worn out boots and his clothes were a bit of a mess and he also wore war ribbons. I asked my dad once who he was and that was the day I found out about homeless people. He was a nice guy and a lot of people let him do stuff for them to help him out. Ralph McTell’s streets of London always hits hard for me and every time I listen to it (I have it on rotation on my phone) I always think of this guy. It brings back happy memories that are underlined with sadness.

  31. Not necessarily absolute favourites, but as not mentioned:
    * Pentonville – Babyshambles
    * Feltham is Singing Out – Hard-Fi
    * Lovestruck – Madness (…. 🎵For now it’s heaven in deepest Tottenham🎵

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