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Streets of London by Tomer Ravid - Illustrated by Ralph McTell - Ourboox.com

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Streets of London

by Tomer Ravid

Artwork: Ralph McTell

Joined Nov 2021
Published Books 4

Ralph McTell-

English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s.
McTell is best known for his song “Streets of London”, which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world.
First recorded in 1969, the song at one point sold 90,000 copies a day and has been covered by more than 200 artists. It also won Ralph an Ivor Novello award for best song and continues to feature in folk music’s “best of” playlists

The song was inspired by McTell’s experiences busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe, especially in Paris and the individual stories are taken from Parisians. McTell was originally going to call the song “Streets of Paris”. but eventually London was chosen, because he realised he was singing about London.

Streets of London, Lyrics:

Have you seen the old man

In the closed down market

Kicking up the papers

With his worn out shoes?

In his eyes, you see no pride

Hand held loosely at his side

Yesterday’s paper

Telling yesterday’s news

So, how can you tell me you’re lonely

And say for you that the sun don’t shine?

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

Show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl

Who walks the streets of London

Dirt in her hair

And her clothes in rags?

She’s no time for talking

She just keeps right on walking

Carrying her home

In two carrier bags

So, how can you tell me you’re lonely

And say for you that the sun don’t shine?

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

Show you something to make you change your mind

In the all night café

At a quarter past eleven

Same old man

Sitting there on his own

Looking at the world

Over the rim of his tea cup

Each tea lasts an hour

And he wanders home alone

So, how can you tell me you’re lonely?

Don’t say for you that the sun don’t shine

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

Show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old man

Outside the seaman’s mission

Memory fading with

The medal ribbons that he wears?

In our winter city

The rain cries a little pity

For one more forgotten hero

And a world that doesn’t care

So, how can you tell me you’re lonely

And say for you that the sun don’t shine?

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f1jkqOEk_I

Roger Whittaker version- In 1971, Roger Whittaker released his version making the song gain great popularity internationally. It appeared in his album New World in the Morning. The single “Streets of London” was the B-side to his own song “Why” with the radio stations promoting his version of McTell’s song. It was also B-side to his huge hit “The Last Farewell” also in 1971.

Streets of London could just have easily been called Streets of Paris. It was in part inspired by the clochards (homeless) who lay on the hot air grates of the French capital’s metro to keep warm, placing their boots under their head so they wouldn’t be stolen as they slept. The tune came first to McTell, and then the subject matter. “I tried to fit the people I’d seen on the Paris streets to this tune,” he recalls. Once the song developed, McTell drew on his own experiences growing up in England and changed the location of the title.

2020 Coronavirus updated verse: The result was Ralph McTell agreeing to write a new verse of his legendary hit Streets of London – something he’d always previously refused to do.

Why Ralph McTell has updated his hit Streets of London for coronavirus era – BBC News

In my opinion It reflects some fundamental human truths.

But this isn’t an ode to England’s capital city. The “closed down market” where the old man is nonchalantly “kicking up the papers/ with his worn-out shoes” to find leftover fruit from packed away stalls was actually a market in Croydon, London, near where McTell grew up.

Namely, the fear of ending up alone, like the heartbreaking tale of the old man in the all-night café, sipping tea slowly and then wandering home alone. McTell believes that “everyone, deep down, is scared of that emptiness and loneliness and that alienation… by singing the chorus, it makes it all go away.”

The song is undoubtedly heart-stirring and resonates with people,In a way of studying like children in schools who hearing the lyrics as poetry to learn about those less fortunate than themselves. It provokes strong emotion. For me personally, it conjures up fond childhood memories of my dad playing it on the guitar.
How about you,is this popular song did conjures up somthing for you?
Does the song encouraged your feeling that as a group we are more united, and can make a biger changes togther?

This free e-book was created with

Create your own amazing e-book!
It's simple and free.

Start now

Streets of London

by Tomer Ravid

Artwork: Ralph McTell

Ralph McTell-

English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s.

McTell is best known for his song “Streets of London”, which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world.

First recorded in 1969, the song at one point sold 90,000 copies a day and has been covered by more than 200 artists. It also won Ralph an Ivor Novello award for best song and continues to feature in folk music’s “best of” playlists

Streets of London, Lyrics:

Have you seen the old man

In the closed down market

Kicking up the papers

With his worn out shoes?

In his eyes, you see no pride

Hand held loosely at his side

Yesterday’s paper

Telling yesterday’s news

So, how can you tell me you’re lonely

And say for you that the sun don’t shine?

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

Show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl

Who walks the streets of London

Dirt in her hair

And her clothes in rags?

She’s no time for talking

She just keeps right on walking

Carrying her home

In two carrier bags

So, how can you tell me you’re lonely

And say for you that the sun don’t shine?

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

Show you something to make you change your mind

In the all night café

At a quarter past eleven

Same old man

Sitting there on his own

Looking at the world

Over the rim of his tea cup

Each tea lasts an hour

And he wanders home alone

So, how can you tell me you’re lonely?

Don’t say for you that the sun don’t shine

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

Show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old man

Outside the seaman’s mission

Memory fading with

The medal ribbons that he wears?

In our winter city

The rain cries a little pity

For one more forgotten hero

And a world that doesn’t care

So, how can you tell me you’re lonely

And say for you that the sun don’t shine?

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f1jkqOEk_I

2020 Coronavirus updated verse: The result was Ralph McTell agreeing to write a new verse of his legendary hit Streets of London – something he’d always previously refused to do.

Why Ralph McTell has updated his hit Streets of London for coronavirus era – BBC News

How about you,is this popular song did conjures up somthing for you?

Does the song encouraged your feeling that as a group we are more united, and can make a biger changes togther?