I’ll show you something…
The tail-end of November is always a depressing time of year. Shorter days; Christmas anxiety; the icy spectre of death nudging another wooden bead from left to right on the abacus of your mortal existence. It all adds up. As a result, this is the perfect time to talk about the Ralph McTell song Streets of London.
If you’re unfamiliar with it (presumably because you’ve had the good fortune not to be born on planet Earth in the past fifty years) you can find it here. I’m always stunned to discover people who don’t know this song. We sang it during assemblies at primary school, and I didn’t discover it was a commercially released pop track from the 1970s until my teens.
The basic concept behind the song is McTell challenging the listeners’ audacity in thinking their personal problems are of any consequence, what with all the homeless people and old sailors in the world. “How can you tell me that you’re lonely? You privileged bougeosie ponce, with your roof, and your bed, and your passing interaction with functional society. You make me sick!”
It might very well be a contender for the most miserable song ever written, but just to secure its title, I think it needs an extra verse:
Have you seen the kitten
With the terminal diseases
Missing both his back legs
Pulled along on rusty wheels
He’s ground up into dogfood
And then fed to starving orphans
Slaving in the sweatshops
Making clubs for killing seals
I think I’ll write to him and see if he’s interested in revising it.
One Response to “I’ll show you something…”
His Own Devices » Poor Production Values - November 30th, 2008
[...] become obsessed with a song, to the point where it rattles around in your head both night and day, and unless you spend an [...]
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