Sinister: Let me take you by the hand

[Keith Watson]

>True, it is by far the inferior version, but such is the enormity of this
song, it still sends the shivers down my spine.
>Now I apologise to our non-uk friends as they may not be familiar with
this, but when I was at primary school we used to sing a couple >of songs in
assembly that would make me cry.
>One of them was "Leaving on a jet-plane" (Don't laugh you bastards!!),
don't ask me who wrote this 'cos I'm hopeless at anything pre >'77.
>The other was a song which I can't remember the name of, but went.....
>"How can you tell me, you're lonely, and say to me 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, that'll make you change your mind".


Assuming Adrian, your school assemblies didn't involve you lot howling out
the Anti-Nowhere League's version of this song, then "Streets of London" is
Ralph McTell's 1974 hit. Ralph McTell was a singer on the late sixties/early
seventies folk circuit and knew Nick Drake and John Martyn and suchlike - he
probably knew Sally Oldfield too pop pickers :-)
    "Streets of London" was his only hit, and in the early 80's he lent his
deadpan drawl, and habit of wandering around with his hands in his pockets,
to co-present a kids program.
    As mentioned before, second generation daft punksters the Anti-Nowhere
League did a curaazzeee cover of "Street's of London" in 1982. It was
crap... and it certainly wasn't funny.

Cheers,
    Keith.


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