List of songs about London

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This is a list of songs about London. Instrumental pieces are tagged with an uppercase "[I]", or a lowercase "[i]" for quasi-instrumental including non-lyrics voice samples.

Included are:

  • Songs titled after London, or a location or feature of the city.
  • Songs whose lyrics are set in London.

Excluded are:

  • Songs where London is simply name-checked along with various other cities (such as "New York, London, Paris, Munich", lyrics of "Pop Muzik" by M).
Contents Top · 0–9 · A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] 0-9

  • "22 Grand Job" by The Rakes
  • "59 Lyndhurst Grove" by Pulp (referring to Lyndhurst Grove on the Camberwell/ Peckham border)
  • "30 Minutes in London" by Antoine Dufour

[edit] A

  • "A13 Trunk Road to the Sea" by Billy Bragg
  • "'A' Bomb in Wardour Street" by The Jam
  • "Abhainn an t-Sluaigh" (The Crowded River) by Runrig
  • "Absolutely Wrong" by Fred Chester and Tom Clare ('I'm Bertie Bright of Bond Street')
  • "'Ackney Road" by Marie Lloyd
  • "A Day in the Life" by The Beatles (Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall)
  • "A London" by Petula Clark
  • "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"by Maschwitz/Sherwin
  • "Aftermath" by R.E.M.
  • "Alas Agnes" by Mystery Jets (The demo references King's Cross Station, though this was changed for the recorded version)
  • "Albert and the 'Eadsman" by Marriott Edgar
  • "Albion" by Babyshambles which namechecks various London districts
  • "Aldgate" by Mutton Gun
  • "Alicia Quays" by Jamie T
  • "All the Umbrellas in London" by The Magnetic Fields
  • "Anarchy In Hackney" by Robb Johnson
  • "And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back" by Felix McGlennon ('There was once a country maiden came to London for a trip')
  • "Apple of my eye" by Tony Mohorn
  • "Always New Depths" by Bloc Party 'All the pennies in the Thames will not make it how it was'
  • "The Angel, Highbury" by Alan Moore and Tim Perkins in The Highbury Working- each song about a time of Highbury
  • "Angels Over Kilburn" by Hope of the States
  • "Ann Boleyn" (The Bloody Tower) by R.P.Weston and Bert Lee
  • "Anna the Auctioneer" by Noel Coward ('Annabel Devigne had a flat at Golders Green')
  • "Any Old Iron?" by Chas. Collins, E.A. Sheppard and Fred Terry ('I went to the city, well I thought I'd 'ave a spree, the Mayor of London, he was there')
  • "Apples" by Ian Dury
  • "Archway People" by Saint Etienne
  • "At the Chime of a City Clock" by Nick Drake

[edit] B

[edit] C

[edit] D

[edit] E

Destination London

[edit] F

  • "Fair Maid of Islington" (traditional) At the time of the song Islington was a village outside London
  • "Fair Maid of London Town" - composer unknown
  • "The Fairy Dancer" by Edward Kent ('One night I chanced to call at a West End Music Hall')
  • "A Fallen Star" by Albert Chevalier and Alfred H. West ('Thirty years ago I was a fav'rite at the Vic')
  • "Fallin" by Adam and the Ants ('at the Screen on the Green')
  • "The False-hearted Lass of Limehouse" - composer unknown
  • "Fans" by Kings of Leon
  • "Fare Dodgers Liberation Front" by The Visitors,2001
  • "Far Flung Wastes of Harringay" by Tasmin Grey
  • "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins
  • "Feltham Is Singing Out" by Hard-Fi
  • "Finchley Central" by The New Vaudeville Band
  • "Fings Ain't What They Used to Be" by Lionel Bart
  • "Finsbury Park" by The Sex Pistols
  • "First Night Back in London" by The Clash
  • "Flirting on the Ice" by W.C. Mulaly - skating in Regent's Park
  • "A Foggy Day in London Town" by George and Ira Gershwin
  • "Following in Farver's Footsteps" by E.W. Rogers ('My mother caught me out one evening, up the West End on the spree')
  • "Fool on the Hill" by The Beatles - about an experience that Paul McCartney had on Primrose Hill
  • "For the Girl" by The Fratellis
  • "For Tomorrow" by Blur
  • "Forget Myself" by Elbow
  • "Four Skinny Indie Kids" by Half Man Half Biscuit
  • "Fourteen Hour Technicolour Dream" by The Syn about Allie Pallie, 1967
  • "France" by The Libertines
  • "From Meadow to Mayfair" [I] by Eric Coates
  • "Fug On A Bus" by Monkeyrush Punk rock written through the eyes of a South London thug
  • "Funky London Childhood" by Marc Bolan and T Rex
  • "Funky Nassau" by Beginning of the End (references London Town)
  • "Funny" by Harry Talbot ('I often stroll down Oxford Street to pass an hour away')

[edit] G

[edit] H

[edit] I

  • "I'd Never Know" by Noel Coward ('Why is the Springtime giving London this lovely glow?')
  • "The Idol of the Day" by The Great Vance and Alfred Lee ('St. James's I've my chambers in')
  • "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea" by Elvis Costello
  • "If I Can't Get to London" by David Craig Simpson
  • "If It Wasn't for the Houses in Between" by Edgar Bateman and George Le Brunn, 1894, sung by Gus Elen ('With a ladder and some glasses you can see to Hackney Marshes')
  • "I Like London in the Rain" by Blossom Dearie
  • "I Live in Trafalgar Square" by C.W. Murphy
  • "I Love London" by Lorraine Bowen
  • "I Love New York" by Madonna ('Paris and London, baby you can keep')
  • "I'm Going to Get Lit Up When the Lights Go Up in London" by Hubert Gregg - end of the WW2 blackout
  • "I'm Old Fashioned" by Noel Coward and Johnny Mercer ('Those nightingales in Berkeley Square')
  • "I'm One Of The Whitehall Warriors" by Phil Park
  • "I'm the Face" by The High Numbers, about ace mod hang The Scene club, Soho
  • "I'm Trying to Make London My Home" by Sonny Boy Williamson
  • "In London So Fair" (traditional)
  • "Innocence" by Alan Moore and Tim Perkins in Angel Passage about William Blake's life in London http://web.archive.org/web/20041124170141/http://www.nthposition.com/angelpassage.php]
  • "In Old Kent Road" by Arthur Seldon
  • "Interlude - London Massive" by Aphrodite
  • "In the Strand" by E.W.Mackney
  • "Isabel Makes Love Upon National Monuments" by Jake Thackray ('With style and enthusiasm and anyone at all, Isabel makes love in the Royal Albert Hall')
  • "Itchycoo Park" by the Small Faces about Little Ilford Park
  • "It Could Be You" by Blur ('Will you be there...Trafalgar Square')
  • "It Gets Me Talked About" by Albert Chevalier and Alfred H. West ('Playin' 'ind legs of the helephant in East End pantomime')
  • "It's Fun Finding Out About London" by Billie Anthony
  • "It's a Great Big Shame" by Gus Elen
  • "It's a Jolly Fine Game Played Slow!" by J.P. Harrington and George Le Brunn ('We just hired a cab and drove through St. James's Park')
  • "It's a London Thing" by Scott Garcia 1997 Scott Garcia
  • "It's a London Thing" by Mark Williams 2005
  • "It's a London Thing" by S.A.S.
  • "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" by Jack Judge and Harry Williams
  • "It's Only Me" by Noel Coward ('Once I knew a kid, she used to live down Poplar way')
  • "It Takes a Very Strong Imagination" by Edward Kent ('I trots her to the Opera or the Drury pantomime')
  • "I've Never Lost My Last Train Yet" by George Le Brunn and George Rollit ('And I've joined with one and all in a Covent Garden ball')
  • "Ivor" by Anonymous ('They yanked our sport, under police escort, to the London Bow Street sessions' - Ivor Novello was jailed for misuse of petrol coupons during World War Two)
  • "I Was Born and Raised in Croxley Green" by Wilf Weston

[edit] J

  • "Jack Talking" by Dave Stewart and The Spiritual Cowboys
  • "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square" by Jethro Tull
  • "John Willie, Come On" by George Formby, Sr. ('We went in Madame Tussaud's waxwork show and it were grand')
  • "Junkie Doll" by Mark Knopfler (From Sailing to Philadelphia album; he mentions both Turnpike Lane and Turnham Green)
  • "Just For You London" by Bodysnatch

[edit] K

[edit] L

[edit] M

  • "Mack The Knife" by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (John Willett's translation references the Strand, Embankment and Soho)
  • "A Maid in Bedlam" {traditional}
  • "Maids of Bond Street" by David Bowie
  • "Maid of Primrose Hill" by Anonymous (18th century)
  • "Maid of Tottenham" (traditional) At the time Tottenham was a village outside of London
  • "Man I Hate Your Band by Little Man Tate
  • "Marcie Dreams of Deptford" by Saint Etienne
  • "Marybone [Marylebone] Fair" by G. Smart
  • "Marios cafe by St Etienne about a cafe in Kentish town]
  • "The Masher King of Piccadilly" by Corney Grain
  • "Mash It Up Harry" by Ian Dury
  • "The Masquerade" by I. Oakman ('None but the great can conveniently go to the Grand Masquerade most superb at Soho')
  • "Maudie Golightly" by Noel Coward ('Though she had a flat in Albemarle Street')
  • "Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner, (That I Love London So)" by Hubert Gregg
  • "Mayfair" by Nick Drake
  • "Me, Certainly Me" by A.D. River and James Moody ('I came up to London and walked down the Strand')
  • "Meet Me in Battersea Park" by Petula Clark
  • "Men About Town" by Noel Coward ('As we stroll down Piccadilly in the bright morning air')
  • "Mercy I Cry City" by The Incredible String Band - the reference to the "choky tube" make clear it's about London
  • "The Merry Hostess" - composer unknown ('A lovely hostess fine that lives in London city')
  • "A Merry Jest of John Tomson" - composer unknown ('If I but go to Islington')
  • "Midnight in Chelsea" by Jon Bon Jovi (about the Chelsea neighbourhood – lyrics include "I've seen a lone Sloane Ranger drive/Seems her chauffeur took a dive/And sold her secrets to The Sun")
  • "Mile End" by Pulp
  • "Milk Bottle Symphony" by Saint Etienne(about Turnpike House tower block, Goswell Road, Islington)
  • "Mill Hill Self Hate Club" by Edward Ball
  • "Missing You" by Jimmy McCarthy - made popular by Christy Moore, about the Irish emigrant homeless in London
  • "Misty Morning Albert Bridge" by The Pogues
  • "Modern Art" by Art Brut ("so I'm in the Tate and I'm looking at a Hockney")
  • "Morden" by Good Shoes
  • "Mornington Crescent" by Belle & Sebastian
  • "Mother Goose" by Jethro Tull
  • "The Mountains of Mourne" by Don McLean
  • "The Mountains of Mourne" by William Percy French
  • "Move On Now" by Hard-Fi (References Heathrow Airport)
  • "Mr Speaker (Gets the Word)" by Madness (about Speaker's Corner; "Making space from Colney Hatch Lane")
  • "Much Too Much" by Les Incompétents
  • "Musical Address to the Town" by Thomas Lowe (reopening of Marylebone Gardens in 1763)
  • "Muswell Hillbillies" by The Kinks
  • "My Gal from London Town" by Fred Godfrey and Billy Williams
  • "My Kitten Went to London" by Kid 606
  • "My London Country Lane" by Alec Hurley (ie Drury Lane)
  • "My Love Went to London" by John Wallowitch
  • "My Lucy Liza from Bermondsey" by Medley Barrett
  • "My Old Man" by Ian Dury
  • "My Old Man's a Dustman" by Lonnie Donegan, features Cockney rhyming slang
  • "My Old Man (Said Follow the Van)" by Marie Lloyd, written by Charles Collins and Fred W Leigh
  • "My Tom of Bedlam" by Bedlam Boys

[edit] N

[edit] O

  • "The Oak and the Ash" (North Country Maid) (traditional)
  • "Ode in Honour of the London Military Association" by O'Brien
  • "Oh! 'Ampstead" by Albert Chevalier and John Crook ('The day you spent at 'Ampstead 'Eath you never will forget')
  • "Oh! Mr. Porter" by George LeBrunn ('Came up to see wond'rous sights of famous London Town')
  • "The Old Main Drag" by The Pogues
  • "Old River Thames" by Automatics
  • "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello
  • "On a Mission" by The Rakes
  • "On Bagnigge Wells" by Thomas Chapman and George Kirshaw - Bagnigge Wells was an 18th century spa in the King's Cross area
  • "On London Bridge" by Jo Stafford
  • "One Hundred Punks Rule" by Generation X
  • "One Man Band" by Leo Sayer ('Everyone knows you in Ladbroke Grove']]
  • "The Only Living Boy in New Cross" by Carter USM
  • "On Primrose Hill" by Suzanne Chawner
  • "On the Day We Went to See the Coronation" by Gwen Lewis (Coronation of Elizabeth II, 1953)
  • "On the Steps of Old St Pauls" by Billy Cotton
  • "Opium Nights" by Alan Moore and Tim Perkins in The Highbury Working- each song about a time of Highbury [15]
  • "Oranges and Lemons" (Bells of St. Clements) (traditional)
  • "An Ordinary Copper" by Jeff Darnell and Jack Warner ('I'm an ordinary copper who's patrolling his beat, around Dock Green')
  • "Original London Style" by London Posse
  • "Orion" by Jethro Tull ('darkest Chelsea')
  • "Ossie's Dream" by Chas & Dave
  • "Oxford Street" by Everything But The Girl
  • "Oxford Street in the Blackout" by David Heavenor
  • "Oxford St, W1" by Television Personalities
  • "One Night in Hackney" by Dynamo City

[edit] P

[edit] R

[edit] S

[edit] T

  • "Taking After Dear Old Dad" by Noel Coward ('Later on I meet a pal and stroll with him along the Mall')
  • "Taste of Aggro" by Barron Knights ('We're from Catford etc')
  • "The Tears Shed in London Tonight" by R.P. Weston and Bert Lee
  • "Telephone Language" by Frank Leo ('Gwendoline Earle was a telephone girl and employed at a London exchange')
  • "Tell Them You're A Londoner" by Fred Godfrey and Billy Williams
  • "Terrible Accident on the Ice in Regent's Park" by Anonymous (19th century)
  • "That Awful Joke" by Edward Kent ('Hi! Conductor, put me down at Holborn Viaduct')
  • "That'll Be Very Useful Later On" by Noel Coward ('Mary had them watched from Charing Cross to Golders Green')
  • "That's What I Like" by Chas & Dave
  • "The Picadilly Trot" sung by Marie Lloyd, an old music hall number
  • "There's Nothing To Be Had Without Money" - composer unknown ('All parts of London I have tried')
  • "The Ballad of Climie Fisher" by Half Man Half Biscuit
  • "The Streets of London" by The Beatles
  • "The Streets of London" by The Challengers - The B-side to "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."
  • "The Theatre" by Pet Shop Boys
  • "There's No Place Like London" by Lynsey and Friends
  • "There's No Place Like London" by Shirley Bassey
  • "They're Changing Guards at Buckingham Palace" by A. A. Milne
  • "This Is London" by Don McGlashan
  • "This Is London" by Akala
  • "This World Over" by XTC
  • "Three Juvenile Delinquents" by Noel Coward ('Once we pinched a Cadillac and drove her from the Marble Arch to Kew')
  • "Three White Feathers" by Noel Coward (Ealing girl makes good)
  • "Tied Up Too Tight" by Hard-Fi
  • "Till Fortune Smiles on Me" by King, and Winifred Palmer ('London is the town for me')
  • "Till the Lights of London Shine Again" by Thomas Connor and Edward Pola
  • "A Tiny Flat in Soho Square" performed by Cicely Courtneidge and Harold French
  • "To Sir With Love" by Lulu
  • "Tomorrow Night" by The Front Lawn
  • "Tooting Bec Wrecked" by Hanoi Rocks
  • "Too Much Brandy" by The Streets (mentions a tube train)
  • "Top of the Morning" by Noel Coward ('London is shiny and free, that is, as free as a Democracy can be')
  • "Torn On The Platform" by Jack Peñate
  • "The Tottenham Toreador" by Edward Kent
  • "Tower of London" by ABC
  • "Towers of London" by XTC
  • "Trafalgar Square" by Charles Deane, an old music hall number
  • "Traffic In Fleet Street" by Nick Heyward
  • "Trams of Old London" by Robyn Hitchcock
  • "Transmetropolitan" by The Pogues
  • "Trinity Wharf" by Saint Etienne
  • "Tropical London" by Rancid
  • "Turn Agan" by King, and Winifred Palmer ('Turn again Dick Whittington, go back to London')
  • "Turned Away" by Audio Bullys
  • "Turpin Hero" by Anonymous - 1790 (Dick Turpin: 'Hounslow Heath as I rode o'er')
  • "'Twas Just Down Chelsea Way" sung by Chas. Godfrey
  • "Twenty-Four Minutes from Tulse Hill" by Carter USM

[edit] U

[edit] V

  • "The Vauxhall Labyrinth" by Mount Vernon Arts Lab
  • "Victoria Gardens" by Madness
  • "Victoria Station (1944)" by Kitto (lyrics Andrew McDonald) about an old man in the 21st century who served in the World Wars and is still a prisoner of war, in his own mind - www.whosjack.com 2007.

[edit] W

[edit] Y

  • "Yachting in Regent's Park" by Thomas Case Sterndale Bennett
  • "The Year She Spent In England" by Weddings Parties Anything
  • "You Can Judge A Book By Its Cover" by Saint Etienne (SW14, Hanover Square etc)
  • "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones (Chelsea drug store)
  • "You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties" by Jona Lewie, "...This was at some do in Palmers Green..."
  • "Young Betsy of Deptford" by Anonymous
  • "Your Embrace" by Shakira, "...That without you this place looks like London..."
  • "You're A Beauty" by The Fallen Heroes
  • "You're the One for Me, Fatty" by Morrissey

[edit] External links

This is an incomplete list of songs, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.
Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.