1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:05,000 London - one of the oldest and greatest cities in the world. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:07,000 BIG BEN CHIMES 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,200 Home of beggars, poets, 4 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:13,520 queens and kings, where I grew up and learned my music. 5 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:24,520 But what is the music of London? And what are the songs of London? 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:26,920 And what, if anything, is the sound of London? 7 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:35,640 Please now join me on a knees-up of discovery of London music. 8 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,200 Let's hear your childhood songs. 9 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:45,600 Let's hear the dark meaning behind those apparently-harmless nursery rhymes. 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,840 BELL CONTINUES TO CHIME 11 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:54,160 Let's hear the old songs we sang around the piano with Nan. 12 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:59,720 Let's hear the even older songs that Nan sang at the public executions. 13 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:01,880 Let's uncover how skiffle, punk 14 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,040 and even the blues have their roots in London. 15 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:24,440 Now, let's consider, where should we begin? 16 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:26,000 We could start here. 17 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,080 Miles upstream from the lovely Westminster chimes, 18 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,640 up there at The Nore. 19 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,680 We're now at the Gravesend Reach and anybody who would have invaded, 20 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,800 the Romans, the Danes, the lot, they would have come up to London, 21 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,320 trying to nick our women, nick our jobs and listen to our songs. 22 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,760 So perhaps my first question should be, 23 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,440 what is the earliest recorded music? 24 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,920 Well, an elderly professor at Oxford one night told me 25 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,960 that the earliest recorded music was from the Roman times. 26 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:02,400 Apparently, the Roman potter, 27 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,240 perhaps in old Londinium, in the marketplace, 28 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,080 would sign his vase when he'd finished it as it was rotating 29 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:11,040 by scoring the inside of it. 30 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,520 When you placed the vase back together, place it on the machinery, 31 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:16,920 put the needle in, spin it, Bob's your uncle, 32 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:20,680 you're hearing the lovely sound of the Londinium Roman market. 33 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,680 Sadly, there's no actual evidence of this working anywhere. 34 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,080 MUSIC: "London Calling" by The Clash 35 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:28,000 # London calling and I 36 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:29,640 # I live in the river... # 37 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:33,480 But the Romans did land here in London 2,000 years ago, 38 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,520 attracted by the low interest rates, 39 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,240 cheap slaves and the narrowness of the river, 40 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:39,960 because they could cross the river here. 41 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,080 And one of the best-known songs about London, 42 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,920 known throughout the world, is about that crossing. 43 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,960 # London Bridge is falling down 44 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,280 # Falling down, falling down 45 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,680 # London Bridge is falling down 46 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,240 # My fair lady 47 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,640 # Take a key and lock her up 48 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,120 # Lock her up, lock her up 49 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,360 # Take a key and lock her up 50 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,200 # My fair lady 51 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,320 # Build it up with wood and clay 52 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,720 # Wood and clay, wood and clay 53 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,240 # Build it up with wood and clay 54 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,160 # My fair lady 55 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 # Build it up with iron and steel 56 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,280 # Iron and steel, iron and steel 57 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,760 # Build it up with iron and steel 58 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,680 # My fair lady 59 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,760 # Iron and steel will bend and bow 60 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,120 # Bend and bow, bend and bow 61 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,320 # Iron and steel will bend and bow 62 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,800 # My fair lady. # 63 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,760 The church of St Magnus the Martyr, rebuilt after the Great Fire, 64 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,920 standing at the portal of Old London Bridge. 65 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:39,640 Children have innocently sung 66 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,200 London Bridge Is Falling Down for centuries, 67 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:46,920 blissfully unaware of the sinister suggestion that the "my fair lady" 68 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:51,360 refers to the body of a young virgin buried in the ancient foundations 69 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,040 to bless what was to become the most famous bridge on earth. 70 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,960 The medieval square mile had almost 100 churches and 80,000 people. 71 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,480 It's hard to know what music they heard 72 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,360 but the thing I am now using to communicate with you 73 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,520 was being invented by them - the English language. 74 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,320 And medieval Londoners would have heard the lot - 75 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:15,560 tavern songs, Lollard hymns, 76 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,960 but most of all, the ringing of bells. 77 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,920 The oldest bells we've still got in London date to about 1510 78 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,760 but we know there were bells around for several centuries before that 79 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,000 and I think probably easily, from the point of the Battle of Hastings. 80 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,280 BELLS CHIME 81 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:37,120 You had some bells that were known as saints or holy bells, 82 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,760 and they were used to call people to worship, 83 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,360 but then most towers used to have a collection of bells 84 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,200 that were just rung for celebration. 85 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,440 BELL CHIMES 86 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,960 As I walk through the city today, the one sound that hasn't changed 87 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,560 might well be those bells. 88 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:54,880 Because the bells, that's the same sound... 89 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,640 would I be right in thinking? That's right. If you think about it, 90 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,640 what other sounds are there in the city of London today 91 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:05,560 that you would have heard 100 years ago, 200 years ago and 300 years ago? 92 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,160 Bells have been there throughout the centuries. 93 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:09,960 BELL CHIMES 94 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:12,920 50 years ago, there's children playing in the street, 95 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:14,760 occasionally the dog barking, 96 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,560 the whining gearbox of a Wolseley as it cranked its way down the road. 97 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,280 Now, that's gone. No children play in the street. 98 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:24,720 Everything else has changed, except the bells. Shall I ring the big one? 99 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,920 Yes. That's the one everybody enjoys. It's on the money. 100 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:29,480 So I'm pulling it off. 101 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:38,680 BELL CHIMES 102 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,520 Bells told an illiterate population everything - 103 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:44,960 When there was a coronation, a fire, a plague, 104 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,480 a wedding, a funeral or simply the time of day. 105 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:49,840 MUSIC: "Parklife" by Blur 106 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:54,040 I've whipped out my appropriately named Austin Westminster 107 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,400 to visit an artist who's sung about modern life 108 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,720 and is now using bells to evoke an Elizabethan London 109 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:01,600 for his new song cycle, Dr Dee. 110 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:08,480 The girls and boys... 111 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:10,960 You're the only man that I know... 112 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,120 and I have great admiration for any man that has properly cast bells 113 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,520 with the inscriptions... Where did you get the inscriptions from? 114 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:22,040 I found them in a book I bought down the Portobello Road. 115 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:23,600 Will you hang them? 116 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,560 At one point I sort of had 117 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,640 delusions of grandeur, and thought I could get 118 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:33,400 the whole chromatic scale in bells this size. 119 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,920 Oh, my word. You would have to have a girder the size of... 120 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:39,600 Well, I thought if I could construct them 121 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:44,280 on the top of the...of this building, you know, and have... 122 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,400 as the Westway is just there and we have ravens, 123 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:51,160 I thought on stormy nights I could be up there in my cape, 124 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,480 ringing the bells. Yeah. Lovely. 125 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,840 Ravens flying around me, and sirens on the Westway. 126 00:07:57,840 --> 00:07:59,520 But that's the sound of London. 127 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,720 How do you think the sound of London has changed? That is the old sound. 128 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,000 That's one of the ways I channel it. 129 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,840 Through the sounds of the bells of the churches? What I enjoy doing 130 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,480 is being in the past and the present simultaneously. 131 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,360 I like that. 132 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,320 I think that's what I love about London, 133 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:20,360 is, you know, its monumental history. 134 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:24,040 # The broken heart 135 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,680 # The blackbird sings 136 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:31,560 # And the moon, it laughs 137 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,480 # As war begins 138 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:39,400 # Dance... # 139 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,720 FLUTE PLAYS 140 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:43,680 I went back to the sort of things 141 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:47,280 that you would imagine people would have played then, 142 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:51,400 well, people did play then, like lutes and recorders and sackbuts. 143 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:55,120 Rackets. Yes. 144 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:57,760 I've got a few rackets, actually. Nice. Yeah. 145 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:02,200 # Hurricane spit and tornado 146 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,920 # Growl over London today... # 147 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,240 Going back to the sound of London, where do you think it's all going? 148 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,840 I hear a lot of the sounds of London 149 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:18,480 in the nether regions around Radio Four, late at night. 150 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:20,960 There's a lot of pirate activity. 151 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,000 DUBSTEP MUSIC 152 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,840 So the exciting thing is to identify the essence, 153 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:31,080 which, in its way, is in something like that bell, 154 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,960 and cook something new up. Yes. Yeah. 155 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,840 It is impossible to hear the earliest tunes of London. 156 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:42,240 They weren't recorded. 157 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,760 So to find out about the first songs to be sung in modern English, 158 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:50,000 I'm visiting this unassuming building off Primrose Hill, which houses 159 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,000 the world's greatest collection of English folk music and dance. 160 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:55,840 Chief librarian Malcolm Taylor 161 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:57,520 has a room full of rare documents 162 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:02,800 gathered by the Edwardian song collector Cecil Sharp. 163 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,480 Where do I begin, if I'm looking for the music of London? 164 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:10,720 This is the Folk Music Society, but am I in the right place to start? 165 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:15,600 The first thing you have to remember about the collectors of folk music 166 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:20,880 was that they saw the towns and cities as corrupting places. 167 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,920 They wanted to preserve something they thought was dying out 168 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,280 so they wanted to write it down and preserve it and study it. 169 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:30,840 At the same time, they wanted to use it 170 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,280 to try and create a national identity for the music. 171 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,840 In other words, it's pure when it's in the country, being handed down, 172 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,680 that's unchanged? It's like this rural idyll they were looking for. 173 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:47,840 But once it gets to the city, people are hearing music-hall songs 174 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,880 and that's all getting mashed up. It's getting mashed up, but also, 175 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,040 the concert halls were being swamped by German and Austrian music 176 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,640 and what have you. Classical music? Classical music. 177 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:58,880 They did go to some of the workhouses, 178 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:04,360 like Sharp collected in the Marylebone workhouse in London. 179 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:06,920 He had over 50, sort of, informants in there 180 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:08,760 but the people in the workhouses, 181 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:11,040 they're coming in off the land, a lot of them 182 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:14,920 and a lot of emigrants coming in ended up in the workhouses, 183 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:19,920 bringing their traditions with them, so the whole thing is a melting pot. 184 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:22,640 The songs were clearly in London, 185 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,880 because they were printed in their thousands 186 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:29,000 and they were all printed in the most dangerous areas 187 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,560 because these were for the voices from below, 188 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:35,560 these were for the people. 189 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:38,480 What the poor people of London wanted in their music 190 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:40,080 wasn't pure or idyllic. 191 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,840 They revelled in songs about sex, love, 192 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,040 crime, corruption, misbehaviour and death. 193 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,720 These graphic tunes were broadside ballads. 194 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:53,080 A particularly dark spot where these songs were sung 195 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:57,160 is now the perfectly harmless traffic intersection at Marble Arch, 196 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:01,440 but was originally the gruesome location of Old Tyburn Gallows, 197 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,880 as early music expert Lucie Skeaping explains. 198 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:06,920 You'd obviously go to where the crowds were 199 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:10,280 and there were ballad peddlers at places like Bartholomew Fair, 200 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:12,400 street markets, all the rest of it, 201 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,040 but one place you would be sure to find a good crowd 202 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,840 who would hopefully listen to you sing and then buy a ballad 203 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:19,480 would be at a public execution. 204 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:25,440 A typical kind of song you might sing and indeed sell at a hanging 205 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,840 would be a song about the prisoner... 206 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,520 Yes. ..sometimes purporting to be his last words. 207 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,160 So you could, later that night, go to the pub and sing, 208 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:39,000 "Oh, this is what...Fred sang just before they hung him"? 209 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,800 Yes, some sort of celebrity, a highwayman or something. 210 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,280 # I am a poor prisoner, condemned to die 211 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:50,560 # Oh, woe is me for my great folly 212 00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:52,720 # Fast fettered in irons 213 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:54,640 # In place where I lie 214 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:58,240 # Be warned, young wantons, hemp passeth green holly 215 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:02,560 # In honour of my birthday then 216 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:06,000 # I robbed in bravery 19 men 217 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,040 # Lord Jesus receive me, with mercy relieve me 218 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:13,720 # Receive, O sweet Saviour, my Spirit to thee. # 219 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:16,680 Buy one for the little baby. A lovely present for him. 220 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:21,720 CHOIR SINGS, CROWD CLAMOURS 221 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,520 Here's the spot. Oh, my God! This is the very spot, right? 222 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,760 "The site of Tyburn Tree." 223 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,880 It's an awful idea to think they called it a tree, because of course 224 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:32,800 it was a triple gallows, I think, 225 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,160 so you're going to get triple your money's worth if you came to watch 226 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,040 because three people could be hanged at once. 227 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:41,360 Of course, this wasn't London in the old days. 228 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,600 Tyburn was a village some four miles or so outside London, 229 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,080 which of course was the City of London, 230 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:52,320 so the prisoners from, say, Newgate Jail would be brought in a cart... 231 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:54,760 It'll be your turn next! Goodbye! 232 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:58,640 ..stopping at various pubs to get more and more drunk, 233 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,040 egged on by people who would maybe follow the cart 234 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:02,480 and finally end up at Tyburn. 235 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:07,720 # When on the ladder you do me view 236 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:12,000 # Think I am nearer Heaven than you 237 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,720 # Lord Jesus receive me, with mercy relieve me 238 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:23,560 # Receive, O sweet Saviour, my Spirit to thee. # 239 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:25,840 May God bless all my friends! 240 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,760 And may my enemies be hanged as I am. 241 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:37,720 # We would go on loving in the same old way... # 242 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,680 The streets of London have always been paved with buskers, 243 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:43,280 singing for the shiny shillings in your pocket. 244 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:47,480 # If those lips could only speak 245 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,600 # And those eyes could only see... # 246 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,680 In the 18th century, London was growing fast. 247 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,360 The population was now well over half a million 248 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,560 and the people had a huge appetite for broadside ballads. 249 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:08,480 I'm meeting Professor Vic Gammon at Seven Dials in Covent Garden, 250 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:11,960 one of the most dangerous and wicked areas of old London, 251 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,160 where they were printed, sold and sung. 252 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:17,360 You know, law enforcement people 253 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:20,520 would be rather trepidacious about coming into this area. 254 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,680 It had that reputation. Lots of Irish immigrants here 255 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:26,280 as well as people coming in from the countryside 256 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,040 in England and so on. It's full of noises, it's full of workshops, 257 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,120 it's full of people doing things, printing presses, hammering, 258 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,600 people selling their wares on the streets, all sorts of street traders 259 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:37,960 and the ballad singers. 260 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,800 # Quoth John to Joan, wilt thou have me? 261 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:43,640 # I prithee thou wilt and I'se marry with thee... # 262 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,880 They would sing the song, and I would go past 263 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:49,120 and if I liked what they were singing, I'd listen to it, 264 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,560 learn it by ear... Yes. ..and then take the music away, 265 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,640 so that was the way you did it, by ear? You'd take the words away. 266 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:56,840 It would sometimes say "to the tune of" 267 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:58,880 and it might be a very popular tune, 268 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,720 Fortune My Foe, Greensleeves, one of those well-known ballad tunes, 269 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:06,200 so you got lots more sets of words than you ever have tunes, usually. 270 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,880 These sheets are sold in their thousands. They're not minor things. 271 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:12,560 Some of the most important early printing 272 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:14,480 in terms of volume are ballad sheets. 273 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,400 # I's under yon broad oak will lie 274 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,320 # Upon my back to see the sky... # 275 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,520 London remains the biggest centre of production, and this part of London, 276 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:25,680 not just London, this part of London, 277 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,920 the Seven Dials, Monmouth Court, Monmouth Street, 278 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:33,080 foreign visitors who had come here talk about, you know, 279 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,600 almost every corner, there is a ballad singer on it. 280 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,440 Much more than say, buskers today. 281 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,120 You certainly get writers saying the place is infested, 282 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,360 that's the word they use, infested with ballad singers. 283 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,200 # Then say me Joan, say me Joan, will that not do... 284 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:47,760 # I've corn and hay in the barn hard by... 285 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,360 # I cannot come every day to woo... 286 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:52,440 # And three fat hogs pent up in the sty... 287 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,080 # As under yon broad oak I lie... # 288 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,200 Cecil Sharp was the most prolific collector. 289 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:03,240 He copied down nearly 5,000 tunes in England and North America, 290 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,320 which is a great story in itself, because when he goes to America, 291 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:09,400 he finds the British ballads, many of which have died out here, 292 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,760 and they're alive in the Appalachian Mountains. 293 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,960 If you thought the roots of the blues were purely African-American, 294 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:21,920 think again. The blues are sung in English, and extraordinarily, 295 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,680 some of the songs began here in London 296 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:26,800 before they crossed the Atlantic. 297 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,240 # I went down to St James infirmary 298 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:34,400 # Saw my baby there 299 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:36,160 # Decked out on a long white table... # 300 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,600 So here we are in old St James's in London, 301 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:43,320 and one of the songs I'm very interested in, 302 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:45,840 which I believe originates in 18th-century London, 303 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:47,680 is the St James Infirmary Blues. 304 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,560 Tell us about that song, what you know of it. 305 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,400 # To the St James infirmary... # 306 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:57,960 It started off as an old ballad, a couple of hundred years old, 307 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:00,480 and then it travelled to Virginia, 308 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:04,240 where it was collected in 1941 by Alan Lomax 309 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,320 from a woman called Texas Gladden 310 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:08,880 and then, my particular version, 311 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:13,560 the version I sing at the moment, went through Mama Cass 312 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,000 and has come back to me and I've sort of, 313 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,880 me and a band called Mawkin from Essex have kind of re-anglicised it 314 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,560 so it's gone full circle. And taken it back to its roots, 315 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,760 which is where the St James Infirmary hospital was, right here. 316 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,360 And here we are. So what was the person in the St James Hospital, 317 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:31,600 what was he being treated for? 318 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,760 Syphilis. Nice. 319 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:35,520 Good old folk music disease. 320 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,720 Well, I suppose that's part of folk music. What I think is great 321 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:42,040 is the way you get a song like that, then you see it and you make it new. 322 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,040 That's what I think is brilliant about you, but what's great is, 323 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,080 it's like it comes from London, it goes to the Appalachians, 324 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,040 it turns into the blues, and then it comes all the way back... 325 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,560 Oh, you've gone. It comes all the way back to here. 326 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:55,520 So there it is, there's St James's Palace. 327 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:57,480 There are some modern people in the street 328 00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:59,840 but let's go back to 18th-century London. 329 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:26,760 # When I was a young girl 330 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:31,640 # I used to seek pleasure 331 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:36,000 # When I was a young girl 332 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:41,040 # I used to drink ale 333 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:45,200 # Then it was out of the ale house 334 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:50,520 # And into the jailhouse 335 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,400 # Right out of the barroom 336 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:58,960 # And into my grave 337 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:11,800 # And had he but told me 338 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:16,600 # Before he disowned me 339 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:25,560 # Had he but told me of it in time 340 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,560 # I could have got pills 341 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:34,720 # And salt of white mercury 342 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:38,280 # But now I'm just a young girl 343 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:42,400 # Cut down in my prime. # 344 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:46,600 BIG BEN CHIMES 345 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,560 The evocative chimes of Big Ben, the Westminster chimes. 346 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:52,800 That little tune that I mentioned earlier 347 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,120 which had been written by an incredibly famous German immigrant. 348 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:58,080 Let's go up to the top of the tower 349 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,480 and meet Paul Roberson and find out more. 350 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,200 Everyone knows that tune, 351 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,280 everybody has grown up with that tune in London. That's right. 352 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,720 Everybody in Britain has grown up with that tune. 353 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:14,600 It is part of the signature of the sound of London. 354 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:19,000 But the tune, the chimes, that comes... 355 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,440 really, that's associated with a very famous composer, isn't it? 356 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:29,400 The chimes were composed on the basis of four notes from Handel's Messiah, 357 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,480 the four notes after the Hallelujah Chorus, 358 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,120 I Know My Redeemer Liveth. 359 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:38,720 The chime tune is based on that. 360 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,760 So the most famous, really, chimes in the world 361 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,840 were written by Handel in London, and it has a great resonance 362 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,800 for Londoners, doesn't it? And lots of people around the world. 363 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,320 We have had people up in the belfry and they're in tears... 364 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:52,080 MECHANISM CLATTERS 365 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,360 It's meant to do that. Yeah? Good. 366 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:57,120 We have had people up in the belfry, virtually in tears 367 00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:00,040 because it just means so much to them. 368 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,960 Did it stop at any point? Have the chimes had to be stopped? 369 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,480 They were stopped all through the First World War 370 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:08,360 as at the time, they were frightened 371 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:11,640 that Zeppelins would be able to hear it and would aim for London. 372 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:13,560 During the Second World War, 373 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,800 they were stopped for a little while 374 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:19,200 because when the chimes were being transmitted on the radio, 375 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,160 people listening to the radio could hear the bombs being dropped 376 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,760 and air raid sirens going off and this sort of thing, 377 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,240 and they thought that was too distressing, 378 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,560 so they actually transmitted a gramophone record playing. 379 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:33,920 SOUND OF BIG BEN STRIKING 380 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:35,560 But it caused such an outroar, 381 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:39,040 because people thought that Big Ben had actually been destroyed 382 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:42,120 and that's why they were transmitting this gramophone record, 383 00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:45,920 so in the end, they decided they would carry on transmitting live, 384 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,600 even though you could hear this racket going on in the background. 385 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,440 We are interrupting our programme to bring you a newsflash. 386 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,200 People felt that while Big Ben was still striking, 387 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,320 London was still standing. 388 00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,560 Yeah, and the chimes, and the Westminster chimes, 389 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,000 chiming with Handel's tune at the beginning, beautiful little tune. 390 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,880 Composed by a German. Exactly, yes, so there we are. Quite so. 391 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,880 # London pride has been handed down to us 392 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,240 # London pride is a flower that's free 393 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,040 # London pride means our own dear town to us 394 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,040 # And our pride it forever will be. # 395 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,040 Handel wrote The Messiah in London 396 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,920 100 years before one of its phrases was sampled for the bells 397 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,280 of this mighty clock in the 1850s. 398 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:42,560 Let's take time out for a moment 399 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:46,080 to reflect that great music wasn't only coming from the streets. 400 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:50,200 It was also being commissioned for the churches and for the court. 401 00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:59,560 HE PLAYS THE WESTMINSTER CHIMES ON HARPSICHORD 402 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,960 1723. 403 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,400 Not the time, but the year, when Handel made this his home in London. 404 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,080 Yes, 25 Brook Street. So this is were Handel lived. 405 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,200 What a genius he was and what a lovely house for him to live in. 406 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,520 There's fielded panelling, nice walnut furniture, 407 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,440 and portraits here of some of the great musicians that he worked with, 408 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:45,320 many of whom were, like himself, immigrants into London. 409 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,000 For instance, here - Faustina, 410 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,840 the great Italian opera singer who moved over here, 411 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,480 and over here, a rather strange fellow at the harpsichord. 412 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,760 HE SEGUES INTO A JAZZY TUNE 413 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,640 It's in this room that Handel would have written lots of his music, 414 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,720 and at the same time he was trying to write something for the state 415 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,480 or another opera or something great, there was a constant din going on 416 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,200 in the street out there in 18th-century London. 417 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:17,760 This picture rather beautifully depicts that type of noise. 418 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:19,160 Come a little bit closer, 419 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,560 and you can actually hear some of the sounds of 18th-century London 420 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,480 as we observe these Hogarthian grotesques 421 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,520 annoying this poor man here, one of Handel's friends, a violinist. 422 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:34,280 So the violinist is looking out, getting crosser and crosser 423 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:38,600 because here, a ballad singer is screaming right under his window. 424 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:42,720 Her baby is crying. A child is playing with a rattle. 425 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:46,560 A really annoying child is having a piss right outside the front door. 426 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,360 Another child is playing his drum. Thanks very much, indeed. 427 00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:53,320 A busker is right outside your window with his pipe. 428 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,040 One of the criers of London 429 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,000 is hollering her wares all over the way here. 430 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,120 Another of crier of London with a bell there, 431 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:01,960 I think this looks like a fishmonger. 432 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:03,560 There's a man sharpening a knife. 433 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:06,840 Can you think how annoying that would be? And somebody else here, 434 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,520 a huntsman blowing his horn as he comes through London, 435 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:11,600 some drunken revellers shouting out, 436 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,160 cats shouting on the roof, and all Handel's trying to do 437 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:19,440 is write the Messiah, thank you very much. So why don't you shut up! 438 00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:28,720 A few hundred years later... MOTORBIKE PASSES 439 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:30,960 ..still pretty noisy in the streets of London. 440 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,200 Another strange thing is this. 441 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:35,440 In the house next door to Handel... 442 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,480 ..Jimi Hendrix lived for a brief while. 443 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:45,320 Yes, all the migrant musicians move in around here. 444 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,240 MUSIC: "Hallelujah Chorus" 445 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,000 MUSIC: "Cool For Cats" by Squeeze 446 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:59,200 The sounds of London have often been made by immigrants as well as locals 447 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,640 and the songs are often wary of the big bad city 448 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:03,320 inhabited by a sinful people. 449 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,400 By the beginning of the 19th century London was known as 450 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,160 the wickedest city on earth, 451 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,880 and had a population of over a million. 452 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:22,640 # Up London city I made my way 453 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,720 # Up Cheapside I chanced to stray 454 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:26,840 # Where a fair pretty maid I there did meet 455 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,000 # And I greeted her with kisses sweet 456 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,880 # I was up to the rigs, down to the jigs 457 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,680 # Up to the rigs of London town 458 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:34,760 # Up to the rigs, down to the jigs 459 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:37,200 # Up to the rigs of London town 460 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,400 # She took me to some house of sin 461 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,360 # And boldly then she entered in 462 00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:50,400 # Loudly for supper she did call 463 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,240 # Thinking that I would pay for it all 464 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,440 # I was up to the rigs 465 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:56,480 # Down to the jigs 466 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,960 # Up to the rigs of London town 467 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:02,040 # I was up to the rigs 468 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,200 # Down to the jigs 469 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,920 # Up to the rigs 470 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:10,120 # I searched her pockets and there I found 471 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:12,320 # A silver snuff-box and ten pound 472 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,000 # A golden watch and a diamond ring 473 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,040 # So I took the lot and locked her in 474 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:20,080 # Up to the rigs, down to the jigs Up to the rigs of London town 475 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,720 # Up to the rigs, down to the jigs Up to the rigs of London town 476 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,800 # Up to the rigs, down to the jigs Up to the rigs of London town 477 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,800 # Up to the rigs, down to the jigs Up to the rigs of London town. # 478 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:35,920 JOOLS CLAPS 479 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,360 That was top of the range. Spiers and Boden, that was so beautiful. 480 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,240 What a lovely song. Where does that song come from? 481 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:46,480 Well, it's an old folk song, probably started off as a music hall song, 482 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:49,240 maybe late 19th-century, and that particular version 483 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,120 was collected from a gentleman called Charger Sammons. 484 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,400 Yes, nice name. Yes, very nice name, 485 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,920 but it was quite widely sung all over the place. I think people like to... 486 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,960 About London and for Londoners? Yeah, people like to hear stories 487 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:07,400 about how vile and despicable the people of London were 488 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:08,840 so that was a good one for that. 489 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,240 Great. That's exactly the sort of thing I'm after. Thanks. See you. 490 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,440 By the mid-19th-century, London's great artists and singers 491 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,640 were no longer to be heard on the streets. They'd moved indoors 492 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:25,840 to fill the newly built palaces for popular entertainment - 493 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,080 the music hall. 494 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,960 'Ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted to introduce 495 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:32,840 'the one and only Little Titch.' 496 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,720 Down here, this is one of the great 497 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:57,640 last bastions of music hall, probably, in the country, 498 00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,400 certainly in London. 499 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,080 Wilton's Music Hall. 500 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,680 1858, for crying out loud, 501 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:07,360 and it's now the oldest music hall, I believe, in the world. 502 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,920 Fantastic. When were the very first music halls? About that time? 503 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,000 Round about 1840 onwards. 504 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,480 In fact, in the 1870's, which was after this place closed, 505 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,880 there were 300 music halls in London alone. 506 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,120 What were the sort of people who came to see the stuff then? 507 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,280 It would have been mostly people connected with the sea, 508 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:30,880 because the docks is just over there. 509 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,440 And it would be mostly sailors, 510 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,800 who'd been at sea for six months and saved all their money. 511 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,360 They'd come in here, pockets full of money, 512 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,760 where they'd be sung to, drunk to 513 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,720 and their every whim catered for! Yes! You know! 514 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,560 This is the place where Champagne Charlie was first... 515 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:53,600 George Leybourne is purported to have first sung Champagne Charlie 516 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:55,240 on this stage, 517 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,680 which is a song really that covers the whole period of music hall. 518 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,320 You just hear that song once - 519 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,400 # Champagne Charlie is my name. # 520 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,360 And you can hear the handsome cab going by, can't you? 521 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,680 It's a great song! And he's purported to have first sung it here. 522 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,240 Let's go and have a look. Shall we see if he's still there? 523 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:14,880 Let's have a look. 524 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,040 Music hall doyen, Roy Hudd, has introduced me to a fantastic 525 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:23,280 and rare song of the period, While London's Fast Asleep. 526 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:27,120 That was a song that was written by a man called Harry Dacre. 527 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,600 Harry Dacre's claim to fame was he wrote great, 528 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:34,640 happy music hall love songs like Daisy Daisy Give Me Your Answer Do, 529 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,600 I'll Be Your Sweetheart - songs like that. 530 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,960 This was a song, goodness knows what he had seen, 531 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:43,000 but he had must have come back and had a few one night 532 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,200 and thought, "I'll tell you the truth in the song," 533 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:47,520 because they all knocked London. 534 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,280 A lot of the early songs knocked London. 535 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:51,480 MELODIC PIANO TUNE 536 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:06,400 # The greatest city of the world is London 537 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:10,720 # At least that's what the wealthy people say 538 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:14,160 # It's very nice for some 539 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,960 # What always gets the plum 540 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:22,440 # I only get what people throw away 541 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:27,840 # It's very nice for starving boys in winter 542 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:33,320 # It's very nice the camping out at night 543 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:37,400 # A doorstep for your bed 544 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:39,880 # Another for your head 545 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:45,280 # Because you haven't sold your bloomin' lights 546 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:52,040 # While London sleeps 547 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,080 # And all the lamps 548 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:59,920 # Are gleaming 549 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:03,960 # Millions of her people 550 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:10,520 # Now lie sweetly dreaming 551 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:15,400 # Some have no homes 552 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:20,600 # And all their sorrows weep 553 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:26,560 # Others laugh and play the game 554 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:34,000 # While London's fast asleep. # 555 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:42,600 APPLAUSE 556 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:51,160 By the early 20th century, the population had swollen 557 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:55,480 to six million and the city was absorbing its surrounding villages. 558 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:00,920 Its music hall performers had become the first working-class popstars 559 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,120 and their songs were sung by everyone. 560 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:07,000 WHISTLING 561 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,280 A lot of the songs I knew from my dad's shaving. 562 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:13,040 When my dad shaved, it was quite a rigmarole. 563 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,080 In those houses you didn't have bathrooms 564 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,160 and you had to get some hot water. 565 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:19,600 He'd spend a lot of time and he'd sing. 566 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:22,480 # We all came into this world 567 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,880 # With nothing no clothes to wear. # 568 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,440 And he'd sing bits and pieces of songs like that would come up. 569 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,400 # Give me a London girl every time. # 570 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,080 In the house, there would be a fair amount of old-time singing. 571 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,680 The old girl who lived on the top floor and her husband, 572 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:41,720 we used to like having little sings, 573 00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:44,880 while we played cards, for example. 574 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:49,240 The whole feeling of the music hall is community. 575 00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:51,880 # If you saw our little back yard 576 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,520 # What a pretty spot, you'd cry 577 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:58,400 # It's a picture of a sunny summer day with the turnip tops 578 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:02,360 # And cabbages what people doesn't buy well I'll make it on a Sunday 579 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:03,520 # Look all gay 580 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:05,560 # Course the neighbours thinks I grows 'em 581 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,480 # And you'd fancy you're in Kent 582 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,480 # Or at Epsom if you gaze into the mews 583 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,040 # It's a wonder that the landlord doesn't want to raise the rent 584 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:18,280 # Just because we got such nobby distant views 585 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:23,600 # What views! Cos it really is a very pretty garden 586 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,840 # And Chingford to the eastward might be seen 587 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:32,120 # With a ladder and some glasses you could see to Hackney Marshes 588 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,560 # If it wasn't for the houses in between. # 589 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:41,240 That was brilliant, if I may say so! Fantastic rendition! 590 00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:43,280 It's a great song, it's a great song. 591 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,320 Anybody singing it would be... 592 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,960 It really is about the growth of London, 593 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,840 an enormous number of songs were about how London was creeping out. 594 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:57,040 At the turn-of-the-century, London was expanding enormously. 595 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:01,920 There used to be the wall went around the city of London 596 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,880 and you looked in and saw St Paul's in the city 597 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:07,840 and that was it from the hills going around. 598 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:10,720 Now, I think the M25 is the wall that goes round London, 599 00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:14,920 and you look in and see the great big towers of Canary Wharf and everything. 600 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:18,840 If we were to update If It Wasn't For The 'Ouses In Between, 601 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:20,480 how do you think it would go? 602 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:26,360 # Cos it really is a very pretty garden 603 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:30,440 # And Hendon to the Northwoods might be seen 604 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:35,320 # Even if you was a dwarf you could see Canary Wharf 605 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,920 # If it wasn't for the houses in between. # 606 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:42,560 It's just a little... That's beautiful. Very Good. No! 607 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:46,840 # Lazy Sunday afternoon 608 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,720 # I've got no mind to worry... # 609 00:36:49,720 --> 00:36:53,160 The great music hall performers of the early 20th century 610 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:57,040 were among the first artists able to record and sell their songs, 611 00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,840 so we can still hear them on the radio... 612 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,880 # Here we all are... # 613 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:05,320 ..with the help of the right person. 614 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,480 Broadcasting House, 615 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:11,000 built in the 1930's, the iconic home of BBC. 616 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,080 For years music could be broadcast 617 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,520 from London to the whole world from here. 618 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:18,120 Yes, from London to the whole world. And now in this building, 619 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:19,760 one of the greatest broadcasters 620 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:22,640 the BBC has, is making his show. 621 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,760 Danny Baker knows about all kinds of London music... 622 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:30,360 Here we go! 623 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:34,080 ..but is an expert on the last of the music hall artists, 624 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:35,800 like Leslie Sarony and Max Miller. 625 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:39,880 DANNY WHISTLES 626 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:40,960 BOTH: Oi! 627 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:42,280 # How you getting on? # 628 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:43,520 HE WHISTLES 629 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,720 Oi! # How you getting on? # 630 00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:49,800 HE MOUTHS: # God love 'em, crikey, cor blimey 631 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,880 # You'd hear Mrs Mippin remark 632 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,000 # I scrub and I rub and I do not cumbub 633 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,080 # Just to sit in the soot as it's dark. # 634 00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,560 # Look at the cawfin 635 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:01,200 # Bloomin' great handles 636 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,840 # Ain't it grand to be blooming well dead. # 637 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:05,680 There's so many great lines in this. 638 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:07,800 # Look at me brother 639 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,280 # Bloomin' cigar on 640 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,800 # Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead. # 641 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:15,960 You know there's a follow-up, it's on here - 642 00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:17,400 Three Cheers For The Undertaker. 643 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,400 RAUCOUS LAUGHTER 644 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:22,080 Three Cheers For The Undertaker. So funny! 645 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,040 Just as the title! I know! 646 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:27,600 That is a great title. 647 00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:31,000 Three Cheers For The Undertaker! 648 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,120 # Umper, umper, stick it up your jumper 649 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:35,120 # Tra-la-la-la-la. # 650 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,800 It was banned by the BBC, Umper Umper Stick It Up Your Jumper. 651 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:40,800 People say Oompa Oompa Stick It Up Your Jumper, but the original song 652 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,520 which is that, was the first song to get banned by the BBC. 653 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:45,480 Big Cockney song. Because Umper was like...? 654 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,240 No, stick it up your jumper. You couldn't say things like that! 655 00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:49,960 RAUCOUS LAUGHTER 656 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:55,520 # You say you cannot sleep at night Your bed is no temptation 657 00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,240 # Say the word and marry me 658 00:38:58,240 --> 00:39:00,520 # And I'll be your salvation 659 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:02,760 # I'll take your Horlicks up to bed 660 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,160 # And stop your night's starvation... # 661 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:07,200 HE MOUTHS 662 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:09,000 Bring the band on! Bring the band on! 663 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:13,960 Great! What joy. 664 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,760 That's beautiful. You better get in and do your radio programme. 665 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,600 I've got ten minutes yet. Literally there's no preparation, none. 666 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:20,840 LAUGHTER 667 00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:23,880 We're capturing this on film. No, that's all right. Everyone knows it. 668 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:26,880 Eight minutes and he just couldn't care less. 669 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:29,680 SONG: "The Lambeth Walk" 670 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,320 Oi! Oi! Beautifully done. Lovely, lovely. 671 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:51,280 Lovely sound that, John. How would you describe that? Gorgeous. 672 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,120 Well, it's beautiful, beautiful, 673 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:56,520 but it's not really characteristic of the London I knew. 674 00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:59,040 We didn't have these little organs, we used to have... 675 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:02,760 The barrel organ we had was really a street piano. 676 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:06,560 You turn a handle and you activate the equivalent of a piano key 677 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:08,160 banging the string. 678 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:09,960 And that had a different sound. 679 00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:13,320 And what sort of other sounds? 680 00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,440 The sound on my street? Well, the Salvation Army on a Sunday. 681 00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:18,680 Kids singing, I mean, the street was a playground. 682 00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:23,080 And all the girls in the street would be skipping. 683 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:26,000 Skipping sounds or the games that were played in the street 684 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,400 had lots of noise. 685 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,720 # Teddy bear teddy bear switch off the light 686 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:34,360 # Teddy bear teddy bear say good night... # 687 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,680 Cricket, football, we would play in the street. The sounds of kids. 688 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:39,240 # Our princess 689 00:40:39,240 --> 00:40:43,920 # There was a lovely princess long long ago... # 690 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:53,800 # Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner. 691 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:58,520 # That I love London so... # 692 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,960 I've come to a Victorian school in the east end to listen to 693 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,640 a sound that used to be common on the street of London, 694 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:06,480 but is now only heard in the playground. 695 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,880 # Bunny got shot by the UFO 696 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:11,120 # Bunny got shot by the UFO. # 697 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:18,000 # London's burning, London's burning, come quickly, come quickly. 698 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,160 # London's burning, London's burning... # 699 00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:24,520 Children used to play perfectly harmless singing games 700 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:27,800 on the street, even though the meaning of the old songs 701 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:31,440 was often about death, destruction, disease and execution. 702 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,200 # It's the end with fire, fire... # 703 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:37,920 Things like London's Burning, London Bridge Is Falling Down, 704 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:39,960 Ring A Ring O' Roses, that sort of thing, 705 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:43,880 they would tend to be done by nursery level now. 706 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,800 The older children like this wouldn't do that sort of thing. 707 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,200 What they do more is clapping rhymes 708 00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:54,320 and sort of dance routines with clapping. 709 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:04,960 I suppose the sound of the street itself is different so the children 710 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,800 that play in the playground, they don't play on the street so much? 711 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:10,880 Yeah, that's the major change in the last 50 years. 712 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,760 Children don't play in the street any more. We did, I did as a child. 713 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:19,600 Nowadays, for various reasons, we don't play in the street. 714 00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:21,920 So the sound of the street has changed, considerably. 715 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:27,720 After the First World War, many things changed. 716 00:42:27,720 --> 00:42:30,760 London was now home to nearly 8 million people, 717 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,600 many of whom were listening to a music that was more international. 718 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,200 The London dance bands of the 1930S 719 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,880 had their own unique take on American swing. 720 00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:46,800 The swinging London of the 1930s, 721 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:48,680 that must have been a pretty exciting time. 722 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:50,640 Who was your favourite singer of that period? 723 00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:53,640 Oh, my favourite singer, there's only one singer from that period, 724 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:56,680 that was Al Bowlly, the one voice, isn't it? 725 00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:58,880 That everyone immediately recognised. 726 00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:00,400 I'm sure Dennis Potter did him 727 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:03,360 a big favour in bringing him back with Pennies From Heaven. 728 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:08,920 # Your poise, your pose, that cute fantastic nose 729 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:12,120 # You're mighty like a knock out 730 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:15,000 # You're mighty like a rose. 731 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:18,600 # I'm sold, I'm hooked... # 732 00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:21,320 When Al Bowlly got up to sing and he was conducting the band, 733 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:25,400 he'd sing a line and he'd turn away on an ordinary love song 734 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:27,840 and tears would be streaming down his face. 735 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:29,680 God, did he know how to sell a song! 736 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:35,800 Music hall was based totally in London and they were the ones who 737 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:40,200 sang all the songs about the place where all music halls where. 738 00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:44,960 When it got to the big bands of the '30s it was much more, 739 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:48,160 from all over America particularly, the songs. 740 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:04,360 # London is the place for me 741 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:07,000 # London this lovely city 742 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:11,080 # You can go to France or America 743 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:13,760 # India, Asia or Australia... # 744 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,400 Following World War II, another immigrant sound arrived in London 745 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:20,040 this time on a ship from Jamaica. 746 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:24,080 It landed at Tilbury Docks on 22nd June 1948. 747 00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:33,400 This is where the Empire Windrush docked with 500 immigrants on board. 748 00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:35,480 The beginning of a process that would change 749 00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:37,680 the soundscape of London forever. 750 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:40,760 Arrivals at Tilbury, the Empire Windrush brings to Britain 751 00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:44,360 500 Jamaicans, many are ex-servicemen who know England. 752 00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:46,400 They served this country well. 753 00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:48,080 In Jamaica, they couldn't find work. 754 00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:50,880 Discouraged but full of hope, they sailed for Britain. 755 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:52,720 Citizens of the British Empire 756 00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:55,000 coming to the mother country with good intent. 757 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,800 So the Windrush ship arrives here, everybody's looking forward 758 00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,080 to a super new life in lovely London town 759 00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:05,640 and on that ship was one of the great masters of calypso music. 760 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:07,560 Lord Kitchener. 761 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:08,720 Lord Kitchener, 762 00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:12,240 now I'm told you are really the king of calypso singers, is that right? 763 00:45:12,240 --> 00:45:14,680 Yes, that's true. Will you sing? Right now? Yes. 764 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:19,920 # London...is the place for me. Doom doom doom. 765 00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:23,160 # London...this lovely city... 766 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:30,120 # You can go to France or America, India, Asia or Australia 767 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:33,640 # but you must come back to London city 768 00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:34,800 # Doom doom doom 769 00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:37,640 # I've been travelling the countries years ago 770 00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:41,680 # But this is the place I wanted to know, darling London 771 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:44,640 # This is the place for me. # 772 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,040 So, you've just got off the ship, you've arrived, 773 00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:50,200 "Hello, London. Here I am." Hang on a minute, it's the customs. 774 00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:54,680 If you have goods to declare, blah blah blah blah blah 775 00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:57,720 pick up the telephone and await assistance. 776 00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:03,840 Hello, I've just arrived and I want to report, 777 00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:06,280 I think there were some people bringing in 778 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:08,680 some illicit ska and calypso rhythms 779 00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:13,080 that are likely to influence the London music for years to come. 780 00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:14,760 Thanks. 781 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:16,160 He said that'd be fine. 782 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:19,000 # London, that's the place for me... # 783 00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:35,760 I'm off to see Sterling Betancourt, who optimistically arrived 784 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:40,360 from Trinidad in 1951 to play The Festival Of Britain. 785 00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:43,600 The instrument he played had never been heard, or seen, 786 00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:44,840 in London before. 787 00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:15,320 We tried to give them a surprise 788 00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:18,160 because we didn't paint the drums. 789 00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:21,400 We had it all rustic and rusty like garbage. 790 00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,200 Yeah, yeah? 791 00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:26,480 As...a surprise. You know? 792 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:28,720 So when the people saw us... 793 00:47:28,720 --> 00:47:31,360 taking all these rusty old drums 794 00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:32,880 they were laughing. 795 00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:34,840 They were saying, 796 00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,840 where are they going with these dustbins? 797 00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:40,080 They called us dustbin boys. 798 00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:43,680 But when we finished playing our first tune, 799 00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:47,360 everybody was applauding and it was such a surprise. 800 00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:51,360 They even said it was black magic because they couldn't understand 801 00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:56,240 how you can get music from these old rusty drums. 802 00:47:56,240 --> 00:47:59,760 When you first got to England, what was England like when you arrived? 803 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:01,440 Was it how you expected it was going to be, 804 00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:04,080 or what did you think it was going to be and what was it like? 805 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:06,920 No, no, I thought, "England is such a bright lovely place," 806 00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:11,760 but when we arrived, it was all dark and gloomy and grey. 807 00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:17,440 And all the bombed out sites. 808 00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:22,560 I suppose all the musicians are drawn to London 809 00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:26,200 because there's the work and everything's there... That's right. 810 00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:28,080 And in Archer Street every Monday, 811 00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:32,520 they used to have a big crowd of musicians there. 812 00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:35,840 Anybody who wants to get a musician for a job, 813 00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:40,680 you go there on a Monday afternoon and the place is crowded. 814 00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:44,080 People used to say, "What's happening there with all this crowd?" 815 00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:47,840 But they see the people with the notebook, the musicians, 816 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:50,560 and say "I'm looking for a trumpeter." "I want a bass guitar," 817 00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:54,800 and everybody's going around. But now that don't happen. 818 00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:01,960 Sterling was lucky. Like the rest of the country, 819 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:04,160 London was looking for some post-war fun and games. 820 00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:06,440 Soho was now dancing to its own version of jazz, calypso 821 00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:08,720 and Latin American rhythms. 822 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:22,280 This is one of the historically most important floors in London. 823 00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:25,960 What is it, you're wondering? Is it part of Roman London? No. 824 00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:29,160 Is it, perhaps, a very special part of Newgate Prison floor 825 00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:31,160 that's been perfectly preserved? No. 826 00:49:31,160 --> 00:49:33,160 Is it a parlour from Bluegate Fields 827 00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:35,280 that's been perfectly cut out and kept? 828 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:37,520 No, it's none of these things. If we look carefully, 829 00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:41,560 we will see that it is in fact a maple herringbone parquet floor, 830 00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,680 beautifully laid here, and it's a dancefloor. 831 00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:46,280 And it's the dancefloor of a place 832 00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:50,320 that has particular significance for me - the 100 Club. 833 00:49:53,320 --> 00:49:55,000 In the spring of 1957, 834 00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:59,640 Humphrey Lyttelton was playing here at the 100 Club on this stage, 835 00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:03,360 and the dancefloor was packed with young Londoners 836 00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:06,400 all excited by the blues and jazz music. 837 00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:08,720 It's a well-known fact that that music 838 00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:13,160 can certainly arouse feelings in a person, perhaps of love and desire, 839 00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:15,080 and that evening was no different. 840 00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:19,400 Two young Londoners left this club, 841 00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:22,400 aroused by the music and the dancing. 842 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:24,680 They went home, one thing led to another, 843 00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:29,320 and then, nine months later, in January 1958, 844 00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:30,720 I was born. 845 00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:33,520 Thanks, Humph. 846 00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:43,320 'It's London's Tin Pan Alley. Birthplace of melodies 847 00:50:43,320 --> 00:50:46,560 'which have kept Britain singing in good times and in bad. 848 00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:49,160 'Just 60 yards of plate glass windows, 849 00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:52,160 'behind which a million new songs are being heard.' 850 00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:59,360 For years, the centre of London song publishing had been Tin Pan Alley, 851 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:02,040 a short street within shouting distance of Seven Dials, 852 00:51:02,040 --> 00:51:05,600 and the selling of Broadside Ballads hundreds of years before. 853 00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:08,880 MUSIC: "Halfway to Paradise" by Bobby Vinton 854 00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:17,360 In the late 1950s, its cosy atmosphere was shattered 855 00:51:17,360 --> 00:51:19,920 by teenagers with addictions to skiffle, Cliff Richard, 856 00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:22,480 coffee bars and American rock and roll. 857 00:51:24,960 --> 00:51:29,600 Suddenly there was a new breed of young British talent 858 00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:31,040 hoping to make it as pop stars 859 00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:33,720 with the help of agents like Larry Parnes. 860 00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:39,800 One true London voice in this new Americanised youth market 861 00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:41,640 was Joe Brown. 862 00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:45,480 This was the real hub of the music industry, really, in London. 863 00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:48,960 And how about when you were with Larry Parnes and all those, sort of, 864 00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:52,360 those first British London, the first London pop stars, isn't it? 865 00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:53,600 I guess so, yeah. 866 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:56,440 # Let's go Let's go again, boys, yeah 867 00:51:58,680 --> 00:52:00,280 # Ohh, guitar! # 868 00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:05,520 So what about the sound of London? 869 00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:08,440 How would you think of the sound of a London street? How was it then? 870 00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:10,600 Was it different back then, the street? 871 00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:14,800 I mean, I used to push a barrow round the East End of London. 872 00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:16,720 You were a proper barrow boy? Yeah. 873 00:52:16,720 --> 00:52:20,240 And so, would you have a call that you shouted out? What was it? 874 00:52:20,240 --> 00:52:21,440 Er... 875 00:52:23,200 --> 00:52:27,920 "All fresh winkles! Winkles all fresh!" Things like that. 876 00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:29,480 Any other cries you'd have? 877 00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:32,200 Can you remember any other ones that people would shout out? 878 00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:34,400 Yeah, things like, "Shift that bloody barrow!" 879 00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:41,760 And the newspaper sellers, I never knew what they... 880 00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:44,800 what did they shout? I don't know what it was. Depends on the paper. 881 00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:47,920 I remember it was, "Star News and Standard!" 882 00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:50,240 Yeah, and there was... JOOLS SHOUTS INCOMPREHENSIBLY 883 00:52:50,240 --> 00:52:52,200 Oh yeah, nobody knew what that was. 884 00:52:52,200 --> 00:52:54,920 JOE SHOUTS INCOMPREHENSIBLY 885 00:52:54,920 --> 00:52:57,560 Exactly! Better get one quick. 886 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:01,200 After you. 887 00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:03,880 'Joe was one of the first British pop stars, 888 00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:06,760 'but he'd grown up on the songs of the music hall.' 889 00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:09,360 Yeah, that's a good 'un, yeah. 890 00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:11,600 Yeah, OK, yeah. 891 00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:16,920 # Oh, wotcher All the neighbours cry 892 00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:20,920 # Who you going to meet, Bill? 'Ave you bought the street, Bill? 893 00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:25,400 # Laugh, I thought I would have died 894 00:53:25,400 --> 00:53:29,520 # I knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road. # 895 00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:31,720 What a beautiful song. I love that song. 896 00:53:31,720 --> 00:53:34,360 Where did you first hear the song? In your mum's pub? 897 00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:37,680 Yeah, I lived in a pub in Plaistow, which is in the East End 898 00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:40,840 and, I mean, we used to have a piano player come in there. 899 00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:42,680 There was a whole family of 'em, 900 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:44,800 and they used to sing all them old songs. 901 00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:50,200 And when I first started recording, that's the only music I knew. 902 00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:53,240 So I was recording stuff that I'd heard in the pub, you know. 903 00:53:53,240 --> 00:53:56,080 Only I didn't do the verses, just the choruses. 904 00:53:56,080 --> 00:53:58,320 What sort of songs were they doing though, then? 905 00:53:58,320 --> 00:54:00,760 For instance, this one. 906 00:54:00,760 --> 00:54:03,840 You might not guess the song, but this is the verse. 907 00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:07,640 # Well, you don't know who you're looking at 908 00:54:07,640 --> 00:54:09,880 # Until you look at me 909 00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:12,080 # I'm a bit of a nob, I am 910 00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:14,520 # Belong to royalty 911 00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:16,640 # And I shan't forget the day I married 912 00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:18,680 # Dear old Widow Birch 913 00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:23,640 # I was King of England as I toddled from the church 914 00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:26,720 # Outside, the people all shouted "Hip hooray!" # 915 00:54:26,720 --> 00:54:29,360 Hooray! Thank you. 916 00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:31,800 # Said I, "Get down upon your knees" 917 00:54:31,800 --> 00:54:34,440 # "It's Coronation Day" 918 00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:38,760 # I'm Hen-er-ey the Eighth, I am 919 00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:41,800 # Hen-er-ey the Eighth, I am, I am 920 00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:45,040 # I got married to the widow next door 921 00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:47,120 # She's been married seven times before 922 00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:49,920 # Well, every one was an 'En-er-ey En-er-ey! 923 00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,360 # Wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam 924 00:54:52,360 --> 00:54:55,400 # I'm her eighth old man named Hen-er-ey 925 00:54:55,400 --> 00:54:57,840 # Hen-er-ey the Eighth, I am. # 926 00:54:57,840 --> 00:55:02,800 And it goes on and on, up and up and up, till only dogs can hear it. 927 00:55:37,880 --> 00:55:43,120 We have revealed how some of the words of the old London songs 928 00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:46,800 worked their way into the blues, and after the war in London, 929 00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:48,840 it was going to work the other way around, 930 00:55:48,840 --> 00:55:51,880 and the blues was going to work its way into London music. 931 00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:54,960 People like Chris Barber, Humphrey Lyttelton, George Melly, 932 00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:58,160 Ken Colyer, Alexis Korner, John Mayall, Stan Greig, 933 00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:01,160 Cyril Davies, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, 934 00:56:01,160 --> 00:56:04,080 Long John Baldry, the Rolling Stones, 935 00:56:04,080 --> 00:56:08,040 would take the blues into London and make it into their own thing. 936 00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:10,960 MUSIC: "Smokestack Lightning" by Manfred Mann 937 00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:14,840 One of the many British blues bands formed in '60s London 938 00:56:14,840 --> 00:56:19,280 was Manfred Mann, fronted by singer Paul Jones. 939 00:56:19,280 --> 00:56:21,920 The band formed under various different names, 940 00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:24,720 but in 1963 it was called the Blues Brothers. 941 00:56:24,720 --> 00:56:26,760 And, there's another story, 942 00:56:26,760 --> 00:56:29,600 we went to, we auditioned for EMI Records, 943 00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:31,920 and they said, "We like the band but the name's stupid. 944 00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:34,640 You'll never get anywhere with a name like the Blues Brothers." 945 00:56:34,640 --> 00:56:39,360 # Smokestack lightning 946 00:56:39,360 --> 00:56:43,080 # Shining just like gold... # 947 00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:46,840 And what sort of places did you use to go in London 948 00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:49,760 to hear or to perform in those early days? 949 00:56:49,760 --> 00:56:54,600 The short answer to that question is the 100 Club. Yes. 950 00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:06,280 It was still mostly jazz, but then most places were. 951 00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:10,480 But they all began to have blues nights. 952 00:57:10,480 --> 00:57:13,360 What are we talking, sort of early 1960s? 953 00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:16,040 We're talking deep fog, actually. 954 00:57:19,800 --> 00:57:22,400 I had a band in Oxford at the time, 955 00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:25,120 and I actually thought I had the only blues band in England. 956 00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:29,120 As London grows, I seem to be learning, people come to London 957 00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:31,360 because it's the centre, so all the musicians come here 958 00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:32,960 because they've got to find a gig, 959 00:57:32,960 --> 00:57:34,840 they've got to find a recording contract. 960 00:57:34,840 --> 00:57:38,200 Whatever they've got to do, they're going to find it here. Absolutely. 961 00:57:38,200 --> 00:57:40,280 There was nowhere else. 962 00:57:40,280 --> 00:57:44,400 I mean, I met people from the Spencer Davis Group from Birmingham, 963 00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:48,160 from the Animals from Newcastle, you know, various people. 964 00:57:48,160 --> 00:57:51,080 # If you see my little red rooster 965 00:57:54,200 --> 00:57:56,960 # Please drive him home 966 00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:06,000 # If you see my little red rooster 967 00:58:08,960 --> 00:58:12,280 # Please drive him home... # 968 00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:13,520 Their sound wasn't the same 969 00:58:13,520 --> 00:58:16,080 as the American people they'd been listening to. 970 00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:17,920 They created their own thing by hearing it 971 00:58:17,920 --> 00:58:21,040 and it comes out in a different way, and then it becomes great pop music. 972 00:58:21,040 --> 00:58:23,200 Exactly right. 973 00:58:23,200 --> 00:58:27,240 'With their top hit, You Really Got Me Going," The Kinks!' 974 00:58:28,640 --> 00:58:31,920 # Girl, you really got me going 975 00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:36,000 # You got me so I don't know what I'm doing, now 976 00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:38,840 # Yeah, you really got me now 977 00:58:38,840 --> 00:58:41,880 # You got me so I can't sleep at night. # 978 00:58:41,880 --> 00:58:45,280 You write about London quite distinctly. No. 979 00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:46,960 You don't? 980 00:58:46,960 --> 00:58:51,400 My influences were the blues, Dixieland... 981 00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:55,720 and when I wrote You Really Got Me, 982 00:58:55,720 --> 00:58:59,160 it was my attempt to write a blues song. 983 00:58:59,160 --> 00:59:01,040 I wanted it to be for John Lee Hooker 984 00:59:01,040 --> 00:59:03,640 or Howlin' Wolf, someone like that. 985 00:59:03,640 --> 00:59:07,880 But it ended up, I have this theory, "I'm a honky from North London." 986 00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:09,720 That's the way my blues sounds. 987 00:59:09,720 --> 00:59:11,920 MUSIC: "Waterloo Sunset" by the Kinks 988 00:59:15,360 --> 00:59:17,640 'Ray Davies became a great poet, 989 00:59:17,640 --> 00:59:21,280 'and a beautiful ornament in the landscape of London.' 990 00:59:21,280 --> 00:59:26,280 # Dirty old river must you keep rolling 991 00:59:26,280 --> 00:59:29,720 # Flowing into the night 992 00:59:29,720 --> 00:59:35,080 # People so busy make me feel dizzy 993 00:59:35,080 --> 00:59:39,160 # Taxi lights shine so bright... # 994 00:59:39,160 --> 00:59:44,360 What's the first music you can remember hearing in your world? 995 00:59:44,360 --> 00:59:48,680 You know when you make a movie, you have an atmos track? 996 00:59:48,680 --> 00:59:51,560 The sound of where the person lived. 997 00:59:51,560 --> 00:59:53,080 And it wasn't music, it was a sound. 998 00:59:54,600 --> 00:59:59,840 A cacophony, people walking, talking, traffic, trains. 999 00:59:59,840 --> 01:00:02,280 I could hear trains in the distance. 1000 01:00:02,280 --> 01:00:05,800 The subway train coming out. 1001 01:00:05,800 --> 01:00:09,040 I could hear that, it was all one sound, it was no song. 1002 01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:14,920 There is something about delivery, good old-fashioned barrow boys. 1003 01:00:16,520 --> 01:00:20,160 It's like, the other thing about musical people, like barrow boys, 1004 01:00:20,160 --> 01:00:23,880 you had to grab an audience, 1005 01:00:23,880 --> 01:00:27,200 and pop songs were a bit like that. 1006 01:00:27,200 --> 01:00:31,160 You've got a minute to say what you've got to say. 1007 01:00:31,160 --> 01:00:33,680 Here you go, girls, chat to us. I don't charge a lot! 1008 01:00:35,280 --> 01:00:37,520 That's what's called a Piccadilly cumber. 1009 01:00:37,520 --> 01:00:40,520 Whether it's a street trader, the people in the capital 1010 01:00:40,520 --> 01:00:42,760 have always admired the verbal linguist. 1011 01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:45,800 Someone like Arthur English, "I was in Trafalgar Square 1012 01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:48,240 "a woman went down, ace, Jack, King, Queen, on the deck. 1013 01:00:48,240 --> 01:00:50,280 "She come round, she said, 'Where am I?' I said, 1014 01:00:50,280 --> 01:00:51,880 "Map of London, Lady, half a crown." 1015 01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:55,200 That is just ludicrous, but it's get as many words into that space as you can, 1016 01:00:55,200 --> 01:00:57,120 because I know you've got other things to do, 1017 01:00:57,120 --> 01:00:58,360 because you live in London. 1018 01:01:01,440 --> 01:01:03,880 By the mid-1960s, 1019 01:01:03,880 --> 01:01:07,440 what had started with the Empire Windrush was in full swing. 1020 01:01:07,440 --> 01:01:09,760 Jamaican music in the form of Bluebeat, 1021 01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:12,000 ska, and later reggae, 1022 01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:14,600 became an important fixture in the city's soundscape. 1023 01:01:27,040 --> 01:01:29,840 London had become the musical centre of the world, 1024 01:01:29,840 --> 01:01:32,640 with The Beatles now its most famous residents. 1025 01:01:32,640 --> 01:01:35,240 The world and his wife wanted to record their sound 1026 01:01:35,240 --> 01:01:36,560 in the nation's capital, 1027 01:01:36,560 --> 01:01:40,240 at studios like Abbey Road, immortalised by The Fab Four 1028 01:01:40,240 --> 01:01:44,280 themselves and the home of bands like Pink Floyd and The Hollies. 1029 01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:46,280 Now, regrettably, covered with graffiti. 1030 01:01:49,880 --> 01:01:53,400 # Oi! How you getting on..? # 1031 01:01:54,720 --> 01:01:57,560 Earlier on you said to me you didn't think there was London music. 1032 01:01:57,560 --> 01:02:00,760 I thought it was a specious concept because I don't think you could ever 1033 01:02:00,760 --> 01:02:03,760 hear a record and say that sounds like a London record. 1034 01:02:03,760 --> 01:02:07,200 So, I think the idea of a London SOUND is too nebulous, 1035 01:02:07,200 --> 01:02:09,840 you can't pin that down. A London rhythm, yes, 1036 01:02:09,840 --> 01:02:11,680 there's definitely a London rhythm. 1037 01:02:11,680 --> 01:02:13,120 And what is that London rhythm? Attack. 1038 01:02:18,600 --> 01:02:22,920 In 1976, this noisy city gave birth to a new music once again. 1039 01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:25,920 This time punk. 1040 01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:26,840 Now get this... 1041 01:02:26,840 --> 01:02:29,760 # London calling, yes, I was there, too 1042 01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:32,880 # An' you know what they said? 1043 01:02:32,880 --> 01:02:34,680 # Well, some of it was true 1044 01:02:34,680 --> 01:02:37,680 # London calling at the top of the dial 1045 01:02:37,680 --> 01:02:39,160 # And after all this 1046 01:02:39,160 --> 01:02:41,360 # Won't you give me a smile..? # 1047 01:02:41,360 --> 01:02:44,480 Londoners are brash, extraordinarily confident, 1048 01:02:44,480 --> 01:02:46,240 and it is a brash confident city. 1049 01:02:46,240 --> 01:02:48,480 Because London, you've got to get heard. 1050 01:02:48,480 --> 01:02:51,440 And I do think it is entirely related to traffic noise 1051 01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:54,480 and just the populous, and the noise of it. 1052 01:02:54,480 --> 01:02:58,120 The thing that Ian Dury adapted, which is as old as the hills, 1053 01:02:58,120 --> 01:03:01,840 the "oi," is literally being heard to someone over there. 1054 01:03:01,840 --> 01:03:03,920 CROWD: Oi, oi! 1055 01:03:03,920 --> 01:03:07,840 Well, actually, the name's Dury, and I come from Upminster, 1056 01:03:07,840 --> 01:03:10,880 and Hornchurch, and Romford, and Walthamstow, and Harrow, 1057 01:03:10,880 --> 01:03:12,120 and other places. 1058 01:03:14,080 --> 01:03:16,520 The impeccable attack of Ian Dury. 1059 01:03:23,200 --> 01:03:26,720 # Just cos I ain't never had, no, nothing worth having 1060 01:03:26,720 --> 01:03:29,480 # Never ever, never, ever... # 1061 01:03:31,720 --> 01:03:32,760 Oi, oi. 1062 01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:33,920 CROWD: Oi, oi! 1063 01:03:39,720 --> 01:03:41,920 Hello, playmates. 1064 01:03:41,920 --> 01:03:47,160 Here's a little song about a young man's adventures in London. 1065 01:03:50,120 --> 01:03:54,680 # Billy Bentley, go to London early in the day 1066 01:03:54,680 --> 01:03:56,480 # Half a quid, mate 1067 01:03:56,480 --> 01:03:58,320 # Stands to reason 1068 01:03:58,320 --> 01:04:00,160 # Hold your horses 1069 01:04:00,160 --> 01:04:01,400 # Move along there 1070 01:04:01,400 --> 01:04:04,000 # See the show, sir 1071 01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:05,080 # Hello, cheeky 1072 01:04:05,080 --> 01:04:07,240 # First time, ducky 1073 01:04:07,240 --> 01:04:08,280 # You'll be lucky 1074 01:04:09,120 --> 01:04:12,680 # Billy Bentley he's a caution, have a pleasant stay... # 1075 01:04:15,760 --> 01:04:18,880 Just capturing those little, it's a verbal you get, 1076 01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:22,200 "Mind your back, please move along there, see the show, sir. 1077 01:04:22,200 --> 01:04:24,720 "Nice time, ducky, you'll be lucky," and things like that. 1078 01:04:24,720 --> 01:04:26,760 # Hold very tight, please... # 1079 01:04:31,000 --> 01:04:32,080 We loved dear Ian, 1080 01:04:32,080 --> 01:04:34,760 so Suggs and I wrote this song as a tribute 1081 01:04:34,760 --> 01:04:36,720 to a great and proper London poet. 1082 01:04:43,040 --> 01:04:47,680 # Oh it's the crooked leg, the crooked mile 1083 01:04:47,680 --> 01:04:50,560 # The hotel lift and the menacing smile 1084 01:04:50,560 --> 01:04:54,480 # The energy of an itinerant child 1085 01:04:54,480 --> 01:04:58,120 # To catch a glimpse of Mr Oscar Wilde 1086 01:05:02,080 --> 01:05:05,680 # Waterborn, Southend on Sea 1087 01:05:05,680 --> 01:05:08,640 # Twisted, bent, disability 1088 01:05:08,640 --> 01:05:11,880 # Lord Upminster, Bo Diddley and Richard III 1089 01:05:11,880 --> 01:05:16,360 # With the most unroyal mouth that you've ever heard 1090 01:05:16,360 --> 01:05:20,800 # He's never gonna do it, oh, he has and all 1091 01:05:20,800 --> 01:05:24,200 # They're smiling politely, but they're really appalled 1092 01:05:24,200 --> 01:05:27,720 # And it's turned out oranges and lemons again 1093 01:05:27,720 --> 01:05:31,160 # All three bells in a row 1094 01:05:31,160 --> 01:05:35,000 # We're in and out of the Eagle 1095 01:05:35,000 --> 01:05:38,560 # And up and down the City Road... # 1096 01:05:52,680 --> 01:05:55,480 I wonder if Ian would have been singing at Tyburn 1097 01:05:55,480 --> 01:05:57,400 if he'd been alive in the 17th century, 1098 01:05:57,400 --> 01:05:59,200 or perhaps hanging there? 1099 01:05:59,200 --> 01:06:02,480 But then he wouldn't have been such an influence on every proud 1100 01:06:02,480 --> 01:06:05,120 Londoner who's followed so closely in his footsteps. 1101 01:06:05,120 --> 01:06:09,480 # Our house, in the middle of our street 1102 01:06:09,480 --> 01:06:12,320 # Our house, in the middle of our 1103 01:06:12,320 --> 01:06:14,440 # I remember way back then when everything was true 1104 01:06:14,440 --> 01:06:16,560 # And when we would have such a very good time 1105 01:06:16,560 --> 01:06:17,680 # Such a fine time... # 1106 01:06:17,680 --> 01:06:19,920 So, where does the music of London start for you? 1107 01:06:19,920 --> 01:06:23,400 What is your first memories of London music in London? 1108 01:06:23,400 --> 01:06:27,480 Being in this area, in Camden, it was a very strange mixture, 1109 01:06:27,480 --> 01:06:30,880 actually, because it was mainly Irish and Greek Cypriot. 1110 01:06:32,640 --> 01:06:34,680 So, the sort of music you'd find 1111 01:06:34,680 --> 01:06:38,360 wafting out of the windows here would be mostly Irish, 1112 01:06:38,360 --> 01:06:40,400 and, indeed, the occasional zither. 1113 01:06:40,400 --> 01:06:41,480 Yes, nice mix. 1114 01:06:44,720 --> 01:06:47,560 I mean, my earliest memory is really of hearing live music, 1115 01:06:47,560 --> 01:06:51,000 would be hearing my mum sing, my mum sang in bars and clubs around Soho. 1116 01:06:51,000 --> 01:06:52,680 So, I'd be travelled around after her, 1117 01:06:52,680 --> 01:06:54,600 like most red-blooded young London kids, 1118 01:06:54,600 --> 01:06:56,920 hanging out on the doorsteps of pubs, 1119 01:06:56,920 --> 01:06:59,560 looking through the letterbox 1120 01:06:59,560 --> 01:07:03,000 trying to see your dad's trousers, if they're still in there. 1121 01:07:03,000 --> 01:07:06,240 There were always pianos in pubs, and you would always get one 1122 01:07:06,240 --> 01:07:11,240 of those old dolls playing a funny old London sounding tunes of old. 1123 01:07:11,240 --> 01:07:15,160 That do seem to really evoke old London, I don't really know why. 1124 01:07:29,000 --> 01:07:31,080 I remember a chap who used to come in with his mum, 1125 01:07:31,080 --> 01:07:34,680 he was a big camp fellow, and he had an enormous head, and curly hair, 1126 01:07:34,680 --> 01:07:37,120 and he would sing Don't Laugh At Me, I'm Just A Fool, 1127 01:07:37,120 --> 01:07:40,960 and it had such pathos about it the whole pub would be crying. 1128 01:07:42,200 --> 01:07:45,480 You'd have those sort of tears, and then the next minute, 1129 01:07:45,480 --> 01:07:47,480 you turn around, and he shouted to the pub, 1130 01:07:47,480 --> 01:07:49,680 "Fish Song," and they would all go, "Fish Song," 1131 01:07:49,680 --> 01:07:52,160 and he would say, "There's a lot of lovely fish in the sea, 1132 01:07:52,160 --> 01:07:54,600 "but there is only one fish for me." 1133 01:07:54,600 --> 01:07:58,680 And then all the pub together would sing, "Our souls, our soul." 1134 01:07:58,680 --> 01:08:01,680 Then they would howl with laughter. 1135 01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:06,720 So babyish, but what a marvellous atmosphere was created. 1136 01:08:08,200 --> 01:08:12,320 The biggest influence on the band when we got started was Ian Dury, 1137 01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:15,640 and then this really keen interest in Jamaican reggae and ska, 1138 01:08:15,640 --> 01:08:18,560 and literally just fusing the two things, quite naturally. 1139 01:08:18,560 --> 01:08:21,000 I think it was Elvis Costello, or somebody, who said, 1140 01:08:21,000 --> 01:08:24,800 one of the great things about London bands is that they're trying to appropriate black music, 1141 01:08:24,800 --> 01:08:26,680 and get it slightly wrong. 1142 01:08:26,680 --> 01:08:29,240 I always thought that was a compliment to us. 1143 01:08:29,240 --> 01:08:31,040 Yes, that is right. 1144 01:08:31,040 --> 01:08:34,200 But the whole ethos of it, meant, in fact we are right in the place 1145 01:08:34,200 --> 01:08:36,600 we got our break, The Dublin Castle, here in Camden Town. 1146 01:08:36,600 --> 01:08:40,400 And the governor started to realise that these young Herberts 1147 01:08:40,400 --> 01:08:44,560 might attract a few customers, and sell a few more pints. 1148 01:08:44,560 --> 01:08:47,680 And when seven skinny teenagers started leaping about, 1149 01:08:47,680 --> 01:08:51,120 playing Jamaican ska, the Irish regulars were somewhat bemused. 1150 01:08:51,120 --> 01:08:52,720 One step beyond... 1151 01:09:16,000 --> 01:09:17,840 One step beyond... 1152 01:09:17,840 --> 01:09:20,280 Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner that I know 1153 01:09:20,280 --> 01:09:23,320 London isn't even one place - it's a collection of 1154 01:09:23,320 --> 01:09:25,680 villages, communities and neighbourhoods. 1155 01:09:25,680 --> 01:09:28,640 That's how it continues to inspire different kinds of music 1156 01:09:28,640 --> 01:09:30,840 and remain at the heart of many of popular music's 1157 01:09:30,840 --> 01:09:32,240 greatest players and poets. 1158 01:09:50,560 --> 01:09:53,560 I never thought I was growing up in London, London was the world. 1159 01:09:53,560 --> 01:09:55,360 London is the world to me. 1160 01:09:59,960 --> 01:10:03,560 William Blake never left London. 1161 01:10:03,560 --> 01:10:07,320 He left for one day and got sort of anxiety and came back. 1162 01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:21,040 London's glory and its curse is that the roads are inaccessible, 1163 01:10:21,040 --> 01:10:24,440 and they are too small, it's not the grid system. 1164 01:10:25,720 --> 01:10:28,560 As long as we keep away from the grid system, 1165 01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:32,000 London will be confusing and have neighbourhoods, 1166 01:10:32,000 --> 01:10:36,840 and have idiosyncratic, sort of, communities... 1167 01:10:38,520 --> 01:10:41,880 ..pockets of communities, which makes London great, I think. 1168 01:10:49,880 --> 01:10:53,880 # A foggy day 1169 01:10:53,880 --> 01:10:58,600 # In London town 1170 01:10:58,600 --> 01:11:01,240 # Had me low... # 1171 01:11:01,240 --> 01:11:03,480 It's nearly the end of my investigation 1172 01:11:03,480 --> 01:11:05,880 into the sounds and songs of this great city. 1173 01:11:12,240 --> 01:11:16,480 We've seen London's sound constantly growing and evolving, 1174 01:11:16,480 --> 01:11:20,440 as its population has gone from thousands to millions. 1175 01:11:30,200 --> 01:11:35,280 But in this world of change, let's go to a reassuring constant - 1176 01:11:35,280 --> 01:11:37,800 the changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace. 1177 01:12:33,680 --> 01:12:35,680 The lovely sound of the Welsh Guards. 1178 01:12:35,680 --> 01:12:38,160 Superb musicians, playing away. 1179 01:12:38,160 --> 01:12:41,400 If we started at the beginning of our programme, and look back, 1180 01:12:41,400 --> 01:12:44,000 we've heard the music of all the different centuries, 1181 01:12:44,000 --> 01:12:48,280 and in the last 300 years, this has been playing all the time, 1182 01:12:48,280 --> 01:12:49,680 not this particular song, 1183 01:12:49,680 --> 01:12:51,720 but the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. 1184 01:12:52,880 --> 01:12:55,360 # Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road... # 1185 01:13:02,520 --> 01:13:04,280 But what of the future? 1186 01:13:04,280 --> 01:13:07,480 I trust the people of London can sleep soundly in their beds 1187 01:13:07,480 --> 01:13:09,920 knowing that somewhere in the city 1188 01:13:09,920 --> 01:13:13,400 someone will always come up with something new and great, 1189 01:13:13,400 --> 01:13:15,640 which will go on to dazzle the world. 1190 01:13:18,160 --> 01:13:19,760 Thank you. Be seeing you. 1191 01:13:25,440 --> 01:13:28,080 And that's jazz! 1192 01:13:28,080 --> 01:13:31,960 # Round my hometown 1193 01:13:31,960 --> 01:13:36,280 # Memories are fresh 1194 01:13:36,280 --> 01:13:40,080 # Round my hometown 1195 01:13:40,080 --> 01:13:44,320 # Ooh, the people I've met 1196 01:13:44,320 --> 01:13:48,880 # Are the wonders of my world 1197 01:13:48,880 --> 01:13:52,080 # Are the wonders of my world 1198 01:13:52,080 --> 01:13:55,200 # Are the wonders of this world... # 1199 01:13:55,200 --> 01:13:58,360 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd