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The Streets of London

from Blackwater - Live at 10 by Blackwater

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Written in the 1970's by Ralph McTell, this beautiful song dares you to pit your everyday common woes against the every day existence faced by those who have been marginalized to the fringes (the homeless, the lonely, the aged, the forgotten). The vignettes in each verse come mainly from McTell's time as an itinerant performer in Paris but are set in the much more melancholy setting of a foggy, cold and dreary London town. Always a crowd favorite and our most requested song to date.

lyrics

Have you seen the old man
In the closed-down market
Kicking up the paper,
with his worn out shoes?
In his eyes you’ll see no pride
And held loosely by his side
is yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news

So how can you tell me you're lonely,
And for you the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She's no time for talking,
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her world in two big shopping bags.

In the all night cafe
At a quarter past eleven,
Same old man is sitting there on his own
Looking at the world
O’er the rim of his tea-cup,
Each tea last an hour
Then he goes home alone

Have you seen the old man
Outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading like
The ribbons that he wears.
In our wintry city,
The rain cares little pity
For one more forgotten hero
in a world that doesn't care

credits

from Blackwater - Live at 10, released September 1, 2007

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Blackwater Middletown, New Jersey

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