Lyrics of London

It's always exciting to be able to relate to celebrities.  Whether your high school, hometown, or state is mentioned in a song, movie, or book, there's definitely a feeling of enthusiasm.  Being from Memorial High School, Eau Claire, WI doesn't give you many such opportunities.  Chippewa Falls, WI, is mentioned in the movie Titanic, and Milwaukee is referenced in Love Actually.. and that's about all I've got.  I've been listening to songs about London my entire life, most the time without even realizing it.  So, as I began to look into traveling here, I became accutely aware of all the London references I heard in songs I played on a day-to-day basis.. and those I was just hearing for the first time. 

So, as I decided to write this week about my favorite musical London references, I had to figure out a way to group them.  I thought grouping them by places I've been, and places I have yet to go, would be the easiest way to go about this.

Places I've been.  Along with Cat Stevens, I've visited the infamous Portobello Road.  Both Elton John and I have gazed Across the River Thames, and I can relate to Third Eye Blind when they mention a party in somebody's London flat.  Lily Allen talks about a woman "struggling with bags from Tesco".. and as my arms throb from my walk home from the grocery store yesterday, I realize this song probably could have been written about me.  Kate Nash, the Postal Service, and I have all experienced impatiently waiting for a tube at an underground station; I've been to Earl's Court along with Morrissey.  I know what it looked like when the Red Hot Chili Peppers walked through Leicester Square, and I can relate to Bon Jovi's midnight in Chelsea.  Both the Rolling Stones and I have hit up Knightsbridge.

Places I haven't been (or places I wouldn't want to be).  I have yet to walk on Abbey Road- made famous by the Beatles, and haven't had the experience of waking up on a doorstep in Soho like the Who.  The famous nursery rhyme is the only time I heard London Bridge is Falling Down, and I've never waited for the last tube of the night like Simon and Garfunkel. 

The most recent song I've found I can relate to is due to the beautiful, sunny, recently-present spring weather.  In Lily Allen's song about London she says, "The sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why, would I want to be anywhere else?"