Ralph McTell - Streets Of London video free download


2,563,883
Duration: 03:21
Uploaded: 2008/11/03

Have you seen the old man

In the closed-down market

Kicking up the paper,

with his worn out shoes?

In his eyes you see no pride

And held loosely at his side

Yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news

So how can you tell me you're lonely,

And say for you that the sun don't shine?

Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London

I'll show you something 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 home in two carrier bags.

In the all night cafe

At a quarter past eleven,

Same old man is sitting there on his own

Looking at the world

Over the rim of his tea-cup,

Each tea last an hour

Then he wanders home alone

And have you seen the old man

Outside the seaman's mission

Memory fading with

The medal ribbons that he wears.

In our winter city,

The rain cries a little pity

For one more forgotten hero

And a world that doesn't care

Comments

8 years ago

John Greenwood

I heard a story that, whilst busking in Paris, Ralph wrote this as an instrumental rag time tune. Any one know if that's true?

8 years ago

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova

via ken newman

9 years ago

pidge30

The nostalgic power of music in our memory , our emotions forget not one chord ,.and transport us back like a time warp.I was in care in 74 and wandering the streets by day ,desolate, unwanted.The feeling is always just below the surface .I always help others ,even if its a quid or two for a bite and a cuppa. etc etc "Streets of London" so poignant

9 years ago

Rick Harris

A great place to be in the 60's.

9 years ago

Alan Roberts

I was dragged up in and around the rag trade on Commercial Road and my Mum sung this in the car to make us to sleep....

9 years ago

Peter Wood-Jenkins

Two gentleman below Two great people with Empathy for their fellow manthey are all our brothers,

9 years ago

Keith Marshall

The grandma in the old folks placeThe astronaut lost deep in spaceThe orphan crying thro the nightThe beggar who has lost his sightThe old men sat in cheap cafesThe homeless in the alleywaysThe bride left waiting in the aisle The sad clown with a painted smileThe convict in his prison cellThe junkie in cold turkey hellThe spinster in her dressing gownIn contemplation wears a frownAs through the misty haze of timeShe sees a woman in her primeSat weeping for the love that diedWith fleeting thoughts of suicideWhen left alone upon the shelfTo face the truth all by herselfInside a shabby one-room flatWhile growing old and getting fatShe gazes thro the window paneInto a world that’s full of rainAs once again she wonders whySo many people hurry byBut never stop to ring her bellOr come inside to wish her wellAnd teardrops start to fill her eyesWhen she has come to realiseThat no one gives a single careNo one even knows she’s there

9 years ago

Michael Kelly

THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME BROTHER WHEN I WAS IN SPAIN RECENTLY AN OLD LADY WAS BEGGING I GAVE HER SOME MONEY CUDDLED HER AND CRIED IN FRONT OF MY WIFE AND CHILDREN THE THOUGHTS OF HER GROWING UP IN POVERTY WITH NO HOPE FLASHED THROUGH MY MIND SHE LOOKED ME IN THE EYES SHE WAS FINISHED, THIS HAS HAUNTED ME WE ARE A SELFISH , PETTY, GREEDY PEOPLE IM 49 YRS OLD IT HAD A BIG EFFECT ON MY KIDS AND WIFE, WE AIM TO HELP POOR PEOPLE NOW.I HOPE THIS EVENT IVE SHARED WILL WAKEN PEOPLE UP LIFE IS SHORT ITS NOT ABOUT WEALTH AND GREED.

9 years ago

oscarlumley

I'm 19 and had never heard of Ralph's work previous to this... but my grandad, is a 93 year old veteran of ww2, who in general does not like music except this song. Ralph gave him a seat at the front of a recent standing pub gig and dedicated Streets of London to him. It meant the world to him.Both of them are amazing blokes, my Grandad is Roy Dotrice and had this song played on Desert Island Disks when he was on. I just want to thank Ralph and his fans for everything

9 years ago

mihai alexandru

Those "romanians " are seminomadic Gipsies ,romanians only by passport, but you allready know that and still is so convenient for you to blame all est-europeans . , You did it before once when the polish plumbers came and stole your dirty jobs.Hypocrits.

9 years ago

kai ken Taiga

I was in England in the 80s and I used to associate this song with Princess Diana.She seemed so isolated despite all the glitz surrounding her - I used to imagine a humanitarian worker saying these words to her, in order to say "Don't feel sorry for yourself".

9 years ago

yves2075

I've done London 1980 thru 1982, on a shoestring. The vibration of that songs carries the atmosphere so vividly, it gives me goose pimples. I heard someone sing that song at some Church mission place in those years, and always wanted to find that song again. Glad that I did it. Thx someonelse419 whoever U are.

9 years ago

twatlick knobcheese

And now....heaven

9 years ago

David Heels

I still prefer the Anti Nowhere League version

9 years ago

Marie Armstrong

Brilliant!

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