Streets of London

This song was originally about some individual people Ralph McTell met in the French capital while busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe, but when he realized there was already a song called "Poor People Of Paris," he changed the title to "Streets Of London."

This was not released as a single until 1974, five years after it first appeared on Spiral Staircase.

McTell had originally written this song when he recorded his debut album Eight Frames a Second, which was released in early 1968. However he left it off, as he regarded it as too depressing. Ralph McTell explained: "In one day, 'Streets' sold 90,000 copies and it was #2 by Christmas. There were three versions in the German charts - all by me! Streets also sold more sheet music than any song since the war. I formed a rock band just before the record was a hit, but of course we never played 'Streets.' Audiences didn't like the band, so I announced my retirement and went off to America in a fit of pique. Streets opened more doors than it closed. The song is still played all over the world and even schoolchildren in the Himalayas have been heard singing it." (from One Hit Wonders, by Chris Welch and Duncan Soar)