London Song, por Ray Davies

Ray Davies, o fundador, cantor e compositor do The Kinks, autor de sucessos como You Really Got Me, é para muitos o "Padrinho do Brit Pop".  Fez músicas famosas sobre Londres, e em Waterloo Sunset diz que "não preciso de amigos / contanto que contemple o por do sol em Waterloo / eu estou no Paraíso".

Mas tem essa outra música dele sobre Londres, que fala de um monte de coisas da cidade, e encontrei no You Tube essa montagem, muito bem feita, que mostra os lugares que ele canta, e faz referência aos temas dos post anteriores de hoje. Ele fala de William Blake, autor do retrato nada positivo de Londres no final do séc. XVIII, e de Highgate, a colina (e bairro) de onde, diz, num dia claro, se pode ver Leicester Square. Veja o vídeo!

There's a room in a house in a street in a manor in a borough
That's part of a city that is generally referred to as London
It's a dark place, a mysterious place
And it is said that if you're born within the sound of Bow-Bells
You have the necessary qualifications to be christened a Londoner

[It's a cruel place, it's a hard place]

But when you think back to all the great Londoners
William Blake, Charles Dickens, Dick Whittington,
Pearly kings, Barrow boys, Arthur Daley, Max Wall
And don't forget the Kray twins

But if you're ever up on Highgate Hill on a clear day
You can see right down to Leicester Square [London, London]
Crystal Palace, Clapham Common, right down to Streatham Hill
North and South, I feel that I'm a Londoner still [London, London]

Chiswick Bridge to Newham and East Ham
Churchbells ring out through the land
You were born in London, England

[London, London, through the dark alley-ways and passages of London]

And there's a tap by a reservoir, leading to a stream,
That turns into a river estuary that eventually opens to the sea
[London, London]
And there's a docker by a wharf, sending cargo overseas,
Unloading foreign trade from a large ocean vessel
In the mighty metropolitan port of London

[London, London, through the dark alley-ways and passages of London]

When I think of all the Londoners still unsung
East-enders, West-enders, Oriental-enders
Fu Manchu, Sherlock Holmes, Jack Spock, Henry Cooper,
Thomas A'Becket, Thomas More, and don't forget the Kray twins

There's a part of me that says "Get out"