Someone Needs Help Badly, Will You Give Some? Covid Days

                                                                 

 Ralph McTell: Streets of London Video: wildfiremedia.   

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[This article has been updated from 29th December, 2012. Perhaps we could give away some, if we have a little to spare...]

Used as a teaching aid in a Singapore school textbook some years ago, this international pop anthem about the street poor was first recorded in 1969.  It is the third time I am posting *Streets of London on this blog. I would probably post it again in another year to remind us of the squalor, deprivation and loneliness of many homeless people in this world today. Some things never change.

When you are sipping that glass of champagne and slurping the caviar, tucking into succulent chicken rice and downing it with Tiger or just watching the ushering in of New Year 2021 on  TV please remember the very poor who need our help.

I am not being hypocritical but perhaps just two Singapore dollars placed in the hands of someone who needs the money is sufficient. Or more if you wish. Depends on how much your heart (not head)  is willing to give. Don't force yourself. If you can't, don't.

Watch the above video to the end because it's different from the others available on You Tube. wildfiremedia who produced the clip had an interview with Ralph McTell on the streets of  London. 

If you can spare something, check out the list below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_voluntary_welfare_organisations_in_Singapore

Video: from wildfiremedia on You Tube.

The streets of London today - 2020 and now. We have the poor in charity homes in Singapore. Do help them if you have some to spare. 

Streets of London is written by Ralph McTell, first recorded for his 1969 album Spiral Staircase but not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974. It was his greatest commercial success, reaching number two in the UK singles chart, at one point selling 90,000 copies a day.

As McTell explains on the video it could be any street in any big city in the world. He was inspired by an older song called, Poor People of Paris (1954) made good by Les Baxter and Orchestra. I remember this one, do you?

Over two hundred artists have made covers of this song including Cliff Richard, Blackmore's Night, Mary Hopkin, Raffi, Sam Hui, Sinéad O'Connor, Schooner Fare, Anti-Nowhere League, Roger Whittaker, Cleo Laine,  Cat Stevens Oskar Weise/Tom Brner, Tommy Korberg  and Liam Clancy. Its popularity was also the subject of a comedy sketch on BBC show Big Train.

McTell celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on 7 December 2014 (video clip below).

Read more from wikepedia.^.

Ralph McTell with John Williams 70th Streets Of London Live. On YouTube since 2016. Video from the man himself. Thank you sir.

1956 HITS ARCHIVE: The Poor People Of Paris - Russ Morgan. Video by the45prof.

Images: Google.

Catching Musicals, Etc: Singapore To London: Part One

        Happy Talk: Juanita Hall: South Pacific (Rodgers/Hammerstein)

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Musicals and West End plays used to rule our lives every six months in the 80's and 90's. But how did it all start. I guess it's a habit this couple enjoyed but finally managed to regulate. Check out the story below.

Watching Musicals from 1950's to 1990's

Singapore
I enjoy watching musicals both from the screen and on stage. As a younger person and going to the movies in Singapore 50's, catching these shows was an exciting part of my life. I was in my early teens and it was easy to take a straight bus from St. Andrew's School to the cinema near Prinsep Street.

The Cathay Cinema was the usual venue for musicals to be screened. I remember Brigadoon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Oklahoma, Kismet, The Student Prince, Paint Your Wagon and the unforgettable South Pacific. The movies were all in Technicolor and watched on the large screen in Cinemascope or Superscope grandeur, topped with stereophonic sound.

A crowded Cathay Cinema showing Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii.

At his peak, nobody thought of this movie as a musical but another Elvis hit movie.

Happy talk, keep talking happy talk

Talk about things you like to do

You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream

How you gonna have a dream come true...*

Those were wonderful years visiting the rojak man at Waterloo Street after the afternoon show. And I usually go alone because many of my classmates were either playing football or cycling around their own kampong. They would never have heard of Mario Lanza or Juanita Hall.

           

West End, London where the theatres are.

Then came the 60's and The King and I, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Camelot and a host of other musicals came along.  With a little bit more money I had nasi padang (local Malay dishes eaten with rice) at the Rendezvous Restaurant near Bencoolen Street. It was a small coffee shop then fronted by the Malay rice stall.

In with the 70's and its disco musical like Grease and Saturday Night Fever. I was too busy with studies, work and left  Singapore for New Zealand where I managed to catch our university production of rock musical, Hair and the Australian production of, Jesus Christ Superstar in Sydney.
                         

St Martins Theatre [London] showing The Mousetrap.

It was huge, this Agatha Christie play. Not a musical though.

London, England
It was only in the 80's and 90's when I started visiting London to actually patronize the theatres at the West End that made loving musicals all the more thrilling.  My first stage performance wasn't a musical but a long-running play called, The Mousetrap. 

If I remember correctly, I had stayed at a hotel near the St. Martin's Theatre and was invited by the smiling and persuasive concierge to buy a 20 pound ticket to watch the show. Twenty English Pounds was a lot of money in the 80's, about $160.

"Last ticket for to-night," he told me.  I bought the ticket but to my chagrin I had a seat at the corner end of the second row from the particularly high stage. The whole night I was looking at shoes, socks, legs, pants and furniture bottoms on stage, and could hardly understand the play at all because I was so furious as perceptions became distorted. My seat and viewing distance bothered me a lot.

                      London, England in the 1990's before the smart phone.

                         
My return to the hotel to look for the concierge cheat that night proved fruitless because he was off duty. When I left the next morning, I found out he was on leave. There was no point making a complaint because I was leaving for Aberdeen, Scotland and wasn't returning to the capital. A bad experience indeed. Bottom line, never trust a hotel concierge too much! 

Within a ten year period I managed to fly back and forth to London about six times, either with tour groups to on the way to Europe or as a couple with my wife when we travelled privately. 

       Jellicle Cats: Cats Musical: (Andrew Lloyd Webber /T. S. Eliot.)

These were enjoyable trips and we had always managed to catch musicals on stage like Cats, Phantom of The Opera, Miss Saigon, Song and Dance, Les Miserables and the truly fab Starlight Express. We also learnt that theatre tickets were cheap at Leicester Square if we queued up for them much earlier in the day. We wanted to but never did. 

Are you blind when you're born? Can you see in the dark?
Dare you look at a king? Would you sit on his throne?
Can you say of your bite that it's worse than your bark?
Are you cock of the walk when you're walking alone?**

I even caught one in Vancouver, Canada when I was there in the 90's. Then not too long ago Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Rent in Singapore. Seen Chicago but it could have been on DVD. Went one full circle. 

Those were fun years. But that's another story.

Do you love musicals? Pray tell.

(This post is dedicated to Jan Cheong and CYLin who both love musicals.)

My Favourite Song From A Musical
Not in any order:

Kismet:
Stranger In Paradise
Baubles, Bangles And Beads

Paint Your Wagon:
I Talk To The Trees
Wand'ring Star

Brigadoon:
Almost Like Being In Love

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers:
Bless Your Beautiful Hide

Oklahoma:
Oh What A Beautiful Morning
The Surrey With A Fringe On Top

South Pacific:
Happy Talk
Some Enchanted Evening
Bali Ha'i
There Is Nothing Like A Dame

Images: Google and A Personal Collection;

Lyrics: *Happy Talk (Rodgers and Hammerstein); **Jellicle Cats (Andrew Lloyd Webber /T. S. Eliot.)

Busker Sings 50s Music At Bedok Wet Market

A Singapore busker at Bedok South Wet Market entertains in the early morning. He sings songs like, Chin Chiah Hor and selections from 50s music.

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He seems to be doing fine with his clean clothes, an electronic keyboard and a microphone to boot. Let's hope he earns some money every time he appears. Thanks Peter.

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Image/Original article: Peter Chan Collection.

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Streets Of London

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 /

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Composed/Sung by: Ralph McTell (selling 90,000 copies in a day in 1969 - Wiki).

Streets Of Singapore Buskers Are 60s Musicians

OUR MUSIC BUSKERS:

There are more and more buskers on the streets in Singapore. Orchard Road, Thomson Road and even the underpasses and shopping malls have entertainers who provide live music. As blogger listens to them with their rendition of Cliff Richard's, The Young Ones and Chubby Checker's, Let's Twist Again, there are enthusiastic passers-by who shake and jive to the beat.

When blogger spoke to some of them, they proudly announce that they are well-known musicians from the 60's. There is a lady who interpreted Bette Midler's, Wind Beneath My Wings (1982) near Ngee Ann City shopping centre with so much feeling and sincerity that many pedestrians stopped and applauded.

So I was the one with all the glory,/While you were the one with all the strength./A beautiful face without a name for so long./A beautiful smile to hide the pain./Did I ever tell you you're my hero?/You're everything, everything I wish I could be..."

This lady has a beautiful face indeed and the best voice ever. But she has a name too. Go find out tonight! And remember to contribute. "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... Ralph McTell."

Will there come a time when Singapore streets will be like McTell's Streets Of London (1969)? What do you think?

(Four postings about busking by October Cherries' Peter Diaz and The Bunnies' Raymond Pereira. Click 'busking' under 'Labels' below.)

Original article: Andy Lim Collection