London in Two Great Decades of Music

Waterloo SunsetLondon CallingApe Man

1967–1979

  • ‘Waterloo Sunset’ — The Kinks (1967)
  • ‘Ape Man’ — The Kinks (1970)
  • ‘London Calling’ — The Clash (1979)

A close reading of London across two decades of song. The Kinks' ‘Waterloo Sunset’ and ‘Ape Man’ set against The Clash's ‘London Calling’ — Ray Davies at the window of St Thomas' Hospital, the real bridge Terry and Julie cross (Westminster, or Hungerford?), Joe Strummer's Battersea, and how a city writes itself into its records.

A psychiatrist and a classically trained musician on place, memory and the changing face of London, 1967 to 1979. And in ‘London Calling’, the nuclear clock, the Cold War and the swing of British politics press in on a single song.

A taste — about a minute

0:00 / 0:00

Frances and Chris on Hungerford Bridge — the perfection of being alone in a crowd.

The full pilot is private — producers can hear it in full

What it covers

Themes

  • London in song
  • the Thames bridges
  • class and the city
  • melancholy and belonging
  • 1960s and 1970s Britain
  • the nuclear clock (the Doomsday Clock)
  • the Cold War
  • existential fear
  • the changes of government in British politics
  • decimalisation
  • the course of history and how it shapes a song
  • how global history and culture inform the making of ‘London Calling’

People & bands

  • The Kinks
  • The Clash
  • Ray Davies
  • Joe Strummer

Places

  • Waterloo
  • Westminster Bridge
  • Hungerford Bridge
  • St Thomas' Hospital
  • Battersea
  • London

These are recorded studio pilots. Producers and commissioners can hear the full episode and read the transcript.

For producers & commissioners

All episodesBetween Lyrics home