Brian BBBB asked me if I had ever performed the Streets of London, a song that if I recall, came out in the 1940s or a bit later, but didn't become popular until the early 60s. I remember sitting on a wooden bar-stool in a honky-tonk bar in Baltimore, with an old Ibanez six string guitar, a 100-watt tube amp, Shure SM58 mic on a boom and a 3-inch thick loseleaf binder filled with lyrics and tabs. The smoke in the bar was so thick back then when someone opened the front door it looked like the building was on fire. Those were the days my friend.

I was asked by a lady from London to perform that song, one that I had never heard. She wrote down the words for me on a napkin, then found another musician that knew the song and learned it the following day. I played it every time she came into the bar, which was for about 7 years. One weekend, she didn't show, and I asked the barmaid, who was a good friend of hers where she was - she passed away that day. I performed the song later that night and found it nearly impossible to not break into tears - she was an incredible lady that have lived through WWII, and was a nurse in London when the Germans were bombing the city on a daily basis.

So here's my version of that song, Brian, which is probably not nearly as good as the original, but it has been more than 50 years since I last performed it. Ironically, I still get a bit emotional when I sing the song.

Streets Of London

Gary