Earlier this month, I went to London and stayed in a flat in the neighborhood of West Hampstead, which is served by the London Underground’s Jubilee line. On my way there, I had to switch at Baker Street, and of course, as soon as I heard the train announcement for Baker Street, that familiar sax riff from Gerry Rafferty’s song of that name went through my head. At least it didn’t last too long: The next station was “St. John’s Wood” and immediately Rafferty was replaced with Mick Jagger singing “Owns a block in St. John’s Wood” -- a line from The Rolling Stones song “Play With Fire.”
Over the next week, I was surprised at how many of the Tube stations would provoke a line from a song. I compiled a list, and the only rule was, the song had to appear unbidden -- which meant it could even be a song I hate. I couldn’t pass the Covent Garden station and try to think of an opera aria. Well, I could, but not for the list. But Covent Garden produced nothing – even more surprisingly, neither did Abbey Road. Which is not, strictly speaking, on the Underground – it’s part of the “light railway” in East London and has nothing to do with the famous Abbey Road, which is in… St. John’s Wood.
So here are a dozen Tube stations that, when announced over the train or platform speakers, got the ol’ internal jukebox going.
Baker Street
Gerry Rafferty, “Baker Street” (1978)
"Baker Street" is actually written about the London street, famous as the home to Sherlock Holmes. I mentioned thinking of the sax part immediately, but the song’s opening couplet was threatening to get stuck on replay as well: “Winding your way down on Baker Street / Light in your head and dead on your feet.”
St. John’s Wood, Stepney Green and Knightsbridge
The Rolling Stones, “Play With Fire” (1965)
As a kid, all I knew about London is what I saw in Disney movies and what I heard in this song, which name checks three different neighborhoods in ways that left little doubt about which were good and which were not. I had no idea where St. John’s Wood was, but Jagger made it clear that it must’ve been a nice neighborhood: “your mother, she’s an heiress/owns a block in St. John’s Wood.” The next line, “and your father’d be there with her/if he only could,” was harder to figure out, but that hint of darkness was what appealed to me about the band.
And speaking of dark hints, what about the later line “Now she gets her kicks in Stepney/Not in Knightsbridge anymore”? When I first visited London, I stayed in Knightsbridge – the song providing the vital clue that this might be a desirable neighborhood. I was in no hurry to visit the apparent wilderness of East London, where the fallen woman of the song was apparently exiled.
Kew Gardens
Genesis, “The Return Of The Giant Hogweed” (1971)
I grew up in Queens, in a neighborhood that was much more Stepney than Knightsbridge. But there was what I imagined was a Knightsbridge-type neighborhood nearby: Kew Gardens. I found out that it was named for the Royal Gardens at Kew, just south of the river Thames, from this song -- which offers a strange and goofy B-movie monster tale. “He came home to London and made a present of the Hogweed / To the Royal Gardens at Kew.” I couldn’t help hearing Peter Gabriel’s yelping “Keeewwwww” when this station was announced.
Goodge Street
Donovan, “Sunny Goodge Street” (1965)
I have to admit, I’d always been intrigued by this station’s name on previous trips to London, and at some point I heard this old Donovan tune. If you thought The Beatles’ “Come Together” had weird and elusive lyrics, get a load of the opening lines here: “On the firefly platform on sunny Goodge Street / Violent hash-smoker shook a chocolate machine / Involved in an eating scene.”
Camden Town
Suggs, “Camden Town” (1995)
“In Camden Town, I’ll meet you by the Underground.” Suggs was the lead singer of the popular 80s band Madness, and this solo tune has a similar ska flavor. I would’ve heard this on one of my first trips to London, years ago – it never seemed to make an impression on this side of the Atlantic.
Parsons Green
Fairport Convention, “Possibly Parsons Green” (1973)
Many young rock fans discovered the extraordinary and tragic Sandy Denny through her work with Led Zeppelin on “The Battle Of Evermore.” This led us to her band Fairport Convention, which introduced us to the remarkable singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. Neither singer actually mentions Parsons Green in this song. But if you know this BBC session with the late, great John Peel, you’ll associate Parsons Green with lines like “Don't try to use me or cry to confuse me / 'cause I know your games and they're the same games as mine.”
Brixton
The Clash, “The Guns of Brixton” (1979)
Another neighborhood I heard of first in a song, although I would eventually visit Brixton a few years back because a friend lived nearby. Still an interesting, not-entirely-gentrified place, although you no longer “Have to answer to the guns of Brixton.”
Piccadilly Circus
Stiff Little Fingers, “Piccadilly Circus” (1981)
I think the reason the opening lines of this song are stuck in my head is that I couldn’t figure out (in the days before online lyric sites) what the hell they were. Stiff Little Fingers was a band out of Belfast, Northern Ireland, so maybe it was the singer’s accent, but pretty much all I could make out was “Piccadilly Circus.” The opening couplet: “Piccadilly Circus in the bed of night / Just passing time beneath the lights.”
Victoria
The Kinks, “Victoria” (1969)
Yeah, I know this has nothing to do with the Tube station, but when the public address announcement says “Victoria,” it’s hard not to hear Ray Davies and company singing the chorus to this song, which is simply: “Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, ‘toria.”
Waterloo
ABBA, “Waterloo” (1974)
Again, a song that just comes when you hear the name, whether you want it to or not. ABBA’s first hit single was recorded before they had mastered English, hence the memorable chorus: “Waterloo – [something something something] I wanted to / Waterloo – [something something else something ending in oo].”
[Actual lyrics: "Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war / Waterloo, promise to love you for ever more / Waterloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to / Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you / Waterloo, finally facing my Waterloo"]
One final note: While there is no single Underground station associated with this song, for my money, the greatest mass transit-based song ever written is “Down In The Tube Station At Midnight” by The Jam. A harrowing look at racism and violence in late 1970s London, it's a lot easier to listen to today, when the train at night is packed with people of East Asian, South Asian, and West African extraction, where English sometimes seems to be a minority language, and no one seems to mind.