Streets of London


A few music loving listeners among us today may know the name Ralph McTell, a singer songwriter who’s been performing folk songs since the 60s. Probably most of us have heard of his most famous song, the Streets of London. I’ve asked Mark to play it at the end. 

“Oh, 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”.

It’s about a song in which Ralph lyrically leads us through the streets of London to meet a few characters that have fallen on hard times. 

The old man in the closed down market kicking up the papers with his worn out shoes, the woman carrying her home in two carrier bags. 

It’s a moving story which has lasted in the UK memory for now 52 years. In the song Ralph shows us these characters facing poverty and homelessness and effectively says, don’t think that everything is bad and lonely, compare yourself to these guys and you’ll see you have so much. Not a bad reminder.

What’s fascinating is that last year, Ralph McTell added a new verse to his song, inspired by seeing homeless folk during the Coronavirus pandemic. You won’t hear it on the recording, but you it is available on the BBC news website in an interview with Fergal Keane. 

He talks about how Coronavirus has hit everyone from the royal family down to the homeless person on the street, and that all we can offer to one another is a little kindness.

Well Christians do indeed want to offer kindness and support to everyone through all that we’ve been through, and incidentally, leaders from Christian churches and other religious groupings are meeting at lunchtime today to prayerfully consider if there’s something small that we can do to make a difference locally with the problem of homelessness that Ralph McTell sings about. 

But as Christians we have something more than kindness to offer, and that is Christ himself. He himself embodies kindness, love, mercy, generosity, welcome, acceptance and transformation. As it says in the Bible, “But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy”. Thanks for listening, and have a great day.



Charlie Newcombe 12/5/21