Happy new year to readers old and new. Thank you for your company.
Because it's that time of year, I’ve been looking through my end-of-year roundups from the Liverpool Echo. I used to include some tongue-in-cheek “awards” and in December 1989 I wrote:
The Shack “Who Killed Clayton Square” Local Geography Award:
Joint winners: River City People for Huskisson Street (B side), The Vernons for Smithdown Road (album), The Christians for Greenbank Drive (forthcoming LP track).
So - back in the modern world - when I saw a Twitter post mentioning songs about Liverpool places, I couldn’t help responding.
Just before the Christmas holidays, someone posted a link to the Cherry Boys’ much-loved song Kardomah Café, with the comment “Not that many songs that reference Liverpool places”.
I couldn’t resist adding a call-out for more, and the responses were brilliant: some songs I knew about and many that I didn’t. Some of the songs are actually about a place; some are about a state of mind. (And maybe Liverpool IS a state of mind, too.)
There’s also a bit of a nostalgia fest in some of these videos if that’s your mood.
To kick things off, here’s Kardomah Café:
Songs about Liverpool 8
While we’re on the subject of cafes, I knew about the Deaf School classic Capaldi’s Café but I hadn’t heard their more recent track Falkner and Hope.
In the same part of town, Bill Ryder-Jones (ex The Coral) has Catharine and Huskisson.
River City People got there first with Huskisson Street.
Definitely a Liverpool 8 vibe going on here… which brings us of course to the Real Thing and the Liverpool 8 Medley on their 1977 Four From Eight LP.
In the same area, the oldest suggestion on the Twitter thread was a song I didn’t know about: Almost Liverpool 8 by Mike Hart (from The Liverpool Scene).
More songs about Liverpool
A little further afield to Sefton Park, there’s Greenbank Drive by The Christians.
Shack’s Who Killed Clayton Square was inspired by the early days of Liverpool’s “regeneration” and the effect on the city’s heritage.
China Crisis wrote Saint Saviour Square about a place that no longer exists.
And Ian Prowse (of Pele and Amsterdam) has written The Ballad of North John Street.
There’s more on the original Twitter thread.
That’s just a start. There’s plenty more where those came from. And I’m sure you can all think of others. Go on…. The comments are open!
See you next week
Next week we are back to normal after the holidays, with an archive cutting from one of my favourite Liverpool places - the Warehouse club.