Streets Of London

I think the 2 previous people misunderstand the lyrics to this song. The song isn't expressing how wonderful London is to cheer you up but instead that London (or in fact any large City) provides you with all that is best and worst. In this case it highlights the downtrodden, the tramps, the vagabonds. It is a another song that reflects that however bad your life is - your delf-loathing, or feeling of worthlessness (whether it be following the loss of a loved one or just feeling pity for yourself) there is always someone worse of than you, and as such you should pick yourself up, find the hope to carry-on. A traditional folk song that is very much still relevant today as it was 100 years ago.

to me it sounds as if the singer is talking to someone spoilt, they dont realise how good their life is, so they assume its bad. the singer could be saying, hey look around you, almost saying grow up. look how much worse it can be. this is particularly illustrated in the chorus, with the let me take you by the hadn and lead you through the streets of london... etc

i doubt it would be aimed at a poor or struggling person, as it would illustrate that their lives are hopeless.

just my ten cents, but it makes sense

Everyone is interpreting this song wrong. Yes its about the homeless, but its not about seeing how much better our lives are than the homeless. The last stanza truly explains what this song is about:

And have you seen the old man - An aged man.

Outside the seaman's mission - He's by the water or the port

His memory is fading, - He's old

With those metal ribbons he wears (its METAL ribbons , not medal) - Wait... he's by the port and seaman's mission, and has fading metal ribbons? Seems as if he was a sea captain at one point! You can tell he was of high stature, because the lyrics say RIBBONS, not RIBBON (meaning he had more than one). And in the navy, aren't ribbons awards? Could he have been famous?

And in our winter city, - Filler text, just to give a more gloomy atmosphere

the rain cries a little pity - Symbolizes that people feel pity to this man (or if people don't then the rain does!)

For one more forgotten hero - FORGOTTEN HERO!?!? I think that cemented the fact that he was at one point a navy captain or something like that! He was a hero, someone who changed lives and maybe even fought in wars! But he was forgotten??? Well, maybe the last line will help us.

And a world that doesn't care - Ahhh... see? Even though he did so much, everyone just took him for granted and doesn't care about him anymore, he's just another old man, homeless, and forgotten.

I hope you understood what I wrote here!

this is a sad, sad song about oppression, and the lost of individuality that one has when in the big city, but at the same time there is a tiny ray of sunshine, because when u hear it, you almost feel better because your life, no matter how shit it is, has something that the people in this song don't have

Beautifully written lyrics that really make you think about those who aren't as lucky as some. Really makes you appreciate what you have. True lyrics are the best and these are spoken like a true story. "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." says it all, I really like this song and think it has a lovely melody.

We used to sit around as children listening to my Dad playing this on his acoustic guitar, even as a child I knew the words had real meaning to them, such a beautiful song...

Simply , he's showing you there are far many others in a state worse than you.

This song could be interpreted as a call for political awareness of the issue of homelessness, or a reminder to be grateful for what you have since there is always someone worse off, but it works very well on another level, as simply a depiction of the sadness and suffering that some areas of modern big cities are so full of. Ian Anderson, in much different kind of song that described a similar kind of setting, described it as "crowded emptiness". There are several very evocative poetic lines in this song, like "yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news" and "the rain cries a little pity". Several people have talked about why we should be kind to other people, as everyone is "fighting their battle". The world is full of suffering people, but they tend to learn how to hide it well in order to live and function in the everyday world. When you see the homeless, you see people in a whole different light.

The final verse has a kind of personal resonance for me. My grandfather was a WWII veteran, severely wounded in the Pacific Theater. He came back with a bunch of medals, but they didn't do much for him. And, although they got him to the hospital at the very end, he lived like the old man in the final verse after he returned from the war, homeless and mostly forgotten, right up until he died.

beautiful. makes me want to live a better life.

This song says so much in one go. I love it, it makes me feel so much better about life. Strange for an 18 year old, but true. Never lived in London, but I sure as hell would love to.