Song lyrics about Brixton/Lambeth

[editor]

Well, here's an interesting fact for y'all - Brixton is the third most sung about place in the UK, claims report

 

[editor]

This list was posted in FB:

Brixton Briefcase - Chase and Status
Brixton - Sneakbo
Brixton to Bow - The Manor
Guns of Brixton - Nouvelle Vogue
Brixton Memories - Yoga
Daydreaming Brixton Bss Mix - Massive Attack
Brixton - EVC
Hotel in Brixton - Baxter Dury
Guns of Brixton - Dub Spencer and Trance Hill
The Brixton Busters - The Irish Brigade
Kung Fu Battle in Brixton - Prince Fatty
Brixton Direction - Stacy Glass
Brixton Sky - Joe Corbin
Brixtonstrasse - Cosmin TRG
Brixton Cat - Rico and the Rudies
Brixton - Zebrahead
Brixton Poetry - Last Pandemic
Brixton Kiss - The Shakers
Brixton House - Mo Kolours
Strezelby z Brixton - The Analogs
Brixton Baby - Ty
Guns of Brixton - Chicha Libre
Brixton Stories - Underground Heros
Brixton - Horseman

 

[Rushy]

Scandal in a Brixton Market

 

[Casaubon]

Calexico have also covered 'Guns of Brixton'.



Cover versions always irritate me by mis-pronouncing 'Black Maria'.
I think you have to be of a certain age to know the correct pronounciation - it's 'Mar-eye-ah', not 'Mar-ee-ah'
Police van - Wikipedia

 

[DietCokeGirl]

And God Created Brixton by Carter USM has gotta be one of the best:

I walked from my baby's Brixton flat
Into a riot
I thought of maybe turning back
Till things were quiet
When all the buildings to be burned
Had been burned
And all the cars to overturn
Were overturned

Outside the prison they were screen testing the free
Open auditions for closed circuit T.V
Your baby brother would be there outside the jail
Throwing bottles as the police sirens wailed

And a love song might not be suitable
But you look beautiful tonight
Death and disaster only make me love you more
The morning after the night that went before
When the brains of Brixton with conflicting points of views
Are outside The Ritzy on the local TV news

A love song might not be suitable
But you look beautiful tonight
And if you feel the same way as I feel
Everything will be alright

I was thinking
Let's forget about the car
And do some late night drinking
In a late night drinking bar
It isn't far, well, it's my local anyway
I know the barman
And there's a small vocal P.A

Now the insurance man has left you with the news
That your third party fire and theft would be no use
And I know a love song isn't suitable or right
But you look beautiful, beautiful tonight
And if you feel the same was as I feel
Everything will be alright

Tonight, big brother is watching you
And I am watching too
I will watch over you
Like a thunderbolt out of the blue
Something told me it was true
God created me and you
And God created Brixton too
Hallelujah, praise the Lord
Tonight you can rest assured
The Father, Son, the Holy Ghost and I
Will love you more than most tonight

 

[nick]

Not a lyric as such, but there is a track by Four Tet called SW9 9SL.
This is the postcode of the Brixton academy

 

[Jangleballix]

Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity
Vauxhall to Lambeth Bridge

 

[Jangleballix]

The Kinks - Lavender Hill

 

[CH1]

I see nobody picked up the passing reference in the Tom Robinson Band's "Up against the Wall"
(verse 3)

"Up Against The Wall"

Dark haired dangerous schoolkids
Vicious, suspicious sixteen
Jet-black blazers at the bus stop
Sullen, unhealthy and mean
Teenage guerrillas on the tarmac
Fighting in the middle of the road
Supercharged FS1Es on the asphalt
The kids are coming in from the cold

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall (got us) up against a wall
Up against the wall

High wire fencing on the playground
High rise housing all around
High rise prices on the high street
High time to pull it all down
White boys kicking in a window
Straight girls watching where they gone
Never trust a copper in a crime car
Just whose side are you on?

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall (got us) up against a wall
Up against the wall

Consternation in Brixton
Rioting in Notting Hill Gate
Fascists marching on the high street
Carving up the welfare state
Operator get me the hotline
Father can you hear me at all?
Telephone kiosk out of order
Spray-can writing on the wall

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall got us up against a wall
Up against the wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ9qR7CMCvo&list=RDyQ9qR7CMCvo&start_radio=1&t=215


Tom Robinson and the Tom Robinson Band were quintessential mid 1970s Brixton in their ethos. I remember pogoing happily to this stuff at the Sols Arms London University Gaysoc discos and I bought the album in 1978 when living in Putney. I hadn't aspired to be Brixton resident at that point. Only moved here in December 1978.

 

[mx wcfc]

I see nobody picked up the passing reference in the Tom Robinson Band's "Up against the Wall"
(verse 3)

"Up Against The Wall"

Dark haired dangerous schoolkids
Vicious, suspicious sixteen
Jet-black blazers at the bus stop
Sullen, unhealthy and mean
Teenage guerrillas on the tarmac
Fighting in the middle of the road
Supercharged FS1Es on the asphalt
The kids are coming in from the cold

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall (got us) up against a wall
Up against the wall

High wire fencing on the playground
High rise housing all around
High rise prices on the high street
High time to pull it all down
White boys kicking in a window
Straight girls watching where they gone
Never trust a copper in a crime car
Just whose side are you on?

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall (got us) up against a wall
Up against the wall

Consternation in Brixton
Rioting in Notting Hill Gate
Fascists marching on the high street
Carving up the welfare state
Operator get me the hotline
Father can you hear me at all?
Telephone kiosk out of order
Spray-can writing on the wall

Look out, listen can you hear it
Panic in the County Hall
Look out, listen can you hear it
Whitehall got us up against a wall
Up against the wall


Tom Robinson and the Tom Robinson Band were quintessential mid 1970s Brixton in their ethos. I remember pogoing happily to this stuff at the Sols Arms London University Gaysoc discos and I bought the album in 1978 when living in Putney. I hadn't aspired to be Brixton resident at that point. Only moved here in December 1978.

It's "Consternation in Mayfair". There are incorrect lyrics on the internet.

 

[CH1]

It's "Consternation in Mayfair". There are incorrect lyrics on the internet.

Well spotted. Right album wrong track

Prejudice poison
Polluting this land
I'm a middle-class kiddie
But I know where I stand
We got brothers in Brixton
Backs to the wall
Bigots on the backlash
Divided we fall

But we ain't gonna take it
Ain't gonna take it
They're keeping us under
But we ain't gonna take it no more

Women with children
Have to carry the can
Till they lose them in divorce courts
To some pig of a man
We got Benyon and Whitehouse
Trying to get us stitched
'Cause abortion and a gay scene
Only meant for the rich

But we ain't gonna take it
Ain't gonna take it
They're keeping us under
But we ain't gonna take it no more Sisters and brothers
What have we done
We're fighting each other
Instead of the Front
Better get it together
Big trouble to come
And the odds are against us
About twenty to one

But we ain't gonna take it
Ain't gonna take it
They're keeping us under
But we ain't gonna take it no more

Power in the Darkness (1978)Tom Robinson Band
1. Up Against the Wall
2. Grey Cortina
3. Too Good to Be True
4. Ain't Gonna Take It
6. The Winter of '79
7. Man You Never Saw
8. Better Decide Which Side You're On
9. You Gotta Survive
10. Power In The Darkness

 

[Nanker Phelge]

First line:

Welcome to Brixton...

 

[isvicthere?]

In Acre Lane there is a barber showing photographs...

"I read the news today, oh boy/4000 holes in Brixton, Lambeth"

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Brixton by Lloyd Charmers / The Jokers just came up on RJR - not heard it before

 

[dbs1fan]

Typically Tropical 'Barbados'
I don't want to be a bus driver all my life
I've seen too much of Brixton town in the night
Fly away on coconut airways
Fly me high, Barbados sky....

 

[mx wcfc]

Typically Tropical 'Barbados'
I don't want to be a bus driver all my life
I've seen too much of Brixton town in the night
Fly away on coconut airways
Fly me high, Barbados sky....

I was 12 when that came out and loved it.......

 

[editor]

Here's one I didn't know about:

House on the Hill - Kevin Coyne

I wander round that Brixton Square with the bottles strewn everywhere
Under tables and under chairs and they're all broken
Where the big red face of the man on the beat Says Hey, have you had someting to eat?
Thrusts out his yellow teeth, they're all for biting
Where I don't have a cent and I don't know how I'll pay the rent
I think I'll turn bent and make some money
So if you know a way I can go from out of this show you know
You could give me a golden glow but you're not trying
You'd never lift a regular hand, you call me a lazy man
Who on earth will ever understand I'm really trying
So I'm going to the house upon the hill, the place where they give you pills
And where the doctors they don't kill cause they're so friendly
Where the red bus stands by the great big gate
The red bus and it's always late, you know why it's always late
Because it's always empty

 

[editor]

 

[MayaE]

Such a lovely new addition <3

 

[editor]

Such a lovely new addition <3

She's great

Joy Crookes celebrates nature and music with the launch of her ‘My Community, our Nature’ collaboration with Timberland

We first came across Joy Crookes recording a video in Pope’s Road Brixton back in September 2021, and last week we were invited along to celebrate her ‘My Community, our Nature’ campaign, the…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

Feathers fly in Joy Crookes music promo shoot in Pope’s Road, Brixton

Shoppers were left sneezing as boxes of feathers were sent skyward as part of a music video shoot in Pope’s Road, Brixton today.

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[felonius monk]

A couple of contemporary jazz instrumentals from Myele Manzanza: Brixton Blues and Coldharbour Lane

 

[hitmouse]

Doesn't look like the thread has had this?

 

[MayaE]

I'm terribly bad with understanding lyrics and I can't seem to find them online for this version, but I'm sort of pretty sure there's lots of Brixton references here, and although I wasn't around at that time, it sort of feels like reminiscence of Brixton in the 80s to me - so I always considered it a 'Brixton song' (even without understanding the full of it)..

 

[CH1]

Since someone revived this thread - look at what we have become!