[Misc] Places in songs that you had a romantic view of before you saw the place in the flesh

[Herr Tubthumper]

I went there on a stag weekend. Someone got murdered in a night club there on one evening. Some of the
people I was with were held back while the police questioned everyone.

I remember being in a club after an Albion game and some young and heavily pregnant girl staggered down the stairs steaming drunk with a fag in her hand....lovely.

The other things I remember is I went for a walk to find a paper on Sunday morning and the streets smelt of cooking bacon and they didn’t have any Observers.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Spanish City, Newcastle

And girl it looks so pretty to me
Like it always did
Oh like the Spanish city to me
When-a we were kids

Yeah girl it looks so pretty to me
Just like it always did
Oh like the Spanish city to me
When-a we were kids

Whoa la

https://youtu.be/GQGT23O-Omw

https://images.app.goo.gl/fVQaa15RUw4TDbYQA

 

[Bodian]

I've spent quite a while in my last job on site in next door Lytham which is quite posh. No, strike that - very posh. I used to run along the front to St Annes, but if I wanted a longer run I'd go to the border with Blackpool. You could feel and smell the change as well as seeing it.

One of my clients was a Lytham lad born and bred and once said "Blackpool is where it's socially acceptable to be walking along the front at 9am, topless and drinking a Stella.........and that's just the locals"

What was the song though?

I don't know. I just needed to get that off my chest.

If I'd have known Lytham was posh I'd probably have moved us up there for the remaining few days.

This?

 

[studio150]

May I walk you home tonight
On this fine and lovely night tonight
We'll walk past the luscious houses
Through rolling lawns and lovely flowers

Our nice new town where the curtains are drawn
Where hope is started and dreams can be borne

Let us share our insanity
Go mad together in Community
Boys on the corner looking for their supper
Boys 'round the green looking for some slaughter

We used to chase dreams, now we chase the dragon
Mine is the semi with the Union Jack on

In our paradise lost we'll be finding our sanity
In this paradise found we'll be losing our way
For a brave new day

May I slash my wrists tonight?
This fine Conservative night
I was looking for a job so I came to town
I easily adopt when the chips are down

I read the ad about the private schemes
I liked the idea but now I'm not so Keyne


Sums up this soulless place very neatly

 

[Gwylan]

This?

MacColl wrote that song about Salford, his home town, but it could apply to a great many places

 

[aberllefenni]

MacColl wrote that song about Salford, his home town, but it could apply to a great many places

I went to see Ewan MacColl a few years before he died and he confirmed it was about Salford. He also mentioned that he wrote it in Tonypandy.

 

[Frutos]

Spanish City, Newcastle

And girl it looks so pretty to me
Like it always did
Oh like the Spanish city to me
When-a we were kids

Yeah girl it looks so pretty to me
Just like it always did
Oh like the Spanish city to me
When-a we were kids

Whoa la

https://youtu.be/GQGT23O-Omw

https://images.app.goo.gl/fVQaa15RUw4TDbYQA

Sorry to be pedantic, but saying that the Spanish City is in Newcastle is about as accurate as saying that the Royal Pavilion is in Seaford.

 

[lawros left foot]

That’s amore,


Naples is a dump best viewed from a distance.

 

[Icy Gull]

That’s amore,


Naples is a dump best viewed from a distance.

Indeed, another disappointment for me

 

[Dr Q]

Galveston.
(Galveston by Glen Campbell)

An ok place, been there a few times as its a relatively (in Texas scale) hop out from Houston. Some decent beaches, if storms haven't dragged a ton of seaweed on to them, and the town is pretty relaxed, although it can be a bit 'spring breaky; at times. Less crowds the further west you drive.

 

[Peteinblack]

All three sounded romantic or exotic - but in reality were horrible dumps which flattered to deceive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiB3tHLf0wk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfpyZKuI1GU

 

[Icy Gull]

Both places sounded exotic - but both were horrible dumps which flattered to deceive.
VIDEO]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiB3tHLf0wk[/VIDEO]

Stay on the seafront and all is good, go back literally just one street and it’s a complete shithole was my impression on a short visit

 

[El Presidente]

See you in your next life
When we'll fly away for good
Stars in our own car
We can drive away from here
Far away
So far away
Down to Worthing
And work there

 

[El Presidente]

I never thought it would happen
With me and a girl from Clapham

There's a reason for that, it's a dump.

 

[schmunk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kzpHzUJCd4





(In truth, it looked almost exactly the same when I visited a couple of years ago as it does 40 years ago in the video...)

 

[Icy Gull]

Worthing, Clapham, Margate? What sort of life do you live to have thought those places were ever vaguely romantic?

 

[Icy Gull]

Going against the grain of virtually everyone I know who has been there I was seriously underwhelmed by New York

Pick any one of a multitude of songs about there

 

[Gwylan]

I never thought it would happen
With me and a girl from Clapham

There's a reason for that, it's a dump.

That was written a long time ago. There are enough craft beer places and coffee shops there now to make Herr T wet himself

 

[schmunk]

Worthing, Clapham, Margate? What sort of life do you live to have thought those places were ever vaguely romantic?

Fine, have it your way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPwMdZOlPo8

What. A. Dump.

 

[marcos3263]

If I can bend the rules - then Casablanca. (From the film Casablanca)

Went on a cruise that stopped there - very excited as it conjured up ideas of romance and mystery.

Shithole. Dirty, dusty and brown.

We didn't pay the extra for the excursion to the mosque as we thought we could walk there and the basic map we had said it was through the 'Old Walled Town' which sounded idyllic. The old town was the slums, we saw rats and an old guy literally shitting in the street. We met another couple from the ship who were lost and a little scared and so the 6 of us worked our way back to the boat but not until after Mrs Marcos fell over into a drain.
Back on the ship sat by the pool with a red wine looking back at the slums. We had been in Africa for all of 45 minutes - never again

Note - just googled and there is a song from 1982

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blx9lHMivQs