Lambeth Walk used to be a great market Street with a lot of history and character; and there was a strong community feel about it. As a child I remember the Lambeth Walk festival, the pearly kings and queens and local men pushing their pals around in sponsored pram races for charity. What really destroyed it was the 70s redevelopment when the majority of the old businesses and other buildings were demolished and replaced with the most awful bleak, windswept and soulless shopping precinct. What was left of the market was pitiful and hardly anybody that I know of shops there now. Really sad example of how poor, thoughtless and cheap development can destroy the community spirit and character of an area. Very sad. Nice to see these old photos though. Thanks for uploading.
I got to know the Lambeth Walk in the mid 80s, the horrible redevelopment was already there, very ugly. Some of the then new flats have already been demolished for a good few years now. Back then many of the older residents were still living there. But not any more, it's a soulless place now. Another sadness due to dodgy borough councils (thanks Lambeth council) & greedy developers.
The actual song became popular during the 1920's and '30's, or at least so I've been told. I was living in Denver when this show opened on B'way, but my sister saw and fell in love with Robert Linsey, the show and the walk. She sent me a cassette - CD's weren't popular yet. This is the closest, I've gotten to any part of the show, and I can certainly certainly see why she loved it so.
@@JamesTilsley1London and Dublin have many similarities in architecture and style, Dublin was the second city of the British empire after London way back
i've heard this is an american song by origin picked up by londoners during the war. my family are fro canning town. i would love to go back in time and experience the pub scene with the knees up and community spirit. i grew up in essex as my family was bombed out of caning town. but every time i went to east london as a child i was drawn to the area over essex. home is home! shame now that there is no spirit in London or anywhere anymore!
The song comes from Me and My Girl, which is a musical written by three Brits that had its premiere in London's West End in 1937. A film based on the musical was title "The Lambeth Walk" in America (although the film was also a British production) which is perhaps what you are getting the american connection from?
Oh, London as it used to be. It had its drawbacks - poverty being one at that time - but it had a tightly-knit community of people who truly loved their city and who helped each other through tough times. All gone now with people who care nothing for London but only what they can get out of it.
I got out of London (Ealing) 15 years ago and have never been back - too painful. I have London ancestors going back to the 1700s and the likes of Blair and his immigration policy drove me out. A pox on him and that twisted load of political activists who ruined countless lives. Elderly people who had gone through the Blitz ending up living in a community of strangers. Too sad for words.
Every part of the uk has its own way, its own people, its own customs. From geordieland to the black country to the taffs, the mancs to the cockneys etc etc..that is our diversity and also our strength in our unity. Its something the govts will try and break and they will fail. I love england i love the uk. The greatest place on earth👍
@@Mills-jw9nc I'm Canadian and the Brits are the finest people I know of! yes, there are problems but don't you think whatever problems there are now are now't to what the people faced in 1940?
Totally spot on , most working class are tight knit family types with humour in buckets and hospitality abundant ... i really like your standpoint we should start a movement before its too late
@@micheledibenedetto7780 Hi Michele, Luv your reply may I ask what actually is the Lambeth Walk and it's significance to London?..Kind regards Glynn n Greetings from Stourbridge West Midlands UK 🌟🌟🤗🤗 n Happy New Year to you 🎈🎈🎆🎆
This brought back so many memories. I worked for Horatio Myer & Co Ltd (Myer's Comfortable Beds) in Vauxhall Walk from 1966-69 and spent many hours wandering down Lambeth Walk in my lunch hour with my mate Geoff Wright. Apart form the bomb damage there appears to have been little change from the 1930s, even many of teh shops and even the eating house (Baby's head anyone?) were the same, though what it is all like now I don't know as I have lived in NZ since mid 1969.
You can hear where Lionel Bart got his inspiration for many a song from the 1960's musical film Oliver. 1920 -30's music still sounding fresh after 100 years, who'd have thunk it ?
@@lucytia2121 you can’t get it back that’s my point. I watch a lot of videos of years gone past and they always break my heart especially Vera lynns they’ll always be an England.
@@emmajanewatts4388 I can’t imagine the pain of experiencing a loss like this first hand, but my parents have always cherished times gone by. Perhaps there’s a depth that can be replicated. What was it that brought everyone together? An all-in-this-together attitude to hardship? Limited choice for TV and entertainment that brought everyone together?
When I was 16 I was in music hall somewhere near Aldgate, not sure where. It was only one night but I loved it. We used to go round the old people's homes doing the old music hall songs and dancing. Great fun!
A great classic! Even from France. Remember DALIDA for us french earers. WE do love american comedy, musical comedies, the real ones. Bravo the lamberth walk, a great one!
It might be one of the first viral dances too… people all across the at the time developed world did the “Lambeth walk”… since they showed the movie in cinemas
The British during WW2 put this song on footage of Nazis marching and it infuriated the Nazis, especially Joseph Goebbels who trashed a room when he saw it.
Hitler had a similar response, I believe, after watching The Great Dictator by his (presumably former) hero Charlie Chaplin. Trump cannot stand people laughing at his unusually tiny fingers.
Georgie Thumbs I struggle to believe that. To be fair, I don't know about Goebbels, but Hitler envied Britain and never even wanted to fight us. I suppose it could have somewhat angered him but more so because of disrespect to the soldiers, not because it was a British song.
Nice to know that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth likes to sing "The Lambeth Walk" when her friends and relatives are sitting around in the evenings. I wonder if they do "The Walk" as they sing?
Jamie Dawkins It could be some old dear you're having a pop at son, leave it out haha, it probs took her all morning to work out how to use the keyboard! :D
After Finnish Winter War (1939-40) the English volunteers came to the city of Savonlinna and heard that the Lotta's (women volunteered to help the army) were singing a song with this tune. The Brits thought this was to honor them, until they heard the translation to the words "Minä olen kenraali Siilasvuo/enkä minä koskaan viinaa juo/Jos minä viinaa juon/en ole Siilasvuo, hoi!" = "I am general Siilasvuo/and I never drink booze/And if I drink booze/I am not Siilasvuo, hoy!"
Love this song (I am a biproduct of this song!!!) My folks met in a Warwickshire war camp 76 years ago (Dad was a player (lol - he was anything BUT!!) but he somehow convince Mum to marry him - this was their song!!!)
The British working class can look so shabby in these period photos, but I don't draw conclusions from pictures as to how happy/unhappy the people are. On another note (!) I love the key changes in this song.
Alternative lyrics: Every night and every day, No matter what the people say, You'll find them all, Doing the lambet walk, Oi! Everything's nice and easy, Do what you darn well pleasy, The sun is shining and the skiy is blue, I'm happy, how about you? Every night and every day, No matter what the people say, You'll find them all, Doing the lambet walk, Oi!
Peter Lushing An astute comment, but sometimes nostalgia is better/easier than dwelling on the reality...the East End is very popular now...it was pretty bleak, 'back in the day...'
AN INCREDIBLE VOICE FROM ENGLAND LAND EVER, WHAT'S UP ? NICE EVER RENDERING IN STEREOPHONIC SOUNTRACK? YA FROM FRANCE EVER! MERCI BEAUCOUP IN MARCH 2019! MERCI BEAUCOUP. Emmanuel from PARIS FRANCE
My grandparents were from lambeth and I still remember as a kid my nan and grandad doing the lambeth walk at family events. My uncle remembers these streets and had a tear in his eye when I showed him this video. Sky's aren't blue, the grass ain't green it hasn't got the Mayfair touch, but that don't matter very much
I looked this up under Google maps and the whole street in Streetview has a kind of purple sepia tinge everywhere you look. Is this a glitch in the maps or is this a feature of the coverage of Lambeth Walk in the maps.I wanted to see the actual buildings in street view but it's damn impossible!
It’s a street in south London that is at the heart of the London borough of Lambeth . It was and still is to some extent a proper old style labour voting working class area of London .
