Maureen Tilford (Letters, 14 December) laments the lack of romanticism for songwriting purposes of UK road and place names. I felt the same 50 years ago, until I heard Ewan MacColl sing Dirty Old Town and, especially, Sweet Thames Flow Softly: “From Putney Bridge to Nine Elms Reach we cheek to cheek were dancing / A necklace made of London Bridge her beauty was enhancing / … /Gave her Hampton Court to twist, flow sweet river flow / Into a bracelet for her wrist, sweet Thames flow softly.”
Tim Jones
Hoylake, Wirral
• I don’t know why they are more romantic, but I think American road and place songs work better because of the “moving on” culture of the USA and its sheer size. Two good example are By the Time I Get to Phoenix and Geoff Mack’s I’ve Been Everywhere. There are at least two English tongue-in-cheek versions of the songs referred to by Dr Tilford: Billy Bragg’s A13 (for Route 66), and Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine’s Twenty Four Minutes From Tulse Hill.
Michael Cunningham
Wolverhampton
• It isn’t just the USA. The French have Aux Champs Élysées, the Germans Ich hab’ noch einen Koffer in Berlin. In Oxford Street and I’ve Still Got a Suitcase in Glasgow would be absurd. I suppose Liverpool is the exception.
Brian Smith
Berlin, Germany
• Dr Tilford cannot have come across Frankie Vaughan’s Stockport from 1983. As the song puts it: “It’s the place for me. / The people seem to be so friendly.” Guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye.
John Hartley
Stockport
• Alan Plater wrote the wry lyrics for The Motorway Jump, which includes references to the A66, M25 and M62 and was set to music by Alan Barnes.
Dr Bob Dukes
Poole, Dorset
• Scotland has plenty of romantic road names. Try The Rest and Be Thankful or the Pass of Brander in Argyll for starters.
Myra Gartshore
Dumbarton
• How about 24 hours from Towcester? Always sung in our family, although it’s nearer 24 minutes from our house.
Jan Clark
Everdon, Northamptonshire
• 24 Hours from Stevenage sounds pretty good to me, 48 even better.
Jonathan Clayden
Bristol
• What about Waterloo Sunset? (Or is that technically a Belgian placename?)
Haydn Middleton
Kirtlington, Oxfordshire
• UK placenames on dry land may be dull but the shipping forecast is pure poetry.
John O’Dwyer
Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire
• The United States has nowhere as romantic as Nempnett Thrubwell.
Anthony Hinxman
Portland, Oregon, USA
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