Streets of London (song) Streets of London (song) "Streets of London" is a song by Ralph McTell, who first recorded it for his 1969 album "Spiral Staircase." It was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974. The song has been covered by over 200 artists. The song was re-released, on 4 December 2017, featuring McTell with Annie Lennox as a charity single for CRISIS, the Homelessness Charity. The song was inspired by McTell's experiences busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe, especially in Paris and the individual stories are taken from Parisians. McTell was originally going to call the song "Streets of
Up in a Puff of Smoke Up in a Puff of Smoke "Up in a Puff of Smoke" is a song recorded by in 1974 by Polly Brown, released as a non-album single to become an international Top 40 hit in 1975. The songwriting/production team of Gerry Shury and Ron Roker had admired Brown's voice from her Pickettywitch recordings: Shury, who had arranged Brown's 1972 self-titled album release, described her as a cross "between Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick". In 1974 Shury and Roker had Brown record the neo-Motown number "Up in a Puff of Smoke": in the same session Brown, with Roker as co-vocalist, recorded