"London Pride" is a song written and composed by Noel Coward.
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Composition
Coward wrote "London Pride" in the spring of 1941, during the Blitz. According to his own account, he was sitting on a seat on a platform of a damaged railway station in London, and was "overwhelmed by a wave of sentimental pride". The song started in his head there and then and was finished in a few days.
Origin of the tune
Coward acknowledged one of the traditional Cries of London ("Won't You Buy My Sweet-Smelling Lavender") as the starting-point for the tune, but he also pointed out the similarity with "Deutschland über alles", which he claimed was based on the same tune.
Lyrics
The song makes a connexion between the pride of Londoners in their city and the resilient flower London Pride, which can grow almost anywhere. During World War II, the flower sprang up in the ruins of bombed buildings in London.
Cover versions
- Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman recorded the song in 1998 for the Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward tribute album.
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