LDN (song)

"LDN"
Single by Lily Allen from the album Alright, Still
B-side	"Nan, You're a Window Shopper" "Naive"
Released	September 25, 2006 (UK)
Format	7" vinyl, CD, digital download
Recorded	2006
Genre	Pop, ska
Length	3:10
Label	Regal Zonophone Records
Writer	Lily Allen, Future Cut, Tommy McCook
Producer	Future Cut
Lily Allen singles chronology
"Smile" (2006) "LDN" (2006) "Littlest Things" (2006)
Alternate covers
Original Vinyl Cover

"LDN" is a single by Lily Allen which was released in the UK on 25 September 2006. It was co-written by Future Cut, and features a sample of "Reggae Merengue", written by Tommy McCook. The song was originally released on strictly limited edition 7" vinyl (500 copies) in the UK on 24 April 2006, accompanied by album track, "Knock 'Em Out," and was re-released in September following the huge success of Allen's second single "Smile". The re-release peaked at number six on the UK singles chart. The song is used in the soundtrack of the film The Nanny Diaries. This song was #30 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.^[1]

About the record

The lyrics are of Lily describing a bicycle ride through her hometown of London. Set to a cheerful tune, the lyrics first appear to describe a lovely scene "A fella looking dapper, and he's sittin' with a slapper", but follow up revealing a less glamorous reality, "Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore." Several episodes from "city life" are described, suggesting that things may not be what they seem: "When you look with your eyes everything seems nice, But if you look twice you can see its all lies." However, Lily finds these sights "priceless", and asks, "Oh why, oh why, would [she] wanna be anywhere else?".

Music and structure

"LDN" is a ska song composed in the key of F major. The song is written in cut time and moves at 100 beats per minute. It features a guitar using a tonic-dominant chord progression.^[2]

Music videos

There have been two music videos made for "LDN," the first being a low budget affair to promote the original 7" release and the second to promote the re-release.

• The first version of the video, recorded in speed-up camera, follows Allen riding her bike through London. It depicts many positive aspects of London, showing her taking a friendly photograph with a police officer, greeting a passer-by, eating at an ice cream cafe and relaxing in the public park, seeing people playing and having fun. She then rides the Underground and gets off at a station where she then rides the bike around the palace area (outside the gate) then through the streets.
• The second version of the "LDN" video was produced to be more in line with the song's lyrics, particularly, "When you look with your eyes, everything seems nice, but if you look twice, you can see it's all lies." It opens with Allen in a record store called "Tough Grade" which is a play on Rough Trade, a record store in London at Talbot & Portobello Road. She asks the store manager for an eclectic piece of music, satirising keywords that have been used to describe her album - "punky, electronica kind of, grime kinda like new-wave grime, kind of maybe like more broken-beats like kind of dubby broken beats but a little bit kinda a bit soulful like high drum 'n bassy but kinda more broken drum and bass". The song playing in the background is Lily Allen's "Friend of Mine". She receives a phone call, from someone we assume is her boyfriend, and arranges to meet him. She walks out of the store and walks through the downtown of London. While she walks through the street, she leaves a glowing trail of light behind her, in technicolor-like hues, and the town's atmosphere looks pleasant, fun and happy - however, as Allen moves forward the "reality" kicks in, as the scenery behind the hue transforms in sharp contrast in what it had been before, portraying litter, homelessness and violence in London, and the technicolour is washed out - for example, a magician's wand becomes a rusted nail, and a red confectionery on the ground becomes a still-smoking cigarette butt. The video ends with Allen receiving another phone call; her boyfriend has decided not to come. Angry and unhappy, she storms away, and the vivid colour disappears to reveal the duller, more depressing reality of her surroundings.
• Amy Winehouse's husband Blake Fielder-Civil features in the music video trying to sell flowers to Lily.

Track listing

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "LDN".

Charts

References

1. ^ No byline (December 11, 2007). "The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-21
2. ^ Sheet music for "LDN". Hal Leonard Corporation. 2006.
3. ^ "LDN - chart positions". MusicSquare. Retrieved February 11 2007.