Veteran British folk artist and singer/songwriter Ralph McTell celebrated his 80th birthday on December 3. Although not a household name in the U.S., McTell has had a long, prolific, and influential career, particularly in his U.K. homeland.
McTell is most famous for writing the folk standard “Streets of London,” a song that’s been covered by more than 200 artists. In addition to being an accomplished songwriter, McTell is an deft finger-style guitarist, a powerful singer, and talented interpreter of American blues music.
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Ralph regularly has collaborated with various member of the popular British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. He also has worked with such other noteworthy musicians as Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, singer/guitarists John Martyn and Bert Jansch, double-bass player Danny Thompson, Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone, and singer Mary Hopkin.
During the 1980s, McTell hosted a couple of popular U.K. children’s TV shows that featured his original music.
On January 4, 2025, McTell will play a special 80th birthday concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London. He also has lined up a tour of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the spring of next year.
In case you’re not familiar with McTell’s music, here’s a selection of four standout songs from his catalog in honor of his milestone birthday:
“Eight Frames a Second” (1968)
“Eight Frames a Second” was the title track of McTell’s debut album, released in the U.K. in February 1968. The album also was the first to be produced by Gus Dudgeon, who went on to produce most of Elton John’s famous 1970s releases. In addition, the album featured frequent David Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti’s first-ever arrangements.
The song “Eight Frames a Second” is a gentle folk tune with sweeping strings that finds McTell poetically celebrating the dawning of a new day.
“Streets of London” (1968)
As mentioned above, “Streets of London” is McTell’s most famous song. His version originally appeared on his second album, Spiral Staircase, which was released in May 1969. That album also was produced by Dudgeon.
The melancholy folk song features depictions of elderly and impoverished and lonely people in London. McTell actually was inspired to write the tune by people he observed while busking and hitchhiking through Europe, particularly in Paris.
Ralph had his greatest commercial success when he released an updated version of “Streets of London” as a single in 1974. That rendition of the tune peaked at No. 2 on the U.K. chart.
In 1974, the tune was song was honored with a prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
Among the many other artists who recorded “Streets of London” were Hopkin, The Clancy Brothers, Glen Campbell, U.K. punk band the Anti-Nowhere League, and, Sinéad O’Connor.
“Michael in the Garden” (1969)
“Michael in the Garden” was the lead track of McTell’s third album, My Side of Your Window, which was released in December 1969. The album was produced McTell himself.
The dramatic song is about a boy or young man with autism whose condition is misunderstood be those around him. In an interview with FolkandTumble.com, Ralph revealed that the tune was partly inspired by his wife’s brother.
“My wife had a brother who was institutionalized in Norway,” McTell noted. “He had some disabilities. He never learned to speak, never learned to clean himself, but was amused by bits of knotted string and colored glass, and smiled a lot. He was in his own world, and that’s what started the song off.”
“From Clare to Here” (1976)
“From Clare to Here” is an emotional ballad that first appeared on McTell’s 1976 album, Right Side Up.
The song was partly inspired by Ralph’s time working on a building site as a young man in 1963. While doing the job, he observed some of his co-workers who had come over from Ireland hoping to find a better employment situation in the U.K., and were missing home.
As McTell shared before performing the song at the 1997 Troubadour folk festival, “I was working with an Irishman called Michael. And I said to him, ‘It must be very strange to be here in London after the place you come from.’ And he responded by saying, ‘Yes, it’s a long way from [County] Clare to here.’”
The late Nanci Griffith recorded a version of “From Clare to Here” for her 1993 covers collection, Other Voices, Other Rooms.