Adam writes… How many Tube stations have musical connections? Here’s your starter list. Mind the gap!
Beatles Hamburg Connection
As you pass through Tottenham Court Road tube on the way to Friday’s Rock’n’Roll London Walk, or the Thursday night Rock’n’Roll Pub Walk in high summer, check out the wonderful Eduardo Paolozzi murals on the platform…
Eduardo Paolozzi was born in Leith, Edinburgh in 1924 and is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Pop Art. He is notable in the context of our music tours in that he taught erstwhile-Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe at Hamburg College of Art.
The Jam
If you’re arriving at Bond Street Tube station for the Rock’n’Roll Mayfair, Piccadilly & More Soho walk, you might like to look out for the spot where The Jam took the picture for their 1978 single Down In The Tube Station At Midnight. Here’s how to find it…
St John’s Wood Station
We pass through St John’s Wood station on our Beatles tours, of course. It’s the closest Tube to Abbey Road. But it also happens to be the station where the London Underground train sound effects on the single mentioned above – Down In The Tube Station At Midnight – were recorded.
Madness
The sleeve for Absolutely, the 1980 album from ska legends Madness (featuring the singles Baggy Trousers & Embarrassment) was shot at Chalk Farm tube station on the Northern Line… 
Chalk Farm Tube station is also the meeting point for our Rock’n’Roll Camden tour.
This station may also be the station referenced in Nick Drake’s track Parasite with the lyric, “Sailing downstairs to the Northern Line…”.
The Underground at Chalk Farm was the nearest station to Nick Drake’s flat in the late 60s/early 70s. For a Nick Drake map click HERE. Nick’s music will also feature at this year’s Proms – click HERE for more info on that.
Warwick Avenue
Many songs namecheck London names that could also be Tube stations – The Rolling Stones’ Play With Fire for example references Knightsbridge and St John’s Wood. Fewer songs make explicit references to actual Tube stations. Duffy’s soaring break-up ballad Warwick Avenue is an exception. Can you think you any others? P.S Abba‘s Waterloo is disqualified because it is NOT about the major transport hub.
Sunny Goodge Street
“On the firefly platform at sunny Goodge Street…” Donovan’s trippy 1965 classic opens at Goodge Street station on the Northern Line, but then takes a wild flight of fancy to places as yet unexplored in the world of mid-sixties pop. Donovan was the first British pop artist to make an overt drug reference in song. And was also the first to be busted…
On the Side of the Other Tracks…
Travelling a little further afield, and including rail stations, for your consideration…
The Rolling Stock
A chance encounter between old primary school friends Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on the platform at Dartford railway station led to the foundation of the Rolling Stones.
A Ticket For My Destination…
Paul Simon is said to have been inspired to write Homeward Bound at Widnes station in Lancashire. A Plaque marks the spot. The poet Ian McMillan makes much mischief on the social media platform X by occasionally posting that the song was written anywhere BUT Widnes – getting many responses that range from confused to outraged! (You can follow Mr McMillan on X here.)
Any more Tube connections? Any more train stations? Drop me a line…
