#TravelTuesday or… London Music Tours On Tour
Adam writes… Every Tuesday a post from my musical travels. Sometimes the UK, sometimes the United States or Europe, each week I’ll post a map and a playlist so that you can find the locations on your own musical travels.
This week… Widnes
This small Lancashire (now Cheshire) town may seem an unlikely spot, but Paul Simon wrote Homeward Bound here…
I’m Sitting in a Railway Station
If you find yourself travelling between the great northwestern English cities of Manchester and Liverpool, do make time to call in at Widnes. Paul Simon wrote the Simon & Garfunkel classic Homeward Bound here. A commemorative plaque can be found at the railway station…
Got a Ticket For My Destination
It would seem reasonable to assume that the great New York City troubadour Paul Simon, if he’d been homesick for anywhere, it would have been New York City.
Think again. If you think Lancashire is an unusual spot to find the songwriter in the first place, then you may be even more shocked to find that his heart was aching for a return to… Essex.
Simon had fallen in love with a young Welsh woman called Cathy Chitty. They had net at a folk club in Brentwood, Essex. (You can find more Paul Simon locations from that period HERE.)
You’ve seen Cathy before. She features on the sleeve of The Paul Simon Songbook, Simon’s first solo LP recorded here in London in 1965.
On A Tour of One Night Stands
Simon was in Widnes to play The Howff Folk Club, one of many such clubs he played up and down England in his last few months before superstardom. Find the station and the plaque here…
and remind yourself of the tune here…
London Music Tours
First time visitor to this site? Hello! My name’s Adam and I am an award-winning, qualified tour guide. I specialise in music-themed guided tours here in London. I’ve been a tour guide for 20+ years and I offer a regular schedule of walking tours throughout the year. For the full, up-to-date calendar click HERE.
Private tours are always available, too. Use the form at the bottom of this post to get in touch to book a private tour.
I’m qualified as a Westminster Guide (with distinction), a former visiting lecturer in tour guiding at the University of Westminster and an ex-national newspaper arts journalist . In my spare time I play guitar and sing and buy too many records. Drop me a line anytime using the form below.
To join one of my non-music-themed walking tours, visit the London Walks website HERE.
