Friday 5 December 2014

The Underground Can-Can

A setting of the names of all London Underground stations to the tune of Offenbach's Infernal Galop, better known as the Can-Can.  They're done line by line so interchange stations are repeated; however to keep it reasonably manageable I've omitted the Circle line and the section of the Hammersmith and City line east of Baker Street, since all stations can be found on other lines.  The stations are in no particular order along each line (although I've made a vague attempt to group them for the longer lines).  A few station names have had to be adapted to the metre but this has been kept to a minimum.

A performance by Rob Mansell is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgpKom7k1g8 - thanks to him for making it possible!


1st time (without coda)

Amersham and Chorleywood and Rickmansworth and Northwood Hills,
Northwick Park and Preston Road and Chesham, Watford, Croxley, Pinner,
Wembley Park and Finchley Road, North Harrow and Great Portland Street,
Euston Square, King's Cross St Pancras, Barbican and Baker Street.
Liverpool Street! Moorgate, Aldgate, Farringdon.
Ruislip Manor! Ickenham and Hillingdon.
And West Harrow! Uxbridge, Eastcote, Rayners Lane.
Moor Park, Northwood! Chalfont (joined with Latimer), and Ruislip, and we end the Met with Harrow-on-the-Hill.

[...the Metropolitan, and now the Bakerloo...]

Let's start! Piccadilly Circus, Elephant and Castle, Regent's Park, Embankment, Harlesden, Kenton,
Charing Cross, Lambeth North and Oxford Circus, Kilburn Park, South Kenton, Stonebridge Park and Waterloo.
Queen's Park, Kensal Green and Wembley Central, Willesden Junction, Baker Street, North Wembley, Maida Vale and Edgware Road, Paddington and Harrow (teaming up with Wealdstone), Marylebone, and Warwick Avenue.

Perivale and Hanger Lane and Holland Park and Shepherd's Bush,
Oxford Circus, Chancery Lane and Epping, Debden, Loughton, Chigwell,
Greenford and North Acton and East Acton and West Acton too,
Leytonstone, Newbury Park, Buckhurst Hill, Theydon Bois,
Barkingside, Bethnal Green, Marble Arch,
Ruislip Gardens, Ealing Broadway, Roding Valley...
Bank! Tottenham Court Road, West Ruislip and South Woodford, Snaresbrook, Leyton, Woodford, Wanstead, Stratford and Mile End, Hainault, Fairlop, Redbridge, Liverpool Street, Bond Street, Queensway, Northolt, Holborn and St Paul's.
Gants Hill, then Lancaster Gate, South Ruislip and White City, Notting Hill Gate, then Grange Hill and that's the Central.
Next, Waterloo and City, it's a simple ditty, Waterloo and Bank and those are all.


2nd time (without coda)

Acton Town and Chiswick Park and Turnham Green and Stamford Brook,
Wimbledon and Wimb'don Park, Earl's Court, East Putney, Richmond, Southfields,
Gunnersbury and Parsons Green, Kew Gardens and West Kensington,
Putney Bridge and Gloucester Road and Edgware Road and Paddington.
Ealing Broadway! Kensington Olympia.
Fulham Broadway! Hammersmith, Victoria.
Ealing Common! Barons Court, South Kensington.
Ravenscourt Park! Westminster, Embankment, High Street Kensington, Blackfriars, Mansion House and Tower Hill.

[...and some of these are on the Circle line as well...]

Sloane Square, Monument, St James's Park, Mile End and Temple, Stepney Green and Cannon Street, West Ham and Upton Park, Aldgate East and Barking, Upney, Dag'nham Heathway, Becontree and Bromley-just-by-Bow.
Elm Park, Upminster and Hornchurch, Dag'nham East and Plaistow, Notting Hill Gate, Bayswater, Bow Road, Upminster Bridge, Whitechapel, East Ham, West Brompton ends the District, there are no more stations left to go.

Tooting Broadway, Tooting Bec, South Wimbledon and Colliers Wood,
Clapham North and Clapham South and Morden, Balham, Stockwell, Oval,
Goodge Street, Euston, Leicester Square, Embankment, Moorgate, Warren Street,
Kennington, Waterloo, Charing Cross, London Bridge,
Camden Town, Kentish Town, Tufnell Park,
Clapham Common, Hendon Central, Finchley Central,
Bank, Totteridge and Whetstone, Elephant and Castle, Borough, Belsize Park, King's Cross St Pancras, Golders Green, Highgate and East Finchley, Colindale and Hampstead, Old Street, Woodside Park and Mill Hill East.
Burnt Oak, Angel and Chalk Farm, West Finchley and High Barnet, Tottenham Court Road and Archway, Edgware and Brent Cross, finally the Crescent - Mornington - that's pleasant, telling us the Northern line has ceased.


3rd time (with coda)

Hammersmith and Goldhawk Road and Royal Oak and Ladbroke Grove,
Westbourne Park and Lat'mer Road, Wood Lane and Shepherd's Bush (the Market),
Paddington and Edgware Road and stations east of Baker Street,
Hammersmith and City's done - the rest is just a straight repeat.
Seven Sisters! Blackhorse Road and Pimlico.
Oxford Circus! Central station (Walthamstow).
Vauxhall, Stockwell! Highbury and Islington.
Euston, Brixton! Warren Street, Victoria, Green Park, King's Cross St Pancras, Tott'nham Hale and Finsbury Park.

[...and that's Victoria, and now the Jubilee...]

West Ham, Bermondsey and Stratford, Canning Town and Southwark, London Bridge, Canary Wharf, North Greenwich, Waterloo, Westminster and Bond Street, Baker Street and then Swiss Cottage, Finchley Road and Saint John's Wood.
Green Park, Kilburn and West Hampstead, Willesden Green and Neasden, Kingsbury and Queensbury and Stanmore, Canons Park, Wembley Park and Dollis Hill, Canada Water, finishing the Jubilee for good.

Heathrow Term'nals 1,2,3 and Hatton Cross and Osterley,
Ruislip Manor, Sudbury Hill and Uxbridge, Eastcote, Ruislip, Northfields,
Covent Garden, Hyde Park Corner, Gloucester Road and Leicester Square,
Ickenham, Alperton, Acton Town, Hillingdon,
Hounslow West, Hounslow East, Turnham Green,
Hounslow Central, Boston Manor, Heathrow Term'nal...
4! Piccadilly Circus, Barons Court and Knightsbridge, Russell Square, South Harrow and North Ealing, Rayners Lane, Hammersmith and Holborn, Caledonian Road, South Kensington and Heathrow Term'nal 5.
Green Park, Southgate and Cockfosters, Arnos Grove and Oakwood, Turnpike Lane, Wood Green, King's Cross St Pancras, Finsbury Park, Arsenal and Bounds Green, Park Royal, Holl'way Road, South Ealing and Earl's Court.
And Ealing Common, Manor House and Sudbury Town.
Those are the stations of the London Underground.

[That was the Piccadilly, Piccadilly, Piccadilly, Piccadilly, Piccadilly, Piccadilly...]

The stations of the Underground! The stations of the Underground! The Underground, the Underground! The Und - er - ground!