Aug 26: Stockport

I was reading the new book by Chris Moss earlier. It's called 'Where tourists seldom tread' and started life as a series of travel writing pieces written for The Guardian.

He visits places which you would not expect tourists to visit.

One of the places that he visits is Stockport. 

He mentions that Grace Jones once visited to work with A Certain Ratio.

Frankie Vaughan released a song in 1983 in response to a newspaper competition. 

Details are here.

Believed to have been recorded as a bit of a wink and a nod by Vaughan and lyricist Geoff Morrow, a songwriter and businessman from London, the tune came about as a response to an article by the Mail on Sunday which essentially dragged Stockport’s name through the dirt.

While the details surrounding exactly how that article led to this collaboration are equally muddy, it’s thought that the Mail set up a competition for someone to write about how great the area was as a kind of apology — i.e. giving the locals a chance to paint it in a better light like no one else could.

It was recorded by a studio that worked with other Manchester bands: Strawberry Studios.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10155833808585871&set=pcb.10155833819075871

Here's the song...

This reminds me of the radio series 'In Town' by Mark Steel, where he visits a place and crafts a stand-up routine referencing familiar landmarks and people which get a cheer of recognition from the local people. He always does a good job.

He visited Stockport in 2021.

Do you know of similar songs themed around other places?