I took shelter from a shower

And I stepped into your arms

On a rainy night in Soho

The wind was whistling all its charms

This painting is from my recent trip to London. We are on the front seat of the 14 bus heading down Shaftesbury Avenue. Soho is to our right and we are about to pass the Sondheim Theatre. Formerly the Queen’s Theatre, it was refurbished and renamed in 2019 and has hosted Les Miserables since 2004. London’s longest running musical has been playing since 1985. It is a sung through musical, without spoken text, conceived by Alain Boublil with music by Schonberg and is based on Victor Hugo’s novel.

Soho itself abounds in great songs, some of which I have included in previous posts. Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London is perfect for howling at the moon. Last Night in Soho by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich was my very first record. But there are few that capture the spectrum of love and longing as movingly as Rainy Night in Soho. It was was written by Shane MacGowan and released by the Pogues in 1986, There have been many cover versions since including Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Bob Dylan and Nick Cave.

We watched our friends grow up together

And we saw them as they fell

Some of them fell into heaven

Some of them fell into hell