"LDN" (shorthand for, and pronounced as, "London") is a song by English singer-songwriter
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...
. It was co-written by Future Cut, and features a Colombian
porro
The porro is a musical style and dance from the Caribbean region of Colombia. It is a Colombian cumbia rhythm that developed into its own subgenre. It was originally a folkloric expression from the Sinú River area that evolved into a ballro ...
from the country's
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
coast. The song was originally released on limited-edition 7-inch vinyl (500 copies) in the UK on 24 April 2006, accompanied by album track "Knock 'Em Out". It was reissued in September 2006 following the huge success of Allen's first mainstream single "
Smile
A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile.
Among humans, a smile expresses ...
".
The re-release peaked at number six on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. The song is used in the soundtrack of the film ''
The Nanny Diaries
''The Nanny Diaries'' is a 2002 novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, both of whom are former nannies. The book satirizes upper-class Manhattan society as seen through the eyes of their children's caregivers.
Writing
The writers were studen ...
'' and in the trailer for ''
Happy-Go-Lucky
Happy Go Lucky may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1936 film), an American film
* ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1943 film), an American musical film starring Betty Hutton
* ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1946 film), a French film
* ''Happy Go L ...
'', and near the end of the
Razzie
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
-nominated Disney comedy film ''
Old Dogs
Old Dogs was an American country music supergroup composed of singers Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, Bobby Bare, and Jerry Reed. Signed in 1998 to Atlantic Records, Old Dogs recorded a self-titled studio album for the label that year. The album ...
''. it reached number 30 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. In 2008 the song was included in the soundtrack of the Mike Leigh film ''Happy-Go-Lucky''.
Background
Regal Records gave Allen
£25,000 in 2005, when she signed to the label, a fact which she considered to be a "small development idea". The money was to produce an album, but the label were unable to provide much support due to its preoccupation with other releases.
Taking advice from
Lady Sovereign
Louise Amanda Harman (born 19 December 1985), better known by the stage name Lady Sovereign, is a British rapper, best known for the songs " 9 to 5" and "Love Me or Hate Me".
Early life and family
Lady Sovereign grew up in Chalkhill Estate in ...
, Allen created an account on
MySpace and began posting demos in November 2005.
By March 2006, they attracted thousands of listeners, and 500 limited edition
7-inch vinyl
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...
singles of "LDN", one of the demos, were rush-released and sold for as much as £40. Thus the song became Allen's first single.
Allen also produced two
mixtape
A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...
s to promote her work. As she accumulated tens of thousands of MySpace friends, ''
The Observer Music Monthly
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' took interest.
Few people outside of her label's
A&R department had heard of Allen, so the label was slow in responding to publications which wanted to report about her.
Her label was displeased with the sound of the demos, so it assigned the singer to top producers and songwriters, who approved some of her songs for the album, ''
Alright, Still
''Alright, Still'' is the debut studio album by English singer Lily Allen, released on 13 July 2006 by Regal Recordings. After being rejected by several record labels, Allen signed to London Records, who eventually lost interest in her, leading ...
''. Among the songs Allen claimed she was happy with was "LDN".
Composition
"LDN" is mobile-phone text language for 'London'. The lyric comprises Allen describing a bicycle ride through her hometown of London. Set to a cheerful tune, the lyric first appears to describe an innocent scene, "A fella looking dapper, and he's sittin' with a slapper", but follows up revealing a less glamorous reality, "Then I see it's a
pimp
Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...
and his
crack whore
Drugs and prostitution have been documented to have a direct correlation.
Drug use tended to predate prostitution among low-level prostitutes with the connection most likely due to economic necessity. Low-level prostitutes tended to use depressan ...
."
Several episodes from "city life" are described, suggesting things may not be what they seem: "When you look with your eyes everything seems nice, But if you look twice you can see it's all lies." However, Allen finds these sights "priceless", and asks (possibly sarcastically) "Oh why, oh why, would I wanna be anywhere else?" The lyric might take part of its inspiration from
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
's poem "
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
", which paints the city in a similar light.
"LDN" is composed in the key of
F major
F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...
(with its 5th interval played on bass guitar on the first beat). The song is written in
cut time
''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C with a vertical line through it), which is the equivalent of . The term is Italian for "on the breve", originally meaning tha ...
and moves at 100
beats per minute
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ( ...
. It features a guitar using a
tonic-
dominant chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
. It samples "Reggae Merengue" performed by
Tommy McCook
Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One S ...
and the Supersonics, which is based on Nestor Montes's "Cógeme la caña".
Music videos
There are three music videos made for "LDN", the first being a low-budget affair to promote the original vinyl release, the second to promote the re-release, and a third as a Japan exclusive to accompany the Japanese release of "
Alfie
Alfie may refer to:
Theatre and film
* ''Alfie'' (play), a 1963 play by Bill Naughton
* ''Alfie'' (1966 film), a film based on the play starring Michael Caine
* ''Alfie'' (2004 film), a remake of the 1966 film
* ''Alfie'' (2013 film), an Indi ...
".
The first video, recorded in speed-up camera, follows Allen riding her
bike
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
through London. It depicts many positive aspects of London, showing her taking a friendly photograph with a police officer, greeting a passer-by, eating at an ice cream café and relaxing in the public park, seeing people playing and having fun. She then travels on the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
, getting off at
Ladbroke Grove tube station
Ladbroke Grove is a London Underground station on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, between Latimer Road and Westbourne Park stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2 set in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
History
Originally ope ...
, where she then rides the bike around the palace area (outside the gate) then through the streets.
The second video is produced to be more in line with the song's words, particularly "When you look with your eyes, everything seems nice, but if you look twice, you can see it's all lies". It opens with Allen in a record store called Tough Grade, which is a play on
Rough Trade, a record shop in London at Talbot Road and Portobello Road. She asks the manager for an eclectic piece of music – "
punky electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
...kind of
grime
Grime may refer to:
* Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust
* Grime (music genre), a genre of music
* ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity
* ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game
* "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Woo ...
...kind of like...
new-wave grime...but kind of maybe like more broken beats, but kinda
dubby broken beats...but a lil bit kind of
soulful....but kind of
drum'n'bassy, but kinda more broken drum'n'bass like more broken beats, but break beat kind of broken drum'n'bass. Kind of...Do you know what I mean?". The song playing in the background is Allen's track "Friend of Mine", taken from her debut album, "Alright, Still". Allen receives a phone call, from someone assumed to be her boyfriend, and arranges to meet him. She walks out of the shop and walks through the centre of London. While she walks through the street, she leaves a glowing trail of light behind her, in Technicolor-like hues, and the town's atmosphere looks pleasant, fun and happy – however, as Allen moves forward the "reality" kicks in, as the scenery behind the hue transforms in sharp contrast in what it had been before, portraying litter, homelessness and violent crime in London, and the technicolour is washed out – for example, a magician's wand becomes a rusted nail, three gold coins turn into dog feces and a red sweet on the ground becomes a still-smoking cigarette butt. The video ends with Allen receiving another phone call; her boyfriend has decided not to come. Angry and unhappy, she storms away, and the vivid colour disappears to reveal the duller, more depressing reality of her surroundings.
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A membe ...
's ex-husband,
Blake Fielder-Civil
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A membe ...
, features in the music video trying to sell flowers to Allen.
The third video is similar to the first, being filmed in high speed as Allen walks around Tokyo, greeting locals and signing copies of her album.
Track listing
* UK CD1
# "LDN" – 3:13
# "Nan You're a Window Shopper" – 2:59
* UK CD2
# "LDN" – 3:13
# "Naïve" – 3:46
# "LDN" (Warbox Original Cut Dub) – 3:55
# "LDN" (video) – 3:53
* Digital EP
# "LDN" (acoustic live at Bush Hall) – 4:01
# "LDN" (Wookie Remix) – 3:13
# "LDN" (Crack Whore Riddim) – 5:14
# "LDN" (Switch Remix) – 6:17
# "LDN" (Warbox Original Cut Dub) – 3:54
* Digital download
# "LDN" – 3:13
# "Nan You're A Window Shopper" – 2:59
# "Naive" – 3:46
# "LDN" (acoustic live At Bush Hall) – 3:17
*7-inch vinyl
# "LDN" – 3:13
# "Nan You're a Window Shopper" – 2:59
*7-inch vinyl – Limited Edition
# "LDN" – 3:13
# "Knock 'Em Out" – 2:54
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2006 singles
2006 songs
Lily Allen songs
Music videos shot in London
Songs about London
Songs written by Iyiola Babalola