I used to be a Londoner East End born and bred Now Bethnal green and Bow Are just places in my head
I used to be a Londoner East End born and bred Now Bethnal green and Bow Are just places in my head
I used to be a Londoner
A fact of which I’m proud
But now it’s such a different place
And I am not one of the crowd
I used to be a Londoner
Before Stratford got all trendy
Before houses cost a million
And buses got all bendy
I used to be a Londoner
Speaking Cockney Rhyming Slang
Now the kids just speak Chav
And all ‘Wanna be inna gang’
I used to be a Londoner
When mostly we were poor
In the days before xbox and mobiles
And your best mate lived next door
I used to be a Londoner
When Grease and flares were cool
And instead of knives and fags
We took balls and cards to school
I used to be a Londoner
When the fat kid ‘had the pox’
And you played your favourite cop shows
You followed on the ‘box’
I used to be a Londoner
But those days are sadly gone
We moved away from London
And time flew swiftly on
I used to be a Londoner
For feel I no longer am
For neighbour don’t know neighbour
And no-one gives a damn
For once to be a Londoner
Meant London born and bred
Now to be a Londoner
Means you’ve just settled there instead…
If your a true east london cockney then these words sum up just about everything that’s happened to London as a whole. The amount of investment and new build in London and the suburbs has completely changed the landscape and the people who lived there in just ONE generation, it’s quite shocking how the cockney Londoner has almost been wiped out of extinction, truly shocking I hear you saying and your not alone either in these thoughts.
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