ROUND 3 - Global A Go-Go, LP 1

[101Walterton]

My thoughts on Bhindi Bhagee. In the lyrics Joe refers to to the High Road but doesn’t name which High Road. For the purpose of the song it could be any generic London High Road however I believe that when Joe wrote the song he was referring to Willesden High Road.
Apart from the obvious connection to the last track on the previous album Willesden To Cricklewood,Joe also has a connection to the area but it could be Kilburn, Acton etc..
The fact that Joe meets someone from New Zealand also ties in to Willesden which was full of Australian / New Zealand flats as well as pubs. Backpackers from NZ tread a well worn path that goes back generations. Joe’s new friend may well be copying what his parents did by flatting in Willesden or looking for the London / England he has heard about from his Grandparents or from watching Eastenders and Coronation Street hence why as soon as he arrives in London he is looking for mushy peas. He had probably just got off a red double decker bus and taken a photo of a black cab!!
But much to Joe’s delight the High Road was no longer stuck in the past and made up of Irish pubs run by Australians, pie and mash shops, greasy spoon cafes, fish and chip shops and Kansas Fried Chicken and boarded up shops. The High Road was now a vibrant multi cultural melting pot where you could get food / music from all corners of the world unlike the stereotypical England High Street Joe’s new friend was told about by his parents.
And as someone said earlier if Joe wrote this song now he would probably write about gentrification which ironically you could argue will turn it into a generic, gentrified, London High Road. Full circle.