Hank's song "Chinatown"

[donna plasky]

Today is Chinese New Year's Day, so if anyone on this Forum celebrates it, then I wish you a Happy New Year.

I was just wondering about a song Hank has on one of his solo albums, called "Chinatown." It didn't show up on YouTube when I searched, but you probably know it. "If you ever go to Chinatown, doing things you shouldn't do, always remember someone is watching you..." or words to that effect.

I was wondering if there are any Chinatown's in the UK and/or was there a real place that this otherwise fictional song is about?

My city, Philadelphia, has a Chinatown -- but for many reasons, I'm sure it would not be the one he is singing about. Hank's song alludes to an "allure" I guess you'd call it...like Las Vegas, New Orleans, Monte Carlo, etc. Philly's Chinatown is very nice, but it is almost exclusively a restaurant area, other than the fact that Chinese-American people live there.

I play this album all the time, and I was just curious. Thanks for your help. By the way, here is a photo I took of our Chinatown. It was on a rainy day, so the photo lacks the bright colouring that would it would have on a sunny day.

Kind regards,
Donna

Chinatown Arch.jpg

(155.67 KiB) Downloaded 2599 times

[Stratpicker]

Hi Donna
No idea which Chinatown, if any, Hank referred to. Could just be because it scanned nicely.
But several UK Cities have Chinatowns. My "roots" city of Manchester has, or used to have, a very bustling and thriving community.
Cheers
ian

[Moderne]

He co-wrote the song with John Farrar so I guess it had been lying around for several years before Hank recorded it on Words and Music. There were also some songs on All Alone with Friends which he wrote with Paul Ferris whom he'd previously written with in the early 70s. I wonder whether there were many other songs which Hank wrote either on his own or with others which never made it to vinyl...

[JimN]

Chinatown in London is very long established. In fact, it is so long established that like almost everyone and everything else in London, it has actually moved location.

The original London Chinatown was the East London district of Limehouse (in the old borough of Poplar, I think). This, as with the Nelson Street/Duke Street Chinatown area in Liverpool, was because it was near the docks and much of the influx consisted of Chinese seafarers. Several of George Formby's pre-war novelty songs - especially those concerning the eponymous Mr Wu the Laundryman (later turned window-cleaner) - referred specifically to Limehouse by name. Try Chinese Blues (popularly known as Mr Wu) for size:

In the post-war period, the focus for Chinatown has sifted to the West End of London, particularly to the area around Gerrard Street, south of, and parallel to, Shaftesbury Avenue between Cambridge Circus and Piccadilly Circus, though nowadays extending over most of the area bounded by Shaftesbury Avenue, Charing Cross Road, Leicester Square and (approximately) Wardour Street.

See http://tinyurl.com/bjkc5uq for the location of today's Chinatown.

See http://tinyurl.com/aktzvkr for the Chinatown of yesterday.

JN

[RayL]

The shifting of London's Chinatown that Jim describes didn't really happen until the 1960s when one or two oriental food traders set up shop in Lisle Street. At that time the area between Soho and Leicester Square was quite mixed. In Wardour Street was the Flamingo, one of the great music clubs of the 1960s. Then there was the big Sound City shop on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Gerrard Place with its own range of Sound City amplifiers and speakers. For those who made their own guitar amps because they were too poor to buy them, Lisle Street and Little Newport Street had quite a number of radio component shops. And of course it was also the red light district.

During the 1970s the area became Chinatown, so much so that if wind is in the right direction you can now leave Leicester Square underground station and find it blindfold by following the smell of Chinese cooking!

Ray

[donna plasky]

Thank you very much for your replies. I shall take a look at the URL's, and I've already had a listen to the recording. Again, thank you very much.

Kind regards,
Donna

[russ]

When I listen to "Chinatown", not sure if it's the arrangement or John's writing at that time, sure does remind me of "You're the one that I want"