{"id":7484,"date":"2025-03-18T21:32:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T21:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=7484"},"modified":"2025-07-13T15:18:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T15:18:43","slug":"anonymous-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=7484","title":{"rendered":"Anonymous City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Anonymous City\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8krQBbUFzFM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/distrokid.com\/hyperfollow\/rickwesthorpe\/anonymous-city\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"202\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/group.jpg\" alt=\"Buy \/ Stream\" class=\"wp-image-7591\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I wrote this in 1980, partly autobiographical, partly not &#8211; it&#8217;s the story of a young gay man finding his feet in London, which is true of me at that time, although I&#8217;d actually already been around the block a bit by then, having left the family home some years earlier. It does cover the same sort of ground as &#8216;Smalltown Boy&#8217;, but I&#8217;m pleased to say that it predates Bronski Beat by a couple of years! There have been a few versions of it over the years, but I wanted to &#8216;finish&#8217; it as it does capture something of that time. This was a few years before everything changed with the arrival of AIDS of course. But that&#8217;s another story. Special thanks to Phil Stanton for the saxophone parts and help with the production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Navy blue suit, a cream cotton shirt and a tie<br>Suitcase in hand, a kiss for his mother &#8211; goodbye<br>The neighbours will miss him, the house will seem quiet<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Write to us soon, or telephone when you have time<br>Just a few words, to let us know you&#8217;re doing fine<br>And please do be careful with friends that you find<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking behind, the station is lost in the sun<br>Gone are his parents, none to deny him the run<br>Of the freedom the city can offer the young<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The night has begun, the trains journey ends in the dark<br>Once in the streets, the bright lights seem painfully stark<br>But the roar of the traffic gives strength to his heart<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anonymous city, the nameless friend<br>His life in the countryside closet will end<br>It&#8217;s comforts are many if he can delight<br>In losing his name as he&#8217;s lost in the multitude<br>Who walk the wild streets in the night<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The room is too small, the sounds from the street are too loud<br>At twelve pounds a week he&#8217;s joining the bed-sitting crowd<br>A song in a subway will get him about<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The guide from Gay News, a voice on the line, an address<br>A Friday night disco, home life was never like this<br>Deceit and dishonesty he&#8217;ll never miss<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His past lonely life is lost to new love each night<br>Sunday school morals faded and gone from his sight<br>He knows that the feelings he follows are right<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Black leather jacket, tight denim jeans and a vest<br>An eye in the mirror, he knows he&#8217;s looking his best<br>In an image of man, just like all the rest<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anonymous city, the nameless face<br>Life in the civilised organised race<br>It&#8217;s comforts are many and he will delight<br>In losing his shame as he&#8217;s lost in the multitude<br>Who walk the wild streets in the night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote this in 1980, partly autobiographical, partly not &#8211; it&#8217;s the story of a young gay man finding his feet in London, which is true of me at that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"rishi__cb_customizer_meta":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7484"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7603,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7484\/revisions\/7603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}