Leicester Square Concert
—A true story. Note: Leicester is pronounced “Lester”
I traveled to an intel brief
_Convened in London town.
The Pentagon had ordered me
_(Through Army Staff renowned).
Invited by the British branch
_Of their intelligence,
I roamed the halls of Whitehall first
_—Two hours in advance.
When London fades from June’s bright glow,
_The music fills the air,
While women dressed in short-short skirts
_Look stylish, debonair.
The West End’s crowded theatres have
_A center that they share,
Where Shakespeare’s fountain splashes in
_The famous Leicester Square.
That warm and gentle evening time
_I strolled through Leicester Square;
That very night I bought myself
_A half price ticket there.
“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”
_Played with lively flair;
And afterward I bought an ice cream
_Cone—sweet pleasant fare.
For two long blocks I sauntered slowly
_Licking on my cone,
Through winding, narrow English streets
_Where lamplight softly shone.
The plays of Theatreland were done
_By the hour ten o’clock;
It seemed like it was a good time
_To carry on my walk.
At Leicester Square I heard familiar
_Chords begin to play;
Two men were strumming old guitars
_Just several feet away.
Musicians on the London streets
_Are common and called “buskers”—
Depending on their talent only,
_They’re not clever hucksters.
While I, an entertainer too,
_Could imitate with pride
The singers of the fifties’ hits—
_My hobby on the side.
Shakespeare claimed the world’s a stage,
_Then why not Leicester Square?
I thought I’d entertain the crowds
_Of playgoers walking there.
The tune I heard that night was great—
_A Buddy Holly song.
I asked to join, they grinned at me
_And said, “Come sing along!”
Unknowing, I kept singing while
_The Square filled with a crowd;
With every Holly tune I sang,
_The cheers grew rather loud.
I sang “Maybe Baby,” “Rave On,”
_Then started “Peggy Sue”;
A London bobby hurried up
_Before the song was through,
For we were standing near the top
_Along the fountain rail.
The bobby said we had to stop
_or he’d take us to jail.
I asked him what the matter was;
_He said, “Just look around.”
At least a thousand people packed
_The Leicester Square playground.
I begged to finish “Peggy Sue”
_While watching bodies sway;
We heard the “Nenner, Nenner!” sirens—
_They didn’t come to play.
A dozen bobbies stepped out fast
_To scatter back the crowd;
Yet many shouted, “Don’t you stop!”
_And some were getting loud.
I turned to say goodbye, but found
_The buskers all had split;
I knew my shortened concert in
_The Square had been a hit.
I wandered off and wonder now
_What would have come about
If I’d been hauled away that day
_Who would have bailed me out?
bobby: an informal term for a British police officer
LTC Roy E. Peterson, US Army Military Intelligence and Russian Foreign Area Officer (Retired) has published more than 6,750 poems in 95 of his 118 books. He has been an Army Attaché in Moscow, Commander of INF Portal Monitoring in Votkinsk, first US Foreign Commercial Officer in Vladivostok, Russia and Regional Manager in the Russian Far East for IBM. He holds a BA, Hardin-Simmons University (Political Science); MA, University of Arizona (Political Science); MA, University of Southern California (Int. Relations) and MBA University of Phoenix. He taught at the University of Arizona, Western New Mexico University, University of Maryland, Travel University and the University of Phoenix.
A missed vocation!
Nicely told, Roy. I was in Leicester Square last year, resting beside Shakespeare’s statue, and can imagine the scene.
Great Paul. I had a funny thought. What if one of my British friends on SCP was there?
You have the world with you in London, Roy. Glad they liked your Buddy Holly music, though sorry to hear how quickly the buskers split when the bobbies showed up. Too much of a crowd, I suppose, or too late at night with nothing else to do. Don’t pubs close earlier than theatres? Congratulations on your Shakespearean success!
Margaret, I once considered myself a world class entertainer who could accurately imitate all the male singers and their music sung between 1955 and 1966. For example, I won the country music contest in Tucson, Arizona, imitating Johnny Horton with his song, North to Alaska.” I sang with country bands all over the world including our American Embassy band with one guitar player in the Communist Chinese Embassy in Moscow. I gave my cowboy hat to a Chinese Lieutenant Colonel.
Confidence carried you far, and I’m sure you created considerable happiness in others along the way.
This is a lively travel story and very well told in rhyme format. Reading your descriptions of the local scenery and activity is fun, and so is the little bit of suspense that builds up toward the end when the bobbies show up to spoil the fun for everyone. I enjoyed reading it, thank you!
I thank you for your wonderful comments and mentioning the suspense with the Bobbies. For some reason, I never felt threatened, just perturbed they stopped us.
Very, very enjoyable, Roy – the idea of a top American intelligence agent singing Peggy Sue and being arrested by a Bobby in LS there is surreal – and yet entirely possible. FYI my last visit to Leicester Square (as you say, Lester) was about 2016 for the launch of my Routledge book, Mapping Motivation, in the penthouse suite (which is actually on level 8, not 5) of the Radisson Blu hotel – just beside the Leicester Square cinema. As luck would have it, Ben Stiller was standing there beside the red carpet for the launch of Zoolander 2! In order to enter the hotel I came within about 12 feet of him – as did my guests. Heck, man! Some of my guests thought Ben was there to attend my event – my credibility shot through the roof – for all of 15 minutes. Still – we had a great event without Ben!
James, I am so glad you found this and commented on it from your British perspective. Looking back, it was rather surreal. I enjoyed your story about competing unintentionally with Ben Stiller. Thank you for sharing that.
Quite a story, LTC Peterson! It seems that you have the capacity to generate enthusiasm in a huge crowd! That’s what we expect from the officer class.
Great comment, Dr. Salemi! I was once introduced as “The man who made microphones obsolete.”
I love this story, Roy — so well told in verse! I can imagine you presenting a very charismatic impromptu performance. It’s a shame it hasn’t been captured on film. It’s a shame the police in the UK aren’t occupied with more important matters. Like public safety and catching murderers and rapists. But I digress. I’m especially pleased that you got to sing songs which are so particularly American. Buddy Holly was a Texan to be truly proud of.
Wonderful comment, Brian. I have some guesses as to why the intervention: 1.) Likely the Bobbies only had seen political rallies of that size. 2.) The crowd was making so much noise encouraging us and clapping after each song. Remember we were only on the third song by that time. 3.) When I turned around and realized the amazing size of the crowd, the Bobby that approached us told me to look in the trees. Amazingly, some of the guys had climbed up in them and the Square was packed. I used to imitate Buddy Holly and was told it was perfect. Ten years earlier, Buddy Holly had sung for a month in the UK was so influential the reason for the name of the “Beatles” was because the “Crickets” is the name for Buddy Holly’s band. When I was working on my first MA degree in Political Science and was a Teaching Assistant at Texas Tech, I went to the same church he had attended but that was about ten years later.
Roy, you have swept me up in your Leicester Square magic and taken me back to my homeland with a story that has made me smile. I used to work in London and spent much time in Leicester Square – it’s such a shame I missed out on your magnificent moment of musical fame… or should that be “infamy”? I used to have lunch at Covent Garden just so I could listen to the trainee opera singers practicing in the open air… and some of those buskers I heard in the tube subways were amazingly talented. Ahh, those were the days! Thank you for the smile-inducing, poetic trip!
Susan, I am ecstatic you found my true story. I had many dealings with MI-6 over the years and with senior British intelligence officials. As for my singing gig, I was a close imitator of most of the rock and roll singers and the country ones. I sung all over the world including “Rivers of Babylon” on stage with Boney M replacing the male singer, Bobby Farrell, for that one song, singing with a country group in the Chinese Communist Embassy in Moscow, singing in British and Canadian Clubs, and winning a country music contest in Tucson imitating Johnny Horton in “North to Alaska.” I imitated singers like Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, and Roy Orbison. I was invited to a studio in Nashville once but had to decline because of my military commitments. I am so pleased to have you remembering your times in Leicester Square and sharing them with us. I just knew this story was made for you to find.
I was about 12 or 13 when Boney M’s “Rivers of Babylon” was blasting joy into my life from the radio. I just love that song and since reading your amazing comment, I have developed a Boney M ear worm. Sadly the ear worm is “Brown Girl in the Ring”… and the monotony of it is driving me a little crazy. What a talented man you are, Roy, and what an exciting life you have led. Thank you for sharing your thoroughly entertaining memories.
I remember “Brown Girl in the Ring” very well and now you have it playing in my head! I actually won an audition over about 50 others to replace Bobby Farrell for a short stint. I did have fun in life. Thank you so much for sharing more of your memories with us.
Roy, this is such a wonderfully entertaining account of your amazing Leicester Square adventure! Beautifully constructed into a great poem!