AS SONG titles go, it might not have been one of the most catchy.

The Boulevards of Paris just doesn’t have that ring to it – but Streets of London certainly has.

In fact, when Ralph McTell’s signature song was released as a single in 1974, it was selling 90,000 copies a day.

The Ivor Novello Award song went on to grab the No.2 Christmas slot and the words have been translated into dozens of languages.

More than two hundred artists, from Glen Campbell to Ellie Goulding, have recorded their own version of the song with its universal themes of poverty, homelessness and loneliness.

Ralph, 72, explains he actually wrote the words and music while busking in Paris.

“I’d gone there because it is one of my favourite cities.

“I was living quite rough myself so I could identify with the other people in Paris that you didn’t see on the tourist trail.

“I started writing lyrics to a song I was going to call Streets Of Paris, but I felt it was bad manners to criticise another city when there were just as many social problems in London where I was from. That’s why I changed the name to Streets of London.”

He and Wiz Jones were regular performers around Cornwall and the South West where Ralph moved to after he met his Norwegian wife, Nanna, while busking in Paris.

It was Jones who suggested he change his name to McTell after the legendary Blind Willie McTell, who they both admired. While Streets of London is Ralph’s signature tune, he is far from being a one-hit wonder.

He is primarily a prolific and gifted songwriter, with a style that invites you into a unique world.

He remains one of the biggest and most influential figures in folk music.

The Brewhouse. October 1 at 7.30pm.