Prisoner In This City 1976

From my forthcoming book My Life in 50 Guitars – Fifty Guitars, a Lifelong Passion, published 15 September 2026. Available in Kindle, full-colour paperback and hardback editions. Kindle pre-order available now on Amazon. I wrote ‘Prisoner In This City’ in 1975, shortly after moving to London. I was struck by how forbidding the centre of the city could become once the working day was over, with busy streets turning into something approaching a ghost town. The homelessness and destitution I encountered also troubled me, and those impressions became the inspiration for the song. Its final verse imagined a rather bleak future which, fifty years later, feels uncomfortably close to becoming reality. In 1976, I was asked to contribute a song to a free EP produced to commemorate that year’s Fitzrovia Street Festival, and ‘Prisoner In This City’ became the second track. It was recorded at a studio somewhere in West London, although after all these years I can no longer remember exactly where. There is one small blemish in the recording: in the second verse I mispronounce the word ‘wino’, which is one reason I have never released the song publicly before. Otherwise, I’m still quite pleased with both the song and the performance. Like several of my early recordings, the original tape survived for almost fifty years before being professionally recovered and restored for my book, My Life in 50 Guitars. I included it as an example of the Epiphone Cortez I was playing at the time. Equipment I use to make music and recordings. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. D'Addario XS Acoustic Guitar Strings, Phosphor Bronze, Light, 12-53 https://link.amazon/B0iHxHCCs D'Addario XS Acoustic Guitar Strings, Phosphor Bronze, Light, 12-String, 10-47 https://link.amazon/B06FcZxGO Gibson Wedge Medium Guitar Picks https://link.amazon/B0cF8mxyC Jim Dunlop Thumb Guitar Picks https://link.amazon/B0blsmQp8 D'Addario Eclipse Rechargeable Headstock Clip-On Guitar Tuner, Black https://link.amazon/B06FgZK4u G7th Performance 3 6 String Black Guitar Capo https://link.amazon/B03GgUM41 Zoom R4 Multitrack SD Recorder/USB Interface https://link.amazon/B0044ipov Triton Audio FetHead Germanium Microphone Preamp https://link.amazon/B01Usijoq Behringer TUBE ULTRAGAIN MIC500USB Audiophile Vacuum Tube Preamplifier https://link.amazon/B040xPcIx Shure SM81 LC Cardioid Condenser Microphone https://link.amazon/B05ZDKlwE Shure SM58 LC Cardioid Condenser Vocal Microphone https://link.amazon/B0bk7liSj Gravity MS 4322 B - Microphone Stand https://link.amazon/B0ghtGCSq Lexar MicroSD Cards https://link.amazon/B07Jw6Ubb