Songfacts®:

• Old Compton Street in London's Soho is one of a number of streets prostitutes are known to frequent, selling sex openly (streetwalking) or in rented flats. This song was probably inspired by a type of woman rather than an actual person. It tells the sad but all too familiar tale of a girl who chases the bright lights to London in search of fame and fortune, but the nearest she gets to stardom is modeling women's underwear. She ends up with a lover who doubles as her pimp and puts her on the streets, selling her body at the lower end of the market. Though Stewart has never used prostitutes himself, he is familiar with the seedier side of London's West End from his days on the folk circuit. This is one of a number of songs inspired by his experiences there. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander - London, England