Catch them on the radio, download and listen on your iPod, or just hear the music on the breeze, the greatest show tunes are always with us. Some of the best and most lasting music originated in the world of musical theatre, and great versions can still be heard today. Here are some of our favourites:

I Dreamed a Dream. If you hadn’t heard it before, you will know the version made famous by Susan Boyle, the Scottish singer who came from nowhere and wowed the Britain’s Got Talent judges, the audience, and eventually even Oprah Winfrey in America, when she sang this song from Les Miserables.  The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, the English words are by Herbert Kretzmer, based on the original French score by Alain Boublil. The song is actually a lament, sung by the dying and impoverished Fantine, who thinks back to happier days and wonders at all that has gone wrong in her life.

Memory. Cats was one of the longest running musicals in London. It is sung by the character Grizabella, a one-time glamour cat, and is a nostalgic lament for her glamorous past and a declaration of her wish to make a new start. It appears twice in the show, and the version recorded by Elaine Paige, the original Grizabella, is one of the most famous of all musical hits.

Over the Rainbow is probably the most recognised of the classic musical songs. It was written for the film of The Wizard of Oz and no self-respecting musical version would be without it. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the words by EY Harburg and the original version became the career signature song for movie legend Judy Garland.

Ghost is the musical version of the 1990 Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore film, which arrived in London early in 2011. The words are by Bruce Joel Rubin and the music by Dave Stewart, of the Eurythmics, and its big hit song, Here Right Now, is destined to become a classic in its own right.

The song, Tell me It’s Not True, originally sung by Barbara Dickson when the musical Blood Brothers debuted in London in 1983, is one of the most haunting of musical themes. Written by Willy Russell, the story is loosely based on a novella by Alexandre Dumas about fraternal twins who are separated at birth. The song is sung by their mother, hearing the news that they are both dead.

All that Jazz is a feisty upbeat number sung by Velma, one of the two leading women in the musical Chicago. Written by legendary musical creators John Kander and Fred Ebb, anyone who’s ever fancied themselves as a gangster’s moll, or wearing fishnet stockings will have sung this, possibly standing on a kitchen chair. Chicago actually ends it’s current successful run in London’s westend this Saturday (27th August 2011).

But the mummy of them all in terms of singable songs, has to be Mamma Mia, the musical based on the songs of world famous pop quartet, Abba. The music of Benny Andersen and Bjorn Ulvaeus bring a rather lightweight story to life, and you’ll be singing the songs all the way home. And back.

These are just a few of the classics from the most popular London musicals. You’ll already know the tunes, but if you want to get to grips with the stories, why not get hold of some tickets and settle down to hear them as they should be sung!