Richard Thompson & David Byrne - Dirty Old Town Video Free Download

I met my love by the gas works wall

Dreamed a dream by the old canal

I Kissed my girl by the factory wall

Dirty old town

Clouds are drifting across the moon

Cats are prowling on their beat

Spring's a girl from the streets at night

Dirty old town

I Heard a siren from the docks

Saw a train set the night on fire

I Smelled the spring on the smoky wind

Dirty old town

I'm gonna make me a big sharp axe

Shining steel tempered in the fire

I'll chop you down like an old dead tree

Dirty old town

I met my love by the gas works wall

Dreamed a dream by the old canal

I kissed my girl by the factory wall

Dirty old town

Comments

9 years ago

Bob Jones

Many thanks for posting - two of my heroes that I never expected to see together singing this! I live across the canal from Salford and the song gets sung regularly still in the pubs. Some ignorant comments though..

11 years ago

gaspode18

I suspect it was less a mistake than the fact that they didn't know what a 'croft' was - it is a Lancashire word, after all.

12 years ago

Michael Scales

I liked Byrne's singing better than Thompson's, but Thompson is a great guitarist.

12 years ago

BerlinerStadtschloss

If you call that "music", the poo of my cats is a great piece of art.

12 years ago

GratefulJWB

You obviously are not familiar with Thompson's music.

12 years ago

Scorpion11381

This is one of my favorite and first versions ever heard of this song.

12 years ago

BerlinerStadtschloss

@Badummtsching What kind of punk are you, that you dare to ask?

12 years ago

Badummtsching

@BerlinerStadtschloss Who are you to judge?

12 years ago

BerlinerStadtschloss

This guy Thompson should take singing lessons - got a voice like a dust-bin !!!

12 years ago

Sale_Shark

Fab Verion Of A Classic Song !!!

12 years ago

John Pavlou

The song is about courting a girl in Salford which was at the time a very smoky dirty industrial city. The gas yard croft is a bit of spare ground in front of the gas works. There was nowhere very romantic to take a girl in Salford so a walk down the canal tow path would be a reasonable option. Many factories were built along the canal banks.

12 years ago

allan connochie

@djangolad Folk music does evolve and there are many versions of various traditional tunes. Though this isn't a traditional tune. The words were sang incorrectly whilst the songwriter was still alive and kicking. I imagine the Dubliners simply made a mistake when singing gasworks wall and others learned the mistake from them. It is a big mistake though as it takes the song away from its roots. The 'gasworks croft' was a real place.

12 years ago

melodiantime

GOING OUT TONIGHT, TO MY GOOD FRIEND, JIM SOUTAR.

12 years ago

badyin

Great song "It's the Pogues who screwed up the opening line" They can screw up anything

12 years ago

Leo Bluesy

great song to hear and to play

12 years ago

djangolad

Folk music is meant to evolve. Lyrics rarely remain as they were first written and what's more it's not important.

12 years ago

allan connochie

@andytownboy It should be "gaswork's croft" but various people have changed it for some reason. An early Clancy version has it "where the gaslight falls"

13 years ago

panr317

where and when WAS this? Excellent

13 years ago

andytownboy

The opening line is "gaswork's croft" as written by Ewan MacColl and sung here by RT. It's the Pogues who screwed up the opening line.

14 years ago

dullsvillain

So awesome .....what a combination

Richard Thompson & David Byrne - Dirty Old Town video free download

Comments

Bob Jones

gaspode18

Michael Scales

BerlinerStadtschloss

GratefulJWB

Scorpion11381

BerlinerStadtschloss

Badummtsching

BerlinerStadtschloss

Sale_Shark

John Pavlou

allan connochie

melodiantime

badyin

Leo Bluesy

djangolad

allan connochie

panr317

andytownboy

dullsvillain

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