When The Boat Comes In - Alex Glasgow

[ApatheticLeader]

I...um.......

I'm sorry, what?!

[babyboosabz]

LOVE this...what is it about the different accents of britain which is so amazing

[BritGuyInUs1]

@babyboosabz @babyboosabz Its about a once severely poverty stricken area in the North East of England (probably in the 1930's) in a county called Northumberland which borders Scotland. The song refers to a man singing to his starving son to encourage him. First he scolds him for trying to smoke his tobacco (baccy in the song). Then he tells him to have a bit of pork crackling (a bit of cracky), until such time as the seamen return with their catch.

[babyboosabz]

@BritGuyInUs1 lol thank you :) but my comment said 'what is it about british accents that make them so amazing?' but thanks for your comment anyway, i didn't actually know thats what the song was about

[BradBrassman]

@BritGuyInUs1.... is it eck. listen te'the song properly. "Cracky" is a bit of a crack, i.e a bit o'fun, now that he's finished his pipe.

[hungrytigertony1]

@BradBrassman Sorry, but I beg to differ, have a great holiday.

[BradBrassman]

@hungrytigertony1 One of the best-loved of all Northumbrian folk songs, 'When the Boat Comes In' is perhaps as well known under its alternative title 'Dance to your Daddy'. The subject – is the fisherman/father's return from the sea - is heavily laced with references to alcohol... so heavily in fact that one gets the impression that the whole family is incapable!

[BradBrassman]

The song has been very well researched and interpreted and R. R. Terry in his collection, Salt Sea Ballads, finds the verses 'all very silly and witless, and a libel on the Northumbrian fisher folk'. We prefer to see it rather more in terms of 'a bit o' cracky' - just a bit of fun! Seasons greetings also.

[SanddancerDH8]

My favourite part of listening to this? Me fa' singing along with it from the second verse. What a bastard. I figured the only one he knew was Waters of Tyne, but he surprises me again...at any rate, hello from a Geordie lad in Cornwall. Canny way away from home.

[TheFatty73]

this was a nursery rhyme for me..when i was a bairn

[CastJosephine]

I'm not even English (well I came here when I was 6), but I know this song off by heart cos my mum always used to sing it to me in the kitchen when she's preparing fish LOL

[alexthomsonuk]

in soviet russia, fishy has you!

[BobTheMunificent]

No one I know in the south looks down on the NE - anyone suggesting that is just betraying their *own* prejudices and insecurities. Born and raised in London and love the NE (and everywhere else in Britain for that matter!). Long may the different parts of Britain maintain their different accents, local customs and dialects - and yes, in the case of Wales and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland their own languages.

[Wonin6billion]

I so wish that what i just watched just happened yesterday...  I suppose i should just squeeze my balls and think it just a pipe dream..

[GemfaceKay]

This song represents one of the few good memories I have of my Father. He used to sing it to us quite often as small children. Invariably at the beach. Good days.

[BlogBitch]

I sing this to my self every time I get a really good 'fishy' poker hand win.

[BroodofLoki]

loved this song since I was a kid.

[joejoyce2305]

who ever those 5 dislikes are, dont know good music :)

[GoodByeKyle]

and what shall i haveth... when the pussy wagon gets in ?

[floofynut]

@GoodByeKyle a canny auld kipper!!!

[BroodofLoki]

was that the quay at Shields?

[BradBrassman]

Ah've hed a bluurter fer me tee tha neet wi a bit'obread an butter . it wer reet good an'all lad.

[markbolanfan]

i am proud to be a geordie !! this version makes my heart swell xxxx

[Goobiefrock]

I grew up with this song. My grandad used to sing this to me when we used to walk along Seaton beach as a little girl. Rest in peace Granpa Brian, missing you.

[giro2468]

someone make a dubstep of this please =)

[OffTheHeezayBoiiii]

@giro2468 That would be AMAZING!!!

[billy2rivers1]

That bill seaton was a surley little fucker was he not.

[scrumsie]

Hahaha amazing ,we used to sing this song in the schoolyard when i was a little dude.Many years ago.

[UrsiBear1]

More power to the North East.  First railway, first electrically lit house, first English historian in Bede, first in my heart

[Welshman2008]

I have family in Durham and Newcastle and I have to say that the people are some of the freindliest I have ever met. Why Aye!

[redfoxbennaton]

I like when skrewdrivers version better.

[MegaJohnny107]

he's scottish cos his surname is glasgow and he probley picked that surname cos he was born in scotland

[ronganluv]

When England WAS England. Fantastic

[enoorkoiv]

A superb piece of Folk Music. Thank You.

[marc1234j]

@Nivvorendinggeordie i think the guys name is Alex Glasgow

[konorokingdom]

The very best of

[baceace]

I'm from the NE but hate this song

[cass2112]

ah the friday cake song yehaa WHEN THE BOAT COMES INNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

[gibby709]

@cass2112 ha ha ha ha should be friday fish cake day though WHEN THE BOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT COMES IN !!

[24bronte]

Alex Glasgow was a cousin of mine who was born in Gateshead and started work in the pits. He read for a degree in French Language at Leeds University. He died about nine years ago.

[haddyanne]

Well done you, I am Scottish and understood every word. My Mum sung this to me when I was young and I have loved it ever since. Why can't folk understand the dialect? I dare say they have the same problem with the Scots dialect. Rock on. Great rendition loved it

[parksy010101]

Well done. Good upload.

[Dacijo]

such a shame the accent gets gutted by the local chavs.

[corkie1005]

the best drama ever made

[AnAutumnsDay]

Doing the same thing , going around trying to sing the words in my attempt at the North East accent. Family giving me some strange looks. Hahaaha.

[alvaskins]

I have been watching this show on Yesterday, really like it. Girlfriend hates me singing this song though.

[jshow723]

my dad loves this programme

[AnAutumnsDay]

Been watching, When The Boat Comes In, on the History Channel recently. I have never heard anything like this song before, the song is nice to listen to, however I am absolutely baffled by the lyrics. I know it's the dialect of the North East but still, I can't make out nearly 60% of what the singer is on about. " "dance to your mammy dance to your daddy"? I'm lost.

[lauraspike]

thou and thy is still used in hexham as well hinnie.

[sundayliein4]

@lauraspike I knew a lad from Hexam when I was in the army. He was very broad but didn't use thee and thi.

[lauraspike]

yeah it`s kind of dying out the older generation still use it though.

[sundayliein4]

@lauraspike Dun't worry Flower! Althought there is a decreasing use of dielect there will alluss bi pockets of "incorrect English" to taunt the hermogenisosors, and phonetic snobs. I live in Barnsley where "thee", "tha", "thy" and "Thi" still flourish.

[sundayliein4]

@lauraspike I knew a lad from Hexam when I was in the army; he was well broad but didn't use "thee" and "thy".

[mikhaathabbom]

polish fishmonger pride <333

[StarmixHaribo]

l0l joey

[formando]

LOl he smokes crack

[milliethedog1001]

Crack is talking, not what you think, bonney lad.

[formando]

hehe yes, but it dose sound funny specially one that is not used to the way of talk in this video. its beyond my time

[TheAndyshandy]

@formando

No offense but ya got told, fishmonger style

[formando]

come on, its fucking funny..... in this modern age it sounds as though hes had some crack!

[TheAndyshandy]

@formando

Hmm. I cant argue with you there

[mermaidman1985]

Craic is a north east term for banter or chat lol

[billy2rivers1]

That Jack fords a wrong un .Matt hedleys not any better hangin off his coat tails.

[lakeakero]

That Jack Ford's gettin' too big fer 'is boots! He'll get wot's comin' to 'im! You mark ma words, young fella me lad!

[SIRSMITH08]

im hooked !

[fredmulchington34]

The whole series is being shown again on Yesterday

[J4mes1991]

Trufax, I'm watching it now.

[SIRSMITH08]

great stuff ,they dont write them like that anymore

[Frostythegothicqueen]

xDDDDDDDDDDDD

[delPigeon]

I hadn't realised that "hev" instead of "have" went with this particular accent before!

[kadosh66]

North Durham, North Durham,check out the County boundaries and the dialect. Twa o'os ed tak yus all on.!!!!!!!!

[Kannibaal68]

I used to sing part of this song for my cat Cannibal when she was eagerly waiting for some fish. She died last night at the age of 16, so I dedicate this song to my faithfull friend who stood by me and gave me love and pleasure for so many years....hope they have fishy in heaven...

[bigtrinderhugelouis]

@Kannibaal68 wt the actual fuck

[91dancingqueeeen19]

@Kannibaal68 Cannibal is a good name :) Sorry that she's gone sounds like she had a good life :)

[FUSION144]

That sounded so very retarted. Its disgusting.

[bonebreakerray]

anyone know what the song is called my dad always use to listen to it before he died. working on a building site from morning til night , from 8 o'clock sharp its cool and its dark summit like that?

[gdgest]

Dance Ti Thy Daddy is a variant of Dance To Your daddy. It was the theme song adapted by David Fanshawe for When The Boat Comes In, a British television drama produced by the BBC between 1976 and 1981. The series starred James Bolam as Jack Ford, a First World War survivor who returns to his poverty stricken home town in the northeast of England during the 1920s.

[splint480]

its called ''thats livin alright'' its the theme song to auf wiedersehn pet. but im not sure who made it

[billy2rivers1]

Halibut.

[chunk123123]

what sort of a fish is a bloater? i asume its talking about a fish

[gdgest]

Bloater — large fatty herring lightly salted and briefly smoked

[gdgest]

5*^ Thanks for sharing. :-)

[markimark03]

really fascinating to see northumbrian dialect like this

[funnypoetbob]

That was indeed a treat, thank you for posting

[cnut12]

It's a Northumbrian folk song, using pimatic words (thee, thou etc) which was used in pit towns in Norhumberland and Durham.

[kadosh66]

Durham accent, Durham song Gateshead was Durham check the old border lines.

FTM

[leaningoak]

Chelsea

[rekbhcnwtvhnmo]

you totally spoilt that song

[DBLuba]

Also loved the song when the TV series was on - it remains one of my favourites

Dave

[arobbins100]

Thanks so much for posting this and also for all the work putting the words up too.

I loved this song when it was used for the TV series & really enjoyed hearing t again!

Andrew.

[Gribela]

Love it, thanks for posting the words.

[GeorgesBarras]

Is this Alex Glasgow singing?

[BradBrassman]

It breks yer heart t'see these poor lads, in this vid.  Gone is the industry and their grandsons are not allowed to fish in the'own watters.

[Krzyszczynski]

Couldn't agree more, BradBrassman. To Hell with the EU and all its works.

BTW, unless you've already seen it, may I recommend a film from around 1990, called In Fading Light. Unforgettable depiction of the fisherman's life, and the hardships and dangers still to be encountered in it, even at that recent date.

[BradBrassman]

Tar mate.

[BritGuyInUs1]

Thank you so much for posting this. I used to watch this series when I lived in England. The song is too awesome Does anyone happen to know if there is any legitimate DVD copy of the series available in NTSC format?

Thanks

[thn819]

i am from yorkshire and my wife from south shields.i have convinced our kids that she sung this everyday in assembly at school.

[iwasoncebefore]

Wow.. this has made my day - thanks for putting it up with lyrics bigmanio

[bluesbiker]

can you send the song pls

[spazmac9669]

yeah well Im from a small pit village of Hetton le hole and its very common to say thee or thoo most pit talk was like that ;-)

[notmerv]

this is a gr8 song and should not be forgotten

[boydegg]

Wherever it's from, great little song. My Dad sung it when I was a nipper (and we're Irish!)

[PichinGarri]

Thankyou Alex of Glasgow, your video made my day.

[helenvon]

it's a northumberland song - up from ashington way. a strong feature of both northumberland and weardale dialects is the 'thee, thoo and thou'

[sludgefingers]

Rubbish. I've never heard 'thee'or 'thou' from Ashington friends - they think it's odd. And it's not heard in Weardale either, it's from the east and middle of Durham county where the pit villages are.

[helenvon]

I'm also from Durham, so i'm not just mouthing off. Half of my family are from up in Northumberland, and they're all 'thee' and 'thoo'. Depends which Northumberland folk you talk to I expect.

I never met any young people from Durham pit villages (and I know a lot, having played for a colliery band) that said 'thee' or 'thoo'.

[sludgefingers]

Sorry but no. 'Thee' gets shortened to 'the' and is used (in the accusative) all the time as is 'Thou' (pronounced 'thoo' or also shortened to 'the'). Both are extremely common in everyday speech where I come from (East Durham) e.g. 'is the turning out the neet' or 'Ah've telt the' (I've told you). So is 'the' or 'thy' for 'your' and, occasionally, 'thine' for 'yours'. You can hear this every day in these parts. But not North of, say, Sunderland.

[bassoprimo]

Why aye! I could not agree more. Much reduced now we live in more cosmopolitan times of course!

[bassoprimo]

No young people, no, of course not, all of this has changed in modern times. Coincidentally I played in Colliery Bands too - Ryhope in particular, and this is very much they way the older people of Ryhope, and perhaps Murton speak - my own Grandfather froma little more into Sunderland did too, but not so pronounced.

[bassoprimo]

They are all thee and thou, BUT, the soft "arr" sound (rolling your r's!)of that part of Northumberland comes out to make it a very much different thing, nothing like the way Alex Glasgow sings it. The song may well have origins further north, but certainly the rendition is a lot further south!

[sludgefingers]

This is not a Newcastle song. Pple from Newcastle do not, and never did, say 'thee' and 'thou' for 'you'. In fact they take the mickey out of us, in East Durham pit villages as far north as Sunderland, who do use those words. It's a Durham song and more mackem than geordie.

[chrisgormanascot]

Check the accents in Washington, and you will find they still use thou and thy

[dannydicko2008]

im a scouser, but i love the geordie accent

[Blackdragon595]

I was born on the Headland in Hartlepool and went to school there. I remember this song very well and 1st learned it rom me dad when he 1st took me fishing off the piolet peer. Great old days. If it wasn't for the close-nit community of the fishing towns not much of the rest of England would be about! Same goes for the coal villages!

[sheeselectric]

i rememabah singin this at school it wor propah proud of our routes like. ave lived in oxford for FIVE years (arrrgh!) and its shit compared to newcastle. no culture or warmth here at all, only polite chit chat and whining. i miss newcastle with all me heart.

[youtrojaxtube]

their war a tv program about tyneside call when the boat comes in.. sadly all the tapes have been lost. for me, i never liked the song cos when it came on i knew it was my bed time..lol Im from manchester and we go to the NE every now and then.. Always good fun nice people. thanks for posting

[moominpic]

If your talking of the TV series with James Bolam as Jack Ford, then I believe it's out on DVD these days. This was the theme music to it.

[ahudspith]

Regardless of it being a tyneside or wearside song in origin - it's part of the north easts culture and I cant believe how the rest of the country can look down on the NE when we have such a wealth of culture that the middle class have done their utmost to hide and obliterate from our culture over the past 50 years.

Oh ... and by the way ... I remember being sung this as a bairn in Teesside!

Up The Boro! ;)

[airscrew1]

@ahudspith People like me appreciate this NE dialect - especially when kids around london are speaking some bizarre language that makes them sound like they've come from frikkin' Jamaica. That's multiculturism for you.

[biggmick1]

@ahudspith  thats not my outlook on life about the northeast of England or about Britain as a whole.

Most of my mates feel the same way (except at 3 o'clock on Saturday, or 5.55, depending how it's gone).

i watch and listened to this video coz it's part of everything that's great about England and Britain.

I'm a Londoner and proud, and I understand why Geordies, Machem's Manc's, Scouser's (OK, I don't really understand scouser's) are proud of their citie's and culture. Great song.

[lynnbabes69]

@biggmick1 i would like to know if u just the song as i need it for a funeral next wednesday if u can help ty

[trebz1978]

@ahudspith its from neither tyneside or wearside but from northumberland :)

[gargh]

@ahudspith who looks down on the NE? I'm a Londoner and am very, very fond of the NE and I've never heard a bad word said about it (apart from in jest, as you get with anything)

[kevcar08]

@ahudspith Power to the north east!!!! A hugely important part of the u.k. A great and rich history , a plaace of legend and magic. Howay from a merseyside man.

[butsometimesimright]

2imploded your an idiot

[NickSimonBeck]

Why did Frank Sinatra never sing this ?

[butsometimesimright]

funny and theres me thinking most people from durham always class themselves as geordies and not mackems yet they r on the same side of the water as sunderland and r nearer2them than newcastle and bein a newcastle fan does not mek u a geordie like and this song comes under geordie and northumbrian folk songs cos people in newcastle knaa it as well next you will be saying that the blaydon races is a durham song or wor geordies lost his liggie aka our george has lost his marble eh

[imploded1]

butsometimesimright,

In English please ,Sunderland is a part of County Durham.

I can't understand the rest of the gibberish.

FTM

[sheeselectric]

u must be a southerner :D or american...

[kadosh66]

The Land of the Prince Bishops was a principality, Newcastle is a small provincial city with a sleeping giant on Rohypnol. Check your history books.

EIAE

FTM

[imploded1]

So that will be a song from Alex Glasgow from Low Fell in Gateshead,County Durham.

If you intend on making a comment at least try and have some knowledge on the subject.

COUNTY DURHAM , yes until the tories in the mid 70's Gateshead was (and is) part of County Durham and was/is for over a thousand years.

FTM

[blackpoolrok]

This is most definitely the Northumbrian Pitmatic (or Pityak - pit talk) as we say in the true Northumberland heartland - mix between North Shields Tyne accent and the Northumbrian. I learned this song as a little kid from my Grandad. Another famous song hardly ever heard is - "Keep your feet still Geordie Hinny". Priceless.

[bigbruvofenglanduk]

I had not heard a Geordie accent before I watched that series when I was a kid. I asked my step dad why the man was singing in that strange voice

[geordietart]

of course its a geordie singin its a geordie and northumbrian song u div and most geordie and northumbrian folk songs sound like this

[imploded1]

[quote]

geordietart (2 months ago)

of course its a geordie singin its a geordie and northumbrian song u div and most geordie and northumbrian folk songs sound like this [/quote]

It's actually a North Durham accent and song.

But let's not facts get in the way of delusioned mags hey?

It uses pit yakker phrases.

[wellershill]

So bonnie bairn and canny are not Scottish terms originally?

[imploded1]

It's a north Durham song and a North Durham accent, listen to pit talk of old and you might understand.

Dirty mags try and claim anything of any worth as their own as they have obvious trouble creating content of their own.

And for all of those over 30 County Durham included Gateshead, everything south of the Tyne is County Durham and everything North is Northumberland.

[wellershill]

of course it's a Geordie accent - but Bairn was originally a Scottish word - check any dictionary. Inspecter Meadows on The Bill has the best known Geordie accent in the world. It's a wonderful, musical accent.

[moominpic]

It's a geordie accent because the singer, Alex Glasgow, was from Gateshead. I'd have said Jimmy Nail has the most well-known Geordie accent... he played an Argentinian with a Geordie accent in Evita! "Bairn" is derived from Scandinavian "Barn" (baby/child), so t's common all up the north-east coast.

[wellershill]

thank you - quite right - I'd forgotten barn is Norwegian for child. Those Vikings had a big influence on North Western Scotland and North East England didn't they.

[blujufirst]

Sounds like a Geordie singing.

[bigbruvofenglanduk]

Thanks professor

[gards2]

Haway!!!!! me lads SAFC

[danielbell12345]

nar

its NUFC

[SoundoDale]

Awsome song, really catchy

[amcfan84]

do you have the episode (any of the three) where Christine Anderson is in?

[brookbyhill]

Really good. A song that stuck in my head since I was a kid. Now I show this to my little girl, who often disturbs me at my work to ask to see it. Up 'til now we had the short clip from the opening titles of the TV program. Anyhow, thanks for your time and effort.

[BlackBacon44]

Cleverly arranged by David Fanshawe (African Sanctus)