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Richard Thompson & David Byrne - Dirty Old Town

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Uploaded by on Jan 2, 2010

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
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
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
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
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
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

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Music

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Standard YouTube License

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All Comments (12)

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  • Fab Verion Of A Classic Song !!!

  • 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.

  • @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.

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

  • Great song

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

  • great song to hear and to play

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

  • @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"

  • where and when WAS this? Excellent

  • 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.

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