Cover Story – Dirty Old Town

“Dirty Old Town” is a song written by Ewan MacColl in 1949 that was made popular by The Dubliners and has been recorded by many others since.

The song was written in reference to Salford, then in Lancashire (now in Greater Manchester), England, and the place where Ewan MacColl was brought up. It was originally composed for an interlude to cover an awkward scene change in Ewan MacColl’s Salford-set, 1949 play Landscape with Chimneys, but with the growing popularity of folk music the song became a standard.

The song paints an evocative yet ultimately bitter picture of industrial northern England, and presages to some extent the Angry Young Man school of the 1950s.

When MacColl first wrote the song, the local council were unhappy at having Salford called a dirty old town and, after considerable criticism, the words of the song were changed from “smelled a Spring on the Salford wind” to “smelled a spring on the smoky wind”.

The Spinners made the first popular recording of the song and they sang “Salford wind”. This was hardly surprising as the lead singer on the track was Mick Groves, a Salfordian.

The song was therefore written about an English town; but because of the song’s later association with The Dubliners and The Pogues, many people tend to think of it as an Irish song, and as such, in Ireland the lyrics are popularly thought to refer to Dublin or Derry – a counter-part to the latter being Phil Coulter‘s “The Town I Loved So Well“.

My favourite version is by Rod Stewart.

 

To buy the music of Rod Stewart click HERE

P.S. I Love You

I just want to see you
When you’re all alone
I just want to catch you if I can
I just want to be there
When the morning light explodes
On your face it radiates
I can’t escape
I love you till the end

I just want to tell you nothing
You don’t want to hear
All I want is for you to say
Why don’t you just take me
Where I’ve never been before
I know you want to hear me
Catch my breath
I love you till the end (x4)

I just want to be there
When we’re caught in the rain
I just want to see you laugh not cry
I just want to feel you
When the night puts on its cloak
I’m lost for words dont tell me
Cause all I can say
I love you till the end (x5)

All I can say
I love you till the end (x3

It’s all I can say
I love you till the end (x3)

If I ever leave this world alive
I’ll thank for all the things you did in my life
If I ever leave this world alive
I’ll come back down and sit beside your
feet tonight
Wherever I am you’ll always be
More than just a memory
If I ever leave this world alive

If I ever leave this world alive
I’ll take on all the sadness
That I left behind
If I ever leave this world alive
The madness that you feel will soon subside
So in a word don’t shed a tear
I’ll be here when it all gets weird
If I ever leave this world alive

So when in doubt just call my name
Just before you go insane
If I ever leave this world
Hey I may never leave this world
But if I ever leave this world alive

She says I’m okay; I’m alright,
Though you have gone from my life
You said that it would,
Now everything should be all right

She says I’m okay; I’m alright,
Though you have gone from my life
You said that it would,
Now everything should be all right
Yeah should be alright

To buy the music of Flogging Molly click HERE

Happy St Patrick’s Day

Click HERE for more information.

Sod all that this is the best way to hang out and celebrate the day.

Christmas Eve Video Feast

 

Memory Lane here we come…………………

Finally something new from Blondie

Christmas Jukebox 2

First up my favourite Christmas song of the present from Over The Rhine

“Snow Angel” – Over The Rhine

Once upon a winter
It seems so long ago
My one and only love and I
Fell down upon the snow

And as the dusk was falling
From our gray and goose down sky
We heard the old cathedral bells
Ring out our lullaby

Snow angel, snow angel
Someday I’m gonna fly
This cold and broken heart of mine
Will one day wave goodbye
Goodbye to this cruel wicked world
And all the tears I’ve cried
Snow angel, snow angel
I’ll meet you in the sky

The rumors of a distant war
Called my true love’s name
He packed his leather suitcase
And spoke no word of blame
We walked awhile together
I tried to hide my fear
He told me not to be afraid
And whispered in my ear

Snow angel, snow angel
Someday I’m gonna fly
This cold and broken heart of mine
Will one day wave goodbye
Goodbye to this cruel wicked world
And all the tears I’ve cried
Snow angel, snow angel
I’ll meet you in the sky

They brought my love home from the war
In a cart pulled by white mules
The Christmas bells rang out that day
Oblivious as fools

And as the snow began to fall
I kissed his frozen face
They told me in his woolen coat
His last few words were placed

Snow angel, snow angel
Someday I’m gonna fly
This cold and broken heart of mine
Will one day wave goodbye
Goodbye to this cruel wicked world
And all the tears I’ve cried
Snow angel, snow angel
I’ll meet you in the sky

………………………..and now from the past

Happy St Patrick’s Day

 

For information on St Patrick’s Day click HERE

Dark End Of The Street – Cat Powers

This time last year I found myself in hot water with the net police by over promoting Cat Powers then forthcoming album of mainly cover versions “Jukebox”. Her record company Matador objected to me allowing people to hear a track from the album…hear not download!

Nevertheless it wa a great album and she ends the year with a covers EP to be released in December.

Dark End of the Street is an EP album by American singer/songwriter Chan Marshall, also known as Cat Power. It will be released in December 2008 on Matador Records.

Dark End of the Street will be released both digitally and on a limited edition double 10″. It will contain six songs originally by the Pogues, James Carr, Sandy Denny, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Otis Redding, and Aretha Franklin, which were recorded during Cat Power’s Jukebox sessions. Among the six are four previously unpublished tracks.^[1]

Track listing

1. “Auld Triangle (The Pogues) *
2. “Dark End of the Street (James Carr) *
3. “Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Sandy Denny/Fairport Convention) *
4. “Fortunate Son (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
5. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) (Otis Redding)
6. “It Ain’t Fair (Aretha Franklin) *

This time I am taking no chances, “Dark End Of The Street” is an all time favourite song of mine, to me it is the best Van Morrison type song not written by Van Morrison!

Rather than posting the James Carr version here are The Flying Buritto Brothers (again) with their version plus a live video take by Cat Power

Now if she had covered this Pogues song it would have been the ideal December EP

Welcome to Christmas 2008!