Dirty Old Town

Ewan MacColl

I met my love by the gasworks 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
Springs 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 smokey wind
Dirty old town, dirty old town

I’m going to 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

This song was written about Salford, an industrial center in the heart of Lancashire, England that predates the Industrial Revolution. Today it is a metropolitan borough within Greater Manchester.