Ewen 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 moors

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 smoky wind

   Dirty old town, dirty old town

I'm going to take 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