Video hit The Pogues
The Pogues - Dirty Old Town (Live at BBC)
The song was written in reference to Salford, then in Lancashire in England, the town where MacColl was born and 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 first verse referred to the Gasworks croft, which was a piece of open land adjacent to the Gasworks 53°28′50″N 2°16′36″W, and then speaks of the old canal, which was the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal.
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 the smoke on the Salford wind" to "smelled the spring on the smoky wind".
The Spinners made the first popular recording of the song, singing "Salford wind". The lead singer on the track was Mick Groves, fittingly a Salfordian.
The song was written about an English town, but later became associated with The Dubliners and The Pogues with a few word changes.
Recordings and performances
Folk singer Jackie Washington on his 1962 album Jackie Washington
Esther Ofarim in 1963 and 1964
The Spinners, The Settlers, Donovan, and Chad & Jeremy, all in 1964
Roger Whittaker, on his 1968 album Durham Town
The Dubliners, charting in the Top 10 in the Irish Charts. Also appeared on their 1968 album Drinkin' and Courtin'
Rod Stewart, on his 1969 first album, An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down
The Clancy Brothers, on their 1970 album Flowers in the Valley, sung by Liam Clancy
The Pogues, on their 1985 second album, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash
Townes Van Zandt as a limited edition single, recorded September 1996.
The Specials, on their 1996 covers album Today's Specials
The Mountain Goats, on their 2002 EP Devil in the Shortwave
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, on their 2003 EP, Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead and 2003 film, Dirty Old Town
Frank Black (accompanied by Marty Brown) on his 2006 double album, Fast Man Raider Man
Lorraine Leckie and her Demons on the 2008 album Four Cold Angels (with Spider Stacy of the Pogues and Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, on their 2009 live album, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Live
Bettye LaVette on her 2012 album, Thankful N' Thoughtful.
The lyrics:
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 a drifting across the moon
Cats a prowling on their beat
Spring's a girl in the street at night
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Heard a siren from the docks
Saw a train set the night on fire
Smelled the spring on the smokey wind
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
I'm going to make a good sharp axe
Shining steel tempered in the fire
Will chop you down like an old dead tree
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
(Ewan McColl)
SONG: Jesse James
Jesse James we understand
Has killed many a man
He robbed the Union trains
He stole from the rich and gave to the poor
He'd a hand and a heart and a brain
Well it was on a Saturday night
The stars were shining bright
They robbed the Glendale train
And the people they did say for many miles away
It was those outlaws Frank and Jesse James
Now Jesse had a wife
Lived a lady all her life
Her children they were brave
But history does record
That Bob and Charlie Ford
Have laid poor Jesse in his grave
Well it was Bob and Charlie Ford
Those dirty little cowards
I wonder how they feel
For they ate of Jesse's bread and they slept in Jesse's bed
And they laid poor Jesse in his grave
Now Jesse had a wife
Lived a lady all her life
Her children they were brave
But history does record
That Bob and Charlie Ford
Have laid poor Jesse in his grave
Well the people held their breath
When they heard of Jesse's death
They wondered how he came to fall
Well it was Robert Ford in fact who shot him in the back
While he hung a picture on the wall
Now Jesse had a wife
Lived a lady all her life
Her children they were brave
But history does record
That Bob and Charlie Ford
Have laid poor Jesse in his grave