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Track 8 – “Dirty Old Town” (Ewan MacColl cover)

October 18, 2017
“Blankets and Covers: Volume One” – Track 8 – “Dirty Old Town” (Ewan MacColl cover) (recorded November 10th 2010 at “Bayside” Keyport, NJ )

 

Well if it isn’t bad enough that this is a covers album, this track is a cover of a cover. However, if you listen to one song on this album I would recommend this one.

 

It’s a simple love song I first heard on “Rum, Sodomy, and The Lash”, “The Pogues” second album released in 1985.

This recording occurred in real time immediately after the previous two tracks, so Joe Walsh of “The Believers in Things” also appears on drums on this track.

 

I really enjoy this track because a harmonica player from the crowd joined along too. If I remember correctly his name is Mike P. I remember talking to him afterwards and him telling me of the other long running open mic in Keyport, NJ at “Espresso Joe’s” that still runs on Wednesday nights. I also remember him warning me to get there early for the sign up around six o’clock because the sheet tends to fill up quick and the later you get there the later you will go on.

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 going to make a big sharp axe
Shining steel tempered by 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 *Tracy Leigh
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
*Original lyric is “by the factory wall”
from → Covers, Keith Corcoran "Blankets & Covers: Volume 1", Live Recordings

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