Dirty Old Town - Single

by James O'Brien

/

lyrics

I met my love by the gasworks wall
I 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, out on their beat
now, springs a girl from the streets at night

A dirty old town
yeah, dirty old town

I heard a siren from down the docks
and I saw a train, it set the night on fire
I smelled the spring on the smokey wind

Dirty old town
dirty old town

I'm gonna make a big sharp axe
shining steel, tempered in fire
I’m gonna chop, I’m gonna chop it all down

A dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
a dirty old town

I met my love by the gasworks wall
I dreamed a dream, then I let it all go
and I kissed my girl by the factory wall

Dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town
dirty old town

credits

released May 19, 2020
Written by Ewan MacColl, 1949
New lyrics by James O'Brien, 2020

Performed and recorded by James O'Brien
Mixed and mastered by Matt Girard

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

James O'Brien New York, New York

James O’Brien toured the U.S. and the U.K. from 1998–2004 playing politically aware songs, sometimes solo and sometimes with a band, sharing billings with artists such as Hamell on Trial, Dan Bern, Michael McDermott, John Sinclair, Bill Miller and Freedy Johnson.

In 2017, after a 13-year hiatus, he began to release archival and new material, expanding his catalog to fourteen albums as of 2022.
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