Why Salford City fans sing 'Dirty Old Town'

With the backing of Manchester United legends such as Gary Neville and David Beckham, Salford City have high hopes of ascending the English football pyramid.

Like any great journey, theirs is played out to sounds of an anthem, one called 'Dirty Old Town'. It is a song which heralds their arrival to the Moor Lane pitch and echoes around grounds across the country on away days.

Here, GOAL looks at the lyrics of Salford City's terrace anthem 'Dirty Old Town', why it's used and more.

Why do Salford City fans sing 'Dirty Old Town'?

There is no great mystery as to why fans of Salford City sing 'Dirty Old Town' at matches - the song is about Salford!

While the lyrics have been tweaked in more modern versions of the song, references to various Salford landmarks are obvious in the original. The line 'gasworks wall' was originally 'gasworks croft', which referred to an area of land near Salford gasworks, while the 'old canal' refers to the now disused Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. The line 'smoky wind' was also rendered 'Salford wind' or 'sulphured wind'.

Due to the song's popularity in Ireland and the fact it was sung with gusto by The Dubliners, it was sometimes erroneously thought that the song was about Dublin.

What are the lyrics to 'Dirty Old Town'?

The most commonly sung lyrics to the song 'Dirty Old Town' can be seen below:

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

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 gonna 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

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

Dirty old town, dirty old town

Who wrote 'Dirty Old Town'?

The song 'Dirty Old Town' was written by the British folk singer Ewan MacColl in 1949 for the play Landscape with Chimneys.

It subsequently gained popularity on the British folk music scene, with Rod Stewart even covering it, and the song later became popularised in Ireland thanks to recordings by Irish folk and rock bands such as The Dubliners and The Pogues.

Indeed, The Pogues' version is one of the best known, thanks chiefly to the distinct vocals of Shane MacGowan.

The Pogues' version of 'Dirty Old Town'

You can listen to The Pogues' version of 'Dirty Old Town' in the video below.

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