Words from "Songs for Singing Folk" (The Jacqui and Bridie Song Book):

BACK BUCHANAN STREET
(words and music by Harry and Gordon Dison)

A fella from the council
Who's just left planning school
Has told us that we're bein'moved
Right out of Liverpool

Chorus:
They're sending us to Kirkby
Or Skelmersdale or Speke
Don't want to go from all we know
In Back Buchanan Street

We'll miss a lot of little things
Like puttin' out the cat
For there's no back door on the fourteenth floor
Of a "Unit-Camus" flat

We'll miss the fog horns on the river
And we'll miss the ole' Pierhead
An' the short cuts through the jiggers
When we're rollin' home to bed

We'll miss the pub round the corner
With the parlour painted red
Just like we miss the Green Goddesses
And the Overhead

From Walton to the Dingle
You'll hear the same old cry
Stop messin' round with Liverpool
At least until we die

We'll miss the Mary Ellens
And me dad'll miss the docks
And me gran'll miss the washhouse
Where she washed me grandad's socks

They've pulled down Paddy's Market
Where me ma once had a stall
And soon their picks and shovels
Will be through our backyard wall

Pronunciation Guide: Kirkby is pronounced "Kir'bee" and Skelmersdale is pronounced "Ske'mersdale".

Joan