We have John Pole songs scattered all over. Might be an idea to consolidate them.

Thread #31006   Message #405512
Posted By: Susanne (skw)
24-Feb-01 - 05:59 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Housing Songs
Subject: Lyr Add: SEE IT COME DOWN (John Pole)

SEE IT COME DOWN
(John Pole)

In the house where I was born, first home I knew
There's corrugated iron blinding all the windows
In the garden Dad made round the lawn
Where green grass grew
There's muck and rubble and mud, half bricks and cinders
For the developers have come to town
And soon I'll see it, see it come down
See it come down

My old mum they moved her to a high rise flat
Where she misses her mates and hopes we'll see her Sunday
She lives alone with a lovely view and a clean doormat
Afraid that death will catch her napping some day
The lady with meals on wheels, the one friend she's found
Though she cries for the old place, she won't see it come down
See it come down

Cloud of dust like smoke round a demolition site where I drive my crane
Swinging the big steel ball that smashes walls in
Winch it back careful, get the cable right, let it swing again
There's a little more no-man's-land as each brick falls in
A car park and an office block when I've cleared the ground
They've paid me to see it, and now I've seen it come down
Seen it come down

We was all one where we lived, wish we were now
We had debts and dole and kids but we did have neighbours
Where the street was they want to build a tombstone tower
Like a monster concrete moneybox for strangers
Every last square foot of it worth a hundred pounds
Some day we'll see that come tumbling down
See it come down

[1994:] In some parts of [Glasgow after the War] there were 400 people to the acre and to rehouse them at minimal cost took precedence over what they wanted. People who had lived for generations in cramped conditions with outside toilets and no bathrooms needed better housing, but they didn't want to leave the areas where they had grown up and the close communities they lived in. It became a common sight to see sad little groups watching bleakly as their former homes, and those of their parents and grandparents were demolished. But the politicians still knew best. (Meg Henderson, Finding Peggy 89)

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Roy Bailey recording (may not play outside USA)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts1cKZwMJww

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