James Henry Miller isn't a relative, but I feel a kinship with his songs. I grew up in a dirty old steel town in Pennsylvania, and went to college in a dirty old steel town in Ohio. Working conditions in these cities were bad. My father worked around Hydrochloric Acid for 8 hours a day. It shortened his life. The air that we breathed was filled with smoke, and noxious fumes. Westinghouse Electric dumped lots of toxic chemicals into the river that supplied our drinking water. They spread carcinogens at a local little league field, then moved to another state. Lots of kids died in their early teens.
Factory owners created nearly unlivable communities throughout the world. Some still do!
I can see why Jimmy Miller was angry. He channeled that anger and wrote some fine songs. Eventually he changed his name to Ewan McColl.
Kissing one's girl by a factory wall as you were going into the factory was a pretty normal occurrence, and dirty clouds sailing past the moon, and cats prowling on their evening beats were all a part of my childhood, and young adult years in! that dirty old town.The song is pretty bluesy.