Lyrics as in the new Ewan MacColl songbook (which by the way is not reliable):

DIRTY OLD TOWN

I found my love by the gasworks croft,
Dreamed a dream by the old canal;
Kissed my girl by the factory wall.
Dirty old town, dirty old town

Clouds a-drifting across the moon,
Cats a-prowling on their beat;
Spring's a girl in the streets at night.
Dirty old town, dirty old town

Heard a siren from the docks,
Saw a train set the night on fire;
Smelled the spring on the smoky wind.
Dirty old town, dirty old town

I'm going to make a good sharp axe,
Shining steel tempered in the fire;
We'll chop you down like an old dead tree.
Dirty old town, dirty old town

Wolfgang