This song with harp accompaniment tells it as it was. A realistic account of Whitby Harbour as it was in the days of Discovery and Whaling.
lyrics
OLD WHITBY HARBOUR
When Cook and when Scoresby were answering the call,
Old Whitby Harbour was a place of dark waters
No place for fine noses, no bunch of roses,
A place barely swilled by the tides ebb and flow.
At Sandsend, on beaches, great brush fires were burning,
Roasting the shale from which alum was gained,
All mixed with urine brought into the Harbour
In ships that from London so frequently sailed.
The Harbour was humming with mud and raw sewage,
Fish guts were rotting as screaming gulls fed.
In the light of the lamps, glowing softly with whale oil,
The rats would be scurrying when folk were abed.
Up past the Bridge where the boatyards were busy,
Wood smoke and oakum scented the air,
Fragrance of fish glue and blood from slaughterhouse
Mingled together in the damp evening air.
As the gentle South Westerly blew down the River,
The odour was blubber, boiling in vats,
In the factories of Larpool, the wealth of old Whitby,
Whale oil financing the Scoresbys, the Cooks.
In Waterstead Lane, all stagnant and marshy,
The tanners were working and walking the hides
In tubs filled with excrement gathered from kennels
And urine from cities all over the land.
Old Whitby Harbour, the days of romance,
Of discovery and whaling, the days of James Cook,
The days of the Scoresbys, the days of prosperity,
Old Whitby Harbour with ‘Brass’ and with ‘Muck’.
credits
from Dodgy Ditties,
released November 13, 2014
Tony Morris
TONY MORRIS is an Own Brand Performer and Entertainer who performs his own songs and music.".
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