Dirty Old Town

The song was written about Salford, Lancashire, England, the town where MacColl was born and brought up. It was originally composed for an interlude to cover an awkward scene change in his 1949 play Landscape with Chimneys, set in a North of England industrial town,[1] but with the growing popularity of folk music the song became a standard. The first verse refers to the gasworks croft, which was a piece of open land adjacent to the gasworks 53°28′50″N 2°16′36″W, and then speaks of the old canal, which was the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal. The line in the original version about smelling a spring on “the Salford wind” is sometimes sung as “the sulphured wind”. But in any case, most singers tend to drop the Salford reference altogether, in favour of calling the wind “smoky”.

A portion of the canal referenced by the song

Salford Docks, another place mentioned in the song

The Pogues' version of the song is played during the team walk-on at Salford City FC.

Notable renditions of the song include:

• The first public performance may have been in the play "Landscape with Chimneys", written for Theatre Workshop, produced by Joan Littlewood, 1951
• The first recording, by MacColl, "Dirty Old Town / Sheffield Apprentice", Topic TRC 56 / 1952 [4]
• The flip side of "Hard Case / Dirty Old Town", vocals by McColl and Peggy Seeger, Alan Lomax and the Ramblers, Decca F 10787 (single, UK, 1956)[5]
• Folk singer Jackie Washington, on his 1962 album Jackie Washington[6]
• Esther & Abi Ofarim Recorded the song in 1963 for their album Esther Ofarim and Abraham. They also recorded versions in French and German, together with a remixed version, with the Hal Mooney Orchestra, for the US release.[7]
• Chad & Jeremy, on their 1964 album Yesterday's Gone (Chad & Jeremy album)Yesterday's Gone
• The Dubliners, on their 1968 album Drinkin' and Courtin'
• Rod Stewart, on his 1969 album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down
• Roger Whittaker, on his 1977 album Live In Canada[8]
• The Pogues, on their 1985 second album, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash and was later included at the end of the Rescue Me series finale
• The Mountain Goats, on their 2002 EP, Devil in the Shortwave
• Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, on their 2003 EP, Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead. A concert film documenting the band's appearance at the Siren Music Festival in July of 2003 is entitled Dirty Old Town (film) and opens with a solo live performance of the titular song. Ted Leo also references "Dirty Old Town" in the song "Biomusicology" on his album The Tyranny of Distance released in 2001.

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
• Discussion of lyrics at The Mudcat Cafe
• Material on Salford Gasworks at The National Archives