― Steve WC (Steve WC), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)
I believe that McColl wrote the song for a play about Salford
So there you go.
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)
― Huk-L, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)
Found this, a bit better..
[1989:] Over in the Salford Workers' Arts Club (the 'croft' of Dirty Old Town) the talk down by the bar was of Marx and philosophy [...] and even teenagers found themselves discussing politics and art. (Denselow, Music 19) Another MacColl drama was 'Landscape With Chimneys', which dealt with life back in Salford. On the opening night, Joan Littlewood found she had a problem. There was an awkward scene change, and MacColl was asked to produce an instant two-minute song to cover it. He sat down and wrote Dirty Old Town on the spot, and performed it (singing the words from a piece of paper) two hours later. The play has long been forgotten, and MacColl had forgotten the song until he found that it was being sung in the USA and Czechoslovakia. It has reappeared in an off-Broadway musical, on a Rod Stewart LP and (best of all) as a single by the Pogues. (Denselow, Music 21)
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)