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Come My Little Son (England's Motorway)

from Quarehawk by Michael Walsh

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about

This song was part of the soundtrack to my childhood. A favourite of Country & Irish bands in the Irish clubs of Manchester. It has come to mean something else with the loss of my father, who worked on the construction of the M1 and other major feats of engineering. I sing this as a lullaby to him. The original recording from the BBC Radio Ballads – Song of The road is worth seeking out and tells us so much about the united nations of people who worked together on the M1, England’s Motorway. Ewan MacColl put his words to the air of the Scottish song “Trampers and Hawkers” collected from Jimmy MacBeath.

lyrics

Come, me little son, and I will tell you what we’ll do:
Undress yourself and get into bed and a tale I’ll tell to you;
It’s all about your daddy, he’s a man you seldom see,
He’s had to roam, far away from home, away from you and me.
But remember lad, he’s still your dad though he’s working far away
In the cold and heat, eighty hours a week, on England’s motorway.

When you fall and hurt yourself and get up feeling bad,
It isn’t any use to go a-running for your dad,
For the only time since you was born he’s had to stay with you,
He was out of a job and we hadn’t a bob, he was signing on the broo.
But remember, lad, he’s still your dad and he really earns his pay,
Working day and night upon the site of England’s motorway.

Sure, we need your daddy here, sure it would be fine
To have him working nearer home and to see him all the time;
But beggars can’t be choosers and we have to bear our load,
For we need the money your daddy earns a-working on the road.
So remember, lad, he’s still your dad and he’ll soon be here to stay
For a week or two with me and you when he’s built the motorway.

credits

from Quarehawk, released May 29, 2020
Come My Little Son (England’s Motorway) (Copyright Ewan McColl Stormking Music Inc. 1963)

Recorded and Engineered By:
Tom Wright at Powered Flight, Sheffield.
Produced by Tom Wright.
Vocals & Low Whistles: Michael Walsh
Sampling: Tom Wright
Mixed by Sam Proctor
Mastered by Nick Cooke

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about

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Michael Walsh Sheffield, UK

Manchester born, Sheffield based singer, fluter & poet. My music reflects growing up in the Irish community in Manchester my Yorkshire home & my love for the music of the Iberian peninsula. My flute playing is inspired by Irish traditional music from the west of Ireland. The album charts the last three years of my life. Celebration, loss, moving on & finding my own voice. ... more

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