Canal Child © Eddie Lawler 2016 I’m a Canal Child, born on a boat Brought up to help keep a family afloat My home’s a cabin just 14 foot wide But as long as wherever we travel outside That’s one hundred and twenty-six mile I may not be learning to read and to write But I’m learning to paint for to keep the boat bright I can open the locks and can harness the horse Can look at a load and say just what it’s worth Soon as I’m able I’m one of the crew Morning till bedtime there’s so much to do Some people tell me I should be at school Well my school is as long as the Leeds-Liverpool That’s one hundred and twenty-six mile And I don’t go down mines to get buried in muck Not climbing chimneys to sweep out the soot Nor scrabbling round under thundering looms I get my fair share of fresh air in my lungs In winter we might be marooned in the ice But the dawn chorus tells us when spring has arrived We’ve a parrot called Polly and the horse is called Joe Polly shouts “Gee-up” and then she shouts “Whoah!” For one hundred and twenty-six mile For a canal child, life can be tough The folk on the bank may look down upon us But we’re earning our crust and we’re learning the ropes Living on water and living in hope For one hundred and twenty-six mile Part B written for Saltaire Primary schoolchildren : We are Saltaire children singing this song We know that living in Airedale is fun There’s something special where we go to school Just down the road, it’s the Leeds-Liverpool For a hundred and twenty-six miles There’s bright-coloured boats, there are birds, there are trees There are swans, there are rabbits, wild flowers and bees There’s dragonflies, butterflies, ducklings galore For Yorkshire and Lancashire kids to explore For a hundred and twenty-six miles Though the canal children now are long gone They live in our memory and live in our song Not just in history-books they will survive They’ve made the Leeds-Liverpool part of our life For a hundred and twenty-six miles We’re hiking and biking or going for walks We’re gazing at boats as they sail through the locks It’s all on our doorstep, it’s free and it’s ours So here’s what we think of our waterway – WOW! Eddie Lawler and Saltaire Primary School sing a song especially written for the bicentenary of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal: This song was written for the commemorative journey of museum boat “Kennet” which passed through Saltaire on Sunday 16th October 2016 on the way from Leeds to Liverpool to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the completion of the canal. My thanks to Eddie Lawler for permission to include his song. He can be contacted via his website which contains many other examples of his song-writing talent.
Canal Child © Eddie Lawler 2016 I’m a Canal Child, born on a boat Brought up to help keep a family afloat My home’s a cabin just 14 foot wide But as long as wherever we travel outside That’s one hundred and twenty-six mile I may not be learning to read and to write But I’m learning to paint for to keep the boat bright I can open the locks and can harness the horse Can look at a load and say just what it’s worth Soon as I’m able I’m one of the crew Morning till bedtime there’s so much to do Some people tell me I should be at school Well my school is as long as the Leeds-Liverpool That’s one hundred and twenty-six mile And I don’t go down mines to get buried in muck Not climbing chimneys to sweep out the soot Nor scrabbling round under thundering looms I get my fair share of fresh air in my lungs In winter we might be marooned in the ice But the dawn chorus tells us when spring has arrived We’ve a parrot called Polly and the horse is called Joe Polly shouts “Gee-up” and then she shouts “Whoah!” For one hundred and twenty-six mile For a canal child, life can be tough The folk on the bank may look down upon us But we’re earning our crust and we’re learning the ropes Living on water and living in hope For one hundred and twenty-six mile Part B written for Saltaire Primary schoolchildren : We are Saltaire children singing this song We know that living in Airedale is fun There’s something special where we go to school Just down the road, it’s the Leeds-Liverpool For a hundred and twenty-six miles There’s bright-coloured boats, there are birds, there are trees There are swans, there are rabbits, wild flowers and bees There’s dragonflies, butterflies, ducklings galore For Yorkshire and Lancashire kids to explore For a hundred and twenty-six miles Though the canal children now are long gone They live in our memory and live in our song Not just in history-books they will survive They’ve made the Leeds-Liverpool part of our life For a hundred and twenty-six miles We’re hiking and biking or going for walks We’re gazing at boats as they sail through the locks It’s all on our doorstep, it’s free and it’s ours So here’s what we think of our waterway – WOW! Eddie Lawler and Saltaire Primary School sing a song especially written for the bicentenary of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal: This song was written for the commemorative journey of museum boat “Kennet” which passed through Saltaire on Sunday 16th October 2016 on the way from Leeds to Liverpool to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the completion of the canal. My thanks to Eddie Lawler for permission to include his song. He can be contacted via his website which contains many other examples of his song-writing talent.
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