Narrowboat Song by Daniel Cainer Recorded by Daniel Cainer It took a thousand navigators to dig out this canal Cut into the hillside, connecting up the town With hands and picks and shovels They moved a million tons of rubble So they could send the long and narrow boats down Mr James Brindley, a plumbing engineer Designer of the system we know now Without pistons, without funnels He made the locks and the lifts and the tunnels And the horses pulled the narrow-boats down They pulled the narrow-boats down, the narrow-boats down Coal and iron ore and lime Before Victoria was Queen, when Britannia reigned supreme Back in the olden days Back down the waterways of time Hail the mighty engine coming down the track Fail the narrow boat men, the boatmen ran aground Now we spend our holidays Chugging down these waterways And we steer the long and narrow boats down The long and narrow boats down, the narrow boats down A haven from the city stress and crime In your floating caravan you can be Popeye the sailor man Just like the olden days Down the waterways of time Three whole miles an hour won’t take you very far Floating through the country to the rattling diesel sound Eating al fresco, stopping off at Tesco And we steer the long and narrow boat down Harrison and Collista appreciate the vista As they steer the long and narrow boat down